Human rights, Türk (UN): “Humanitarian needs for 2026 amount to three days’ worth of global military spending”

Brussels – “It is important to be vigilant, within the European Union, regarding the tendency to marginalise civic space, to restrict freedom of association and expression, or to impose restrictions on the work of NGOs.” This was stated by Volker Türk, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, at the joint hearing to the European Parliament’s Committee on International Affairs and its Subcommittee on Human Rights. “I am concerned,” explained Türk, “that some of the trends we are seeing globally may, to some extent, also have an impact within the EU.” 

The High Commissioner referred to the “shrinking of civic space globally,” noting that today “only 7 per cent of the world’s population lives in effectively functioning democracies.” This figure is worrying because “a few years ago it was 12.5 per cent” and, therefore, “there has been a regression” which often begins precisely “with restrictions on civic space, when dialogue is stifled, and people end up in echo chambers, when no compromise is reached, when people do not listen to one another, and debate is no longer possible.” 

According to Türk, this trend is also evident “in relation to restrictions and laws on foreign agents and attacks on independent media.” Looking at last year alone, preliminary data collected by the UN for 2025 “indicates that around 950 human rights defenders, journalists, and trade unionists were killed or forcibly disappeared,” a figure “more than double that of ten years ago.” 

He then issued a warning: “No country, no continent, is immune to these trends.” Groups “opposed to rights are increasingly well-connected and coordinated; they operate across borders and move vast sums of money.” Europe, therefore, must be “a bulwark” to counter these dynamics. “It often starts with issues of gender equality,” Türk pointed out, “ with attacks on minorities, with attacks on migrants and refugees, and with a growing use of offensive language and imagery that portrays people, human beings, in a way that dehumanises them.”

 On 15 June, the High Commissioner presented her annual report to the Human Rights Council. Among other issues, she also focused on the situation in the Middle East and cited some figures. In Gaza, “Israeli forces have killed nearly a thousand Palestinians since the ceasefire announced last October, the vast majority of whom were civilians.” In Lebanon, “around 3,600 people have been killed and more than a million have been displaced.” According to Türk, the European debate on Gaza and the West Bank lacks “a discussion based on the impact, pain, and suffering of the people” and dehumanisation is rife. 

The figures emerging from the report on humanitarian funding are, moreover, staggering. “Total humanitarian needs for this year amount to just three days’ worth of global military spending,” said Türk. An even more telling figure concerns his own office: the funds required by the OHCHR (Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights) for the whole year, he emphasised, “are less than what the world spends on weapons and soldiers in two hours.” And the consequences of this imbalance are already visible: cuts to aid are having “a catastrophic impact on human rights,” with a real risk that poverty, hunger, and forced migration will increase dramatically. 

In this context, the Global Alliance for Human Rights, presented on 11 July, is described as “a concrete response to the global human rights crisis.” The aim is ambitious: not a bureaucratic exercise, but “one of renewal and revitalisation,” capable of bringing together governments, businesses, civil society, and parliaments under a single, broad umbrella. “Over the next two years, this alliance will become a hive of activity, with various groups and communities around the world forging new connections and partnerships,” explained Türk. The European Parliament, the High Commissioner emphasised, is one of the Alliance’s key stakeholders: “We will continue to be a strategic partner of the EU on human rights, supporting responsible governance and promoting inclusive approaches.”