UN rights chief travels to Middle East amid Gaza escalation

Volker Turk United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights attends the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland February 27, 2023. REUTERS FILE PHOTO

GENEVA — The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, began a five-day visit to the Middle East on Tuesday to engage with government officials and civil society on the human rights violations taking place amid Israel’s escalation in Gaza.

“It has been one full month of carnage, of incessant suffering, bloodshed, destruction, outrage and despair,” Turk said in a statement. “Human rights violations are at the root of this escalation and human rights play a central role in finding a way out of this vortex of pain.”

Turk is in Cairo on Tuesday and will visit Rafah, located on the border with Gaza, on Wednesday, before he travels to the Jordanian capital of Amman on Thursday, his office said.

(Reporting by Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber; Editing by Kirsti Knolle)