{"id":29043,"date":"2026-02-07T14:25:21","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T14:25:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/?p=29043"},"modified":"2026-02-07T14:25:26","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T14:25:26","slug":"un-human-rights-agency-in-survival-mode-chief","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/?p=29043","title":{"rendered":"UN human rights agency in \u2018survival mode\u2019: chief"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/a>The United Nations human rights chief said on Thursday that his agency was \u201cin survival mode\u201d due to funding shortfalls, as he launched a $400 million appeal to tackle global rights crises in 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Volker Turk warned countries that at a time when global human rights are under significant assault, his office was facing dire funding shortages hampering its increasingly important and life-saving work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur reporting provides credible information on atrocities and human rights trends at a time when truth is being eroded by disinformation and censorship,\u201d he told diplomats at the UN rights office headquarters in Geneva.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are a lifeline for the abused, a megaphone for the silenced, and a steadfast ally to those who risk everything to defend the rights of others.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2025, the UN Human Rights Office\u2019s regular budget \u2014 set by the UN General Assembly of member states \u2014 was $246m, but it ultimately received only $191.5m of that money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also sought $500m in voluntary contributions, of which $257.8m came in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Funding for the UN\u2019s human rights work has long been chronically underfunded, but Turk said, \u201cWe are currently in survival mode, delivering under strain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese cuts and reductions untie perpetrators\u2019 hands everywhere, leaving them to do whatever they please. With crises mounting, we cannot afford a human rights system in crisis,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The UN human rights office lost around 300 out of 2,000 staff last year and had to end or scale back its work in 17 countries. Its programme in Myanmar, for example, was cut by 60 per cent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>High impact, low cost<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This year, the UN General Assembly approved a regular budget of $224.3m for human rights. However, with the United Nations facing a liquidity crisis, uncertainty remains over how much Turk\u2019s office will receive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights is among a slew of international organisations hit by a global funding crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The United States was the UN\u2019 biggest contributor but has slashed <\/a>its funding since President Donald Trump returned to power in January 2025 \u2014 while other countries have tightened their belts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UN chief Antonio Guterres warned <\/a>last Friday that the world body is on the brink of financial collapse and could run out of cash by July, as he urged countries to pay their dues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Against this backdrop, Turk is seeking $400m in voluntary funding from countries and donors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said human rights accounted for a very small slice of overall UN spending but produced \u201chigh-impact\u201d results that help to stabilise communities, build trust in institutions and underpin lasting peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe cost of our work is low; the human cost of underinvestment is immeasurable,\u201d he insisted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2025, UN human rights staff working in 87 countries undertook more than 5,000 human rights monitoring missions \u2014 down from 11,000 in 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat means less evidence for both protection and prevention,\u201d said Turk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>\u2018Countering secrecy\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Giving examples of his office\u2019s work, Turk said it supported 67,000 survivors of torture and modern slavery, documented tens of thousands of human rights violations and exposed discrimination in more than 100 countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its monitoring mission in Ukraine <\/a>is the \u201conly organisation\u201d with a comprehensive record of verified civilian casualties \u201csince the initial Russian invasion in 2014\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Bangladesh, its fact-finding mission<\/a> on the 2024 crackdown \u201chelped establish a comprehensive record of systematic and serious human rights abuses\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the probe in the Democratic Republic of Congo \u201cuncovered patterns of grave human rights violations that may amount to crimes against humanity\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll this work aims to bring the stories of victims to the world, countering secrecy \u2014 the oppressor\u2019s strongest ally \u2014 and challenging injustice and impunity,\u201d Turk said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reference Link:- https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1971244<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The United Nations human rights chief said on Thursday that his agency was \u201cin survival mode\u201d due to funding shortfalls, as he launched a $400 million appeal to tackle global rights crises in 2026 Volker Turk warned countries that at a time when global human rights are under significant assault, his office was facing dire […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29044,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"aside","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[26776,26778,25050,26777,26775],"class_list":["post-29043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-aside","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sample-category","tag-funding-issue","tag-scarcity-of-funds-for-un","tag-united-nations-2","tag-us-denied-to-contribute-to-un-funding","tag-us-exit-from-several-un-organizations","post_format-post-format-aside"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29043"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29043\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29045,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29043\/revisions\/29045"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/29044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}