Amnesty International’s Secretary General Agnès Callamard will be in New York City for the 80th Session of the UN General Assembly from September 18 to 24 and available for interviews. She will be focusing her visit on the following issues: international and multilateral responses to Israel’s genocide in Gaza; the Trump administration’s attacks on international justice institutions, as well as its recent sanctions against three prominent Palestinian NGOs; political, humanitarian and human rights crises in Ukraine, Afghanistan, Venezuela and Sudan; the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda; and the UN80 initiative and the current state and relevance of the UN and the multilateral system.
“As the United Nations turns 80, the institution finds itself at a crossroads, confronted by crisis both internally and externally. Humanity is struggling amid a record number of armed conflicts, rampant inequality, inadequate efforts to regulate new technologies or address climate collapse, the rise of authoritarian laws and practices around the world, and a growing global backlash against the rights of migrants, refugees, women, girls and LGBTI people. The UN was built from the ashes of World War Two to uphold universal principles such as human dignity and equality, but today the very countries that championed these principles are turning their back on them,” said Agnès Callamard.
“What is the UN’s present and future and how do we address the many grave and often global challenges threatening the human rights of billions all over the planet? What is the place, if any, of the Pact for the Future and the roadmap agreed during last year’s General Assembly? What is the role of international and grassroots civil society organizations in shaping and influencing multilateral vision and institutions? These are some of the questions I will seek to explore with all those present at the UN this week.
As the United Nations turns 80, the institution finds itself at a crossroads, confronted by crisis both internally and externally.
Amnesty International’s Secretary General Agnès Callamard
“There are immediate litmus tests that we are failing, and the cost is counted in millions of lives, in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Sudan, Ukraine and elsewhere. How to stop Israel’s ongoing genocide against Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip should be at the forefront of everyone’s mind. It cannot be business as usual while Israel deliberately starves and annihilates a population before our very eyes. We need rock-solid political will to end this hellish nightmare, with states applying robust diplomatic and economic pressure on Israel to end its unlawful occupation of the Palestinian territory – just as the UN General Assembly mandated in a resolution 12 months ago – and stop the genocide and its cruel system of apartheid against all Palestinians whose rights Israel controls.”
On September 18, Amnesty International will publish research naming 15 major US, Chinese, Spanish, South Korean and Israeli firms that are contributing to or directly linked to Israel’s crimes under international law. The briefing will contain detailed calls on states and companies to uphold their obligations and responsibilities under international law and standards.
