UN rights chief alarmed by 'fundamental shift' in US direction

GENEVA: The UN rights chief voiced deep concern on Monday (Mar 3) over the United States' "fundamental shift" in direction since Donald Trump returned to power, and decried the "unchecked power" of "unelected tech oligarchs".

Addressing the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Volker Turk voiced the UN's strongest rebuke to date of the dramatic about-face in the United States in recent weeks.

"We have enjoyed bipartisan support from the United States of America on human rights over many decades," he said, before adding: "I am now deeply worried by the fundamental shift in direction that is taking place domestically and internationally".

Without naming Trump, he decried that "policies intended to protect people from discrimination are now labelled as discriminatory".

"Progress is being rolled back on gender equality. Disinformation, intimidation and threats, notably against journalists and public officials, risk undermining the work of independent media and the functioning of institutions."

Turk also said "divisive rhetoric is being used to distort, deceive and polarise".

"This is generating fear and anxiety among many," he warned.

No US representative was in the room for Turk's speech, since Washington has announced it will no longer interact with the council.

That was among a flurry of executive orders signed by Trump since his return to the White House on Jan 20, on issues from foreign policy to transgender rights.

"TECH OLIGARCHS"

Relief groups warn that Trump's aid freeze has already hurt millions around the world, while there is growing alarm at how his administration has lashed out at traditional democratic allies while voicing a fondness for dictators.

Presenting an overview of the rights situation globally, Turk sounded "alarm" over conflicts from Gaza and Ukraine to Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and accompanying rights abuses.

The current "turbulence and unpredictability" is cutting "to the very core of the international order", he warned.

"We cannot allow the fundamental global consensus around international norms and institutions, built painstakingly over decades to crumble before our eyes."

Of particular concern was the growing influence wielded by "a handful of unelected tech oligarchs", Turk said.

Turk, who did not mention anyone by name, warned that "tech oligarchs have our data: they know where we live, what we do, our genes and our health conditions, our thoughts, our habits, our desires and our fears".

"They know how to manipulate us."

Turk, whose comments were not limited to the situation in the United States, stressed that "any form of unregulated power can lead to oppression, subjugation, and even tyranny: the playbook of the autocrat".

He called on countries everywhere to "adapt - fast".

"States must fulfil their duty to protect people from unchecked power, and work together to achieve this," he said.

"TOXIC"

In the United States, tech leaders have broadly fallen in line around Trump since he won the November presidential election, with X owner Elon Musk - the world's richest man - taking an outsized role in the new administration.

Amazon owner and the world's third-richest man Jeff Bezos is also increasingly aligning with Trump, including ordering his prestigious newspaper, The Washington Post, to refrain from printing views opposed to "personal liberties and free markets".

Meta's Mark Zuckerberg has ended fact-checking programmes and relaxed content moderation rules on Facebook and Instagram, in a move UN chief Antonio Guterres has warned is destined to reopen "the floodgates to more hate" and lead to "less free speech".

The tech leaders are also increasingly embracing Trump's campaign against so-called diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).

That backlash is not only being felt in the United States.

Turk decried "the resurgence in some quarters of toxic ideas about masculinity, and efforts to glorify gender stereotypes", warning that this was happening around the world.

"From autocracies to democracies, women and girls are denied their rights in myriad ways," he said.