Meet the new global human rights crisis manager. You have a lot to do.

GENEVA – Barely a month after taking office as the new UN human rights chief, Volker Turk it was last week in the Sudanese region of Darfurravaged by war, meeting with the victims of a conflict that has displaced millions of people.

The next day, in the capital Khartoum, he met with generals clinging to power with the help of troops using deadly force against protesters.

He told the generals that Sudan needed to move into civilian rule and “make sure that the human rights of all the people of Sudan are the driving force behind this political process.”

Former UN high commissioners for human rights spent a few months at the Geneva headquarters of the UN Human Rights Office to familiarize themselves with the intricacies of the work before setting off on country visits.

But Türk has started planning his visit to Sudan before he officially starts work and is working on making an extra trip or two by the end of the year.

Apparently, in his diary is a mission to Ukraine.

Thursday, riots Iran they are at the top of the list.

In an urgent session, the United Nations Human Rights Council has decided to investigate Tehran’s response to protests against the clerical regime, a crackdown that has caused hundreds of deaths.

The Council called for the appointment of an international fact-finding mission to study the reaction of the Iranian authorities to the large-scale demonstrations sparked by the death in September Mahsa Amini, 22-year-old, who was arrested on suspicion of violating the headscarf law.

In his first speech before the Council, Türk strongly criticized the actions of the Iranian authorities, saying that they were caused by 300 dead, including more than 40 children; the “amazing” number of 14,000 arrests; and at least six protesters sentenced to death.

“The old ways and the fortress mentality of those in power just don’t work,” he said.

“Change is inevitable. The way forward is meaningful reforms.”

The speed with which Türk took to his new job highlights the practical benefits he brings to the position of insider in the Byzantine bureaucracy of the United Nations.

Türk, 57, contributes 30 years of experience at the United Nations, first at his refugee agency – for which he visited Darfur 11 years ago – and then, for the past three years, working for the Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in New York like political adviseralso on human rights.

However, Türk’s past as an insider has contributed to the cold response his appointment has elicited from international rights organizations.

UN leaders have in the past handpicked former heads of government, prominent jurists or diplomatic bigwigs for the notoriously difficult human rights post, as the job involves wooing world leaders and sometimes admonish them for their human rights judgments.

Türk, according to critics, was not suitable in experience and temperament for such a delicate role.

And his appointment by a Secretary-General of the United Nations perceived as weak on human rights stoked fears that Guterres had chosen a silent diplomat, more likely to share his boss’s preference for behind-the-scenes diplomacy rather than the mighty weapon of public pressure.

But Türk’s constant remarks in his first month on the job gave hope to some critics.

On his second day in office, he condemned the Ethiopian air strikes against civilian targets in Tigray as “completely unacceptable”.

After what Elon Musk To take over Twitter, Türk published an open letter reminding the tech billionaire of the platform’s responsibility “to prevent the amplification of content that violates people’s rights.”

And when the climate conference openedat COP27 in Egypt, Türk angered the host government by urging him to release Alaa Abdel Fattaha political prisoner who recently went on hunger strike, along with other “wrongfully convicted” inmates.

Greater challenges await us.

An important test of Türk’s effectiveness will be what it does to follow up on the report that its predecessor, Michael Bacheletpublished minutes before leaving office, which concluded that China could have committed crimes against humanity by repressing the Uyghurs and other Muslims in its western region of Xinjiang.

China dismissed the report as a politicized fabrication of Western lies that the United Nations should not have published.

Chinese diplomats in Geneva have sought to discredit the report as lacking support in the high commissioner’s office.

Beijing may find Türk’s reaction disappointing.

He says he considers the document meticulously researched and important.

“It’s my office’s report and I’m committed to it,” he said in an interview.

“There are strong recommendations and my focus will be on finding ways and means to engage with the Chinese authorities in implementing those recommendations.”

More broadly, Türk told reporters this month:

“I will speak when we feel that our voice can make a difference or when it is especially necessary to amplify the voices of the victims or raise the alarm”.

Türk’s activism comes as no surprise to former colleagues familiar with his career at the United Nations refugee agency.

After conducting field missions in the Congo, Kosovo and Southeast Asia, promoted to head of protection, a role some describe as human rights in action.

“He’s a guy who rolls up his sleeves and gets his hands dirty, not an employee,” said Kirsten Young, a UN colleague and close friend who has worked alongside Türk in Kosovo and other areas.

“A lot of the work he was involved in was saving lives.”

For those who know him well, Young said, Türk’s appointment as UN human rights chief was the natural culmination of his life’s work.

“Fate has come true,” he called it.

Türk sees his new job as a natural progression after a lifetime dedicated to human rights.

“It started very early,” she said, holding up as evidence a faded and dismembered copy of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights she received as a teenager at school and still carries in her purse.

“The history of my country has marked me,” he said, alluding to annexation of Austria by the Nazis and the country’s ties to the Holocaust.

“I’m still part of that generation that thought:

How could this happen, it’s incredible, what can I do to look for a better world?”

She received her law degree in the 1970s, when, she says, she was struck by the growing feminist and anti-apartheid movements.

He then obtained a doctorate in international refugee law, which allowed him to be employed by the United Nations refugee agency.

“I was fascinated that the United Nations could step into a situation and directly do something for people,” he said.

Refugee protection work also had an impact on him.

Türk recalled how, in Kuwait after the first gulf warspent long hours interviewing Palestinian and Iraqi detainees and hearing about traumatic experiences of detention, sexual abuse and torture.

“You deal with it,” she said, “but it marked me a lot.”

Now his ambitions as High Commissioner include building a much stronger UN human rights field presence and raising much more money for an office that is underfunded to meet the demands that are being met.

The “biggest challenge” envisioned by Türk is to reignite a global consensus that recognizes that human rights are universal and fundamental to addressing today’s most pressing problems, such as the war in Ukraine or climate change.

Türk rejects the “misconception” that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the cornerstone of international human rights protection adopted since WWII, is a cocktail of values westerners.

Human rights, he says, “cannot be the collateral damage of geopolitics and division.”

c.2022 The New York Times Company