{"id":7003,"date":"2020-10-29T05:44:34","date_gmt":"2020-10-29T05:44:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newmatilda.com\/?p=138786"},"modified":"2020-10-29T05:44:34","modified_gmt":"2020-10-29T05:44:34","slug":"while-we-all-sleepwalk-into-a-human-rights-vacuum-the-united-nations-is-facing-its-moment-of-truth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2020\/10\/29\/while-we-all-sleepwalk-into-a-human-rights-vacuum-the-united-nations-is-facing-its-moment-of-truth\/","title":{"rendered":"While We All Sleepwalk Into A Human Rights Vacuum, The United Nations Is Facing Its Moment Of Truth"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

DON’T MISS ANYTHING! ONE CLICK TO GET NEW MATILDA DELIVERED DIRECT TO YOUR INBOX, FREE!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Humankind has faced greater challenges than the COVID-19 crisis. Indeed, we were already confronting a few of them as the world started to lockdown earlier this year. Now, more than ever, is the time we need a United Nations of purpose and resolve, writes Dr Lissa Johnson.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

During his speech<\/a> at the opening of this year\u2019s session of the UN General Assembly (GA), the Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, described \u201ca world turned upside down\u201d. He told attendees that, \u201cthe pillars of our world wobble on already shaky footings\u2026. Those who built the United Nations 75 years ago had lived through a pandemic, a global depression, genocide and world war\u2026. Today,\u201d he said, \u201cwe face our own 1945 moment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterrez. (IMAGE: R\u00e1dio ONU Portugu\u00eas, Flickr)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Outside, in the populations that the UN exists to serve, poverty and child malnutrition are predicted to double<\/a> in the wake of coronavirus restrictions, 79.5 million people<\/a> are displaced by violence and persecution, 37-59 million<\/a> of them by the War on Terror alone, and arms control agreements fail<\/a> as economic depression looms. Against that backdrop, the UN\u2019s mission to improve the world\u2019s welfare and security is perhaps more urgent, and more pressing, for more people in more corners of the globe, than ever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Lofty ambitions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the UN\u2019s primary policy-setting body, the General\nAssembly determines how the UN will tackle some of humanity\u2019s most pressing\nproblems, including achieving greater peace and security, protection of human\nrights, disarmament and economic welfare. One of its primary policy initiatives\nfor addressing current global governance challenges are the UN\u2019s 2030 Sustainable\nDevelopment Goals, also known as the 2030 Agenda, which seek to end poverty and\nworld hunger, and promote safe, peaceful, equitable and sustainable societies for\nall. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to a\n2015 resolution<\/a> adopted at the 70th<\/sup> UNGA, \u201cthe new Agenda\nrequires a revitalised Global Partnership to ensure its implementation\u2026\nbringing together Governments, the private sector, civil society, the United\nNations system and other actors and mobilizing all available resources.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such a humanitarian Global public-private Partnership was, of course, ambitious even in 2015. Now, with the global economic and social fabric tearing under COVID-19, precisely how the private sector, governments and civil society might merge to mobilise all available resources is up for grabs, quite literally. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
(IMAGE: Philip Mallis, Flickr)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The pandemic has facilitated what has been described as one\nof the greatest wealth transfers in history<\/a>, with the US Government pouring\n$4.5\ntrillion<\/a> of COVID relief into corporations and big banks, seeing US\nbillionaires\u2019 fortunes soar\nby $565 billion<\/a> during the first 11 weeks of the pandemic, while\n42.6 million Americans found themselves unemployed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What will become of the UN\u2019s vision for economic and\nhuman welfare amidst such a steep rise in economic inequality, with its corrosive\nimpact<\/a> on health and human rights? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Guterres stressed, \u201cCOVID-19 has laid bare the world\u2019s fragilities\u201d,\nincluding \u201crising inequalities\u2026 rampant corruption\u201d and \u201cdangerous new threats\nto human rights\u2026 The pandemic has exploited these injustices, preyed on the\nmost vulnerable and wiped away the progress of decades.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In response, will transnational corporate interests continue\nseizing the disaster-capitalist moment, and capture the levers of global power with\ninvigorated zeal?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the United States, for instance, COVID-19 vaccine\ndevelopment is taking place in secret, outside the usual oversight mechanisms, as\npart of a collaboration<\/a>\nbetween defence contractors, military officials and pharmaceutical companies\nwith poor track records on safety. Why? What has the military, or secrecy, got\nto do with peacetime development of medicines and vaccines? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the world grapples with improving health outcomes across the board, is the militarisation of for-profit medicine really a good idea? What are the broader implications for the human right to health?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The United Nations General Assembly. (IMAGE: Linh Do, Flickr)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

If a new more humanitarian global arrangement is to emerge, the 2030 Agenda stressed that the world will require an \u201cefficient and effective United Nations system\u201d. Clearly, if ever there was a time to take stock of the United Nations system, that time is now. If ever there was a critical moment at which to review and strengthen the global mechanisms for protection and enforcement of human rights, that moment has arrived.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Getting real<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The enormous gulf between the pressing need for global\npolitical leadership and governments\u2019 failure to rise to the challenge became\npainfully obvious at the October 15th meeting of the UNGA Social, Humanitarian & Cultural\nCommittee, where the UN\nSpecial Rapporteur on Torture, Professor Nils Melzer, rang the alarm bell. He\nsaid, \u201cToday, 75-years after the establishment of the United Nations\u2026 torture\nand ill-treatment continue to be practiced with impunity throughout the world.\u201d\n(0:53:00<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Practiced with impunity? Throughout the world? Why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe stark discrepancy between the universal prohibition\nand the worldwide complacency with such abuse is not a singular phenomenon,\u201d\nMelzer explained, \u201cbut highlights a more generalised gap between the declared\nambitions and the actual practice of human rights protection. In fact, the\npersistent failure of the international community to eradicate torture and\nill-treatment exemplifies the broader incapacity of contemporary governance\nsystems to fulfil the promises of the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of\nHuman Rights, and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Incapacity of contemporary governance systems?\nComplacency worldwide? After 75 years?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a \u201csobering reality\u201d the Rapporteur observed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Nils Melzer address the UN in November 2019. (IMAGE: GUE\/NGL, Flickr)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But with the world\u2019s best legal and human rights minds coming\ntogether at the UN, year after year, decade after decade, one is tempted to\nask: What is going on? What have they been doing all this time? What is wrong\nwith their normative frameworks and enforcement mechanisms that the best they\ncan achieve – after 75 years – is complacency with torture? Worldwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nothing, according to Melzer. He added that the root\ncause is \u201cnot a lack of expertise, resources or normative consensus.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is it then? Bad actors? Psychopathic leaders? Rotten\napples? Trees?  Orchards?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNor [is it]generalised malicious intent\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then what?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To address that question, the UN Special Rapporteur answered\nthe UN Secretary General\u2019s call<\/a>\nfor the international community, to \u201cbe guided by science and tethered to reality\u201d\nduring this \u201cfoundational moment\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nroot cause, Melzer explained, resides not in bureaucratic incompetence nor generalised\nmaliciousness, but in the science of human psychology and decision-making.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his UNGA report<\/a>, titled \u2018Biopsychosocial factors conducive to torture and\nill-treatment<\/em>\u2019,\nthe Rapporteur wrote, \u201c<\/em>Inspired by the theories of the \u2018Age of\nEnlightenment\u2019 in the eighteenth century, modern statehood, political theory\nand governance systems\u201d <\/em>are founded upon \u201cthe presumption of rational decision-making based on an innate or\nlearned moral framework.\u201d<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That presumption, however, is wrong. It is perhaps as\nuseful to modern statehood as bloodletting\nand blowing smoke<\/a> would be to modern medicine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report continues, \u201cAlthough humans are endowed with reason\u2026 in\ncontrast to traditional presumptions of rationality and morality, modern\nscience has demonstrated that, in reality, human decision-making is guided\npredominantly by unconscious emotional processes pursuing the fulfilment of\nbasic human needs.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Okay, sure. But what has that got to do with modern\nstatehood and governance? Or worldwide complacency over human rights?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his 25-page report, Nils Melzer explained that human\nnature, human neurobiology and human social psychology render all of us\ninherently and inescapably susceptible to patterns of moral disengagement,\ninvolving psychological blind-spots to our own atrocities and misdeeds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When faced with unwelcome information such as evidence of\nhuman rights violations, \u201cboth\nperpetrators and bystanders tend to suppress the resulting moral dilemmas\nthrough largely unconscious patterns of self-deception and denial.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

These patterns of self-deception, Melzer wrote, \u201cSeverely impair the ability and willingness of political leaders, judges, officials, the media and even the general public to accurately perceive and act upon allegations of official misconduct.\u201d<\/em> This, he stressed, \u201ccan corrupt and neutralise even sophisticated frameworks for the prevention and prosecution of torture and ill-treatment, thus producing the current worldwide prevalence of complacency and impunity.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
(IMAGE: Glenn Harper, Flickr)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A Reality Show of\nSelf-Deception<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The UN Rapporteur\u2019s statement to the UNGA was followed by\nquestions and comments from State representatives, which doubled as an\nuncannily convincing reality-show demonstrating the very processes that Melzer\nhad described. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most strikingly, after thanking the Special Rapporteur, the representative of the United States observed (1:17:25<\/a>), \u201cWe take this opportunity to register our categorical rejection of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and punishment. The human rights enshrined in our founding documents abhor the notion of torture in any form. America\u2019s values are universal values, and they are based on the sanctity and protection of individual rights.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This, of course, is the same America that illegally tortured suspects in secret CIA torture<\/a> \u2018black-sites\u2019 around the globe, as exposed in a 6,700-page<\/a> Senate Intelligence Committee report<\/a>. The clandestine US torture program entailed an 81 million dollar contract<\/a> with psychologists, whose task it was to design innovative forms of torture<\/a> on behalf of the US state, such as rectally force feeding victims with hummus, pasta and nuts and sexually assaulting them with broomsticks, as well as more traditional forms of brutality including slamming victims into walls, stringing them up naked and threatening to harm their children<\/a> and rape their mothers, or slit their mothers\u2019 throats<\/a> in front of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Former US president George W Bush declares ‘victory’ in the illegal war against Iraq. (IMAGE: Peter Stevens, Flickr).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Many of the program\u2019s victims were subjected to the\ninfamous practice of \u201cwaterboarding\u201d, putting them through the agony of\ndrowning to the point of unconsciousness and then resuscitating them just to do\nit again, up to 183 times. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The US UNGA representative continued, \u201cThe United States\nplayed a leading role in enacting the Convention Against Torture, and we remain\ntrailblazers in the campaign to end torture and related practices worldwide.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is also the same America responsible not only for secret\ntorture black sites, but for torture at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay, all facilitated\nby government\nmemos<\/a> denying victims the protections of the Geneva Convention. It is the\nsame America that hosts blatantly inhumane detention conditions at US\nSupermax facilities<\/a> and elsewhere. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The US President, moreover, has publicly endorsed\nwaterboarding<\/a> and said that torture\nworks<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The US representative went on, \u201cWe are staunch advocates\nfor the victims of torture\u2026 No society can be free, nor any individual secure,\nwhen torture is permitted.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which does not augur well for freedom and security on\nAmerica\u2019s watch. The only people prosecuted for the US policy of torture were\nthose who informed the public of the state\u2019s crimes, such as John Kiriakou,\nChelsea Manning and Julian Assange. The ones who participated in torture or\ndestroyed the evidence were promoted, such as Gina Haspel, former commander of\na black site in Thailand and current director of the CIA. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ironically, the UN Rapporteur on Torture\u2019s report, to\nwhich the US delegate was responding, explained that, \u201cthe most rudimentary manner of avoiding or suppressing moral dilemmas\nis denial of fact\u2026Best summarized in the slogan, \u2018what must not be, cannot be\u2019,\ndenial of fact is a very common reaction of officials, journalists and citizens\nconfronted with unexpected or unwelcome allegations of serious systemic\nmisconduct<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Accordingly, \u201cin his official dialogue with States<\/em>\u201d the report notes, the Special Rapporteur frequently receives official responses that divert attention \u201cthrough sweeping assurances of the Government\u2019s commitment to human rights.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Professor Nils Melzer, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture. (IMAGE: UN Photo\/Eskinder Debebe)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After the US representative had finished diverting\nattention through sweeping assurances of the US Government\u2019s commitment to\nhuman rights (as did the representative of the UK Government, 1:03:45<\/a>, i.e, the same Government that has refused to\nprosecute UK officials who participated in CIA torture and that just passed a\nlaw granting British forces de facto impunity\nfor torture<\/a>, murder and other serious crimes committed overseas), the US\nrepresentative turned his attention to the rest of the world. He admonished other\nnations to \u201chold violators accountable\u201d, reserving special condemnation for three\nUS adversaries: China, Belarus and Venezuela. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his report, the UN Rapporteur noted that another\ncommon denial tactic entails making \u201csweeping\naccusations against other stakeholders\u2026 Perceiving torture as less morally\nwrong when perpetrated by one\u2019s own versus another nation\u2019s security forces\u201d<\/em>\nis a documented phenomenon, driven by moral disengagement on group-based,\nus-versus-them, collectively self-glorifying grounds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The US representative continued, \u201cWhile we appreciate the\nSpecial Rapporteur\u2019s work, we disagree with many of your report\u2019s conclusions\nand recommendations, as they relate to lawful US practices that cannot reasonably\nbe considered torture.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other words, \u2018You call it torture. We call it \u2018lawful\nUS practices\u2019.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An alternative method of moral disengagement, as the Rapporteur\u2019s\nreport notes, is to deny not the fact but the wrongfulness of abusive acts. A\ncommon method by which this is achieved is through trivialization, which \u201cbegins with the use of euphemistic language\naimed at \u2018sanitizing\u2019 torture and ill-treatment<\/em>\u201d. Common euphemistic labels\ninclude \u201cenhanced interrogation\u201d, \u201cdeterrence\u201d, \u201cspecial administrative\nmeasures\u201d. And, in this case, \u2018lawful US practices\u2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among the \u2018lawful US practices\u2019 whose wrongfulness the US\ndelegate denied were \u201cthe Assange and Manning cases\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both Assange and Manning\u2019s treatment have been found to\nviolate the Convention Against Torture by various UN human rights mechanisms,\nincluding successive Special Rapporteurs on Torture and the Working Group on\nArbitrary Detention. In Julian Assange\u2019s case, that finding was based, in part,\non a structured assessment protocol performed by two recognised medical experts\nspecialised in the assessment and documentation of torture. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several other medical experts having personally examined\nAssange have independently come to the same conclusion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chelsea Manning attempted suicide in March 2020, precipitated by seven years of solitary confinement followed by re-arrest and indefinite coercive detention because of her conscientious objection to testifying against Assange in a Secret Grand Jury, the US equivalent of a political kangaroo court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Chelsea Manning pictured at a conference in Germany in 2018. (IMAGE: Media Convention Berlin, Flickr)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn order to\npreserve a false sense of reality<\/em>\u201d, the UNGA report notes, processes of\nself-deception and denial enable \u201cthe\nconscious mind to \u2018pseudo-rationally\u2019 dismiss even compelling evidence for\nserious misconduct<\/em>.\u201d Compelling evidence, for example, such as the medical findings\nof subject-matter experts in assessing and documenting torture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Further evidence in Julian Assange\u2019s case includes the\nfact that the world\u2019s leading rights organisations, from Amnesty\nInternational<\/a> to Human\nRights Watch<\/a> to the Human\nRights Commissioner<\/a> (Dunja Mijatovic) and the Parliamentary\nAssembly of the Council of Europe<\/a> have denounced the US persecution of\nJulian Assange. The International Bar Association Human Rights Institute has issued\na statement<\/a>\ncalling his treatment during his US extradition hearing \u201creminiscent of the Abu\nGhraib prison scandal\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Denial of wrongfulness and dismissal of evidence is facilitated\nin Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning\u2019s cases by the fact that both individuals\nrevealed systemic wrongdoing. As Melzer\u2019s UNGA report notes, when one\u2019s society\nor group is exposed as morally flawed, the unconscious psychological impulse is\nto shoot the messenger, known as \u2018derogation of moral advocates\u2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Psychologically, demonising moral advocates enables the confronting\ninformation to be suppressed, discredited or denied. In other words, as long as\nwe regard Manning as a traitor and Assange as a spy – and a hacker, rapist, and\nnarcissist, just to make sure he is well and truly demonised – we can avoid\ndiscussing the crimes and corruption they have exposed. We can keep fooling\nourselves into thinking that our Government still loves and protects us, that\nour militaries are still the good guys and that it was the\nRussians<\/a>, not our own\npoliticians<\/a>, who manipulated the 2016 (and now\n2020<\/a>) presidential elections. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Special Rapporteur\u2019s report notes that rather than\nabsorb such evidence of moral failing, a human knee-jerk response is to \u201cinstead, question the motivations and\nintegrity of \u2018moral advocates\u2019 making, transmitting or investigating the\nincriminating allegations<\/em>.\u201d Accordingly, another ubiquitous response to allegations\nof torture and ill-treatment involves, \u201cdiscrediting,\ndemonizing or blaming victims, witnesses, critics and other moral advocates<\/em>.\u201d\nSuch as human rights defenders, whistleblowers, journalists and publishers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it is at this point that those of us reading about\nthese matters must shift our focus from the UNGA to ourselves. As Nils Melzer\ntold his UN colleagues, \u201c<\/em>We are all\nsusceptible to these patterns in the face of unwelcome information\u2026 regardless\nof our education, our status or our morality.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Melzer\u2019s report emphasises that \u201cbystander complacency caused by wilful ignorance represents a significant obstacle to the effective investigation, prosecution and punishment of torture and ill-treatment, as well as to redress and rehabilitation.\u201d <\/em>And, crucially: \u201cDistorted perceptions of reality resulting from wilful ignorance also routinely render media organizations incapable of objectively detecting and exposing government involvement in torture and ill-treatment, and prevent ordinary citizens from addressing and correcting systemic shortcomings through their democratic rights.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Julian Assange, pictured in the Equadorian embassy in 2014, with Ricardo Pati\u00f1o, Ecuador’s then Foreign Minister. (IMAGE: David G Silvers, Canciller\u00eda del Ecuador, Flickr)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The reality for us bystanders is that Julian Assange has been subjected to a decade-long smear campaign<\/a>, designed to capitalise on the denialist human impulse to demonise the messenger, thereby fostering passive, silent, bystanding to his torture and abuse. It is our own self-deception and denial as citizens that has facilitated this, as well as the abuse of Chelsea Manning, such that Julian Assange\u2019s life<\/a> now hangs in the balance, along with our own freedom of speech<\/a>, our own right to know the truth, and our own ability to hold our governments to account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The existential\nrisks of denial <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout the UNGA\nmeeting<\/a>, the human tendency towards denial of reality was further\ndemonstrated by the representatives of Denmark, the European Union and France,\nall of whom failed to even register the topic of the Special Rapporteur\u2019s\nreport and UNGA address. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, they each expressed their appreciation and asked\nquestions regarding Professor Melzer\u2019s previous report<\/a> on a different\ntopic (psychological torture), submitted to a different UN body (the Human\nRights Council) at a different time and place (March 2020). What must not be, cannot be<\/em> \u2013 so let\u2019s\njust talk about the weather, shall we?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Russian representative was the only delegate who\nacknowledged having carefully read Melzer\u2019s report. He dismissed the report,\nhowever, as \u201ctoo research based\u201d and too far removed from practice, which was interesting,\ngiven that the report\u2019s practical relevance had just been poignantly\ndemonstrated by the preceding speakers themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More importantly, the Russian representative was effectively advocating an approach to human rights protection that is divorced from \u2013 or blind to – the empirical scientific research. In other words, he called for business as usual: complacency and impunity, worldwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn my official dialogue with states,\u201d Nils Melzer told\nthe meeting, \u201cI routinely encounter all of these patterns of self-deception and\ndenial.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To learn more about those patterns, and how they obstruct\nenforcement of human rights, you can read the Special Rapporteur\u2019s 75th<\/sup>\nUNGA report here<\/a>, with recommendations\nfor policy and governance reform on p.24.<\/p>\n\n\nN2018803<\/a>\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In summarising his recommendations at the UNGA, Melzer\ntold the delegates, \u201cAny global governance system seeking to fulfil the\npromises of the universal declaration of human rights, the UN Charter and the\nSustainable Development Goals for 2030 must be based on a realistic, empirical\nand science-based conception of human nature.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The international community, he said, must develop\n\u201cframeworks and institutions specifically designed to mitigate the increasingly\nexistential risks of human self-deception.\u201d Our distorted perceptions are an\ninherent part of human psychology, he stressed, and therefore \u201cshould not be\ncondemned, but must be fully acknowledged and appropriately managed, in order\nto prevent the widespread corruption, destruction and cruelty which currently\nengulf the entire world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This applies, he said, \u201cnot only in the area of human\nrights, but also of environmental protection, financial stability, and the\nprevention of pandemics.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Particularly to the prevention of pandemics. Nothing\nexacerbates blind spots, self-deception and denial like threat, trauma, panic, anxiety\nand fear. Such as that engendered by COVID-19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under conditions of fear and threat, human beings are\nprone to becoming particularly blinded, self-deceiving, conformist and obedient.\nA process called \u2018system justification\u2019 comes into play, whereby the greater the\nthreats citizens face, and the greater the flaws in the social, political and\neconomic systems upon which they depend, the greater their impulse to double\ndown on those systems\u2019 legitimacy, and defend the status quo, through denial\nand self-deception in all its forms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So great is the need for certainty, belonging and\nstability during periods of societal upheaval that the more our social and\npolitical systems fail us, the harder we work to preserve our faith in them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When \u201cthe pillars of our world wobble on already shaky footings\u201d as Antonio Guterres\nhas observed, reality can become too difficult, emotionally speaking, to\nsee. Such is the crux, and the challenge, of what he described as our \u201c1945\nmoment\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But is this moment truly akin to 1945? With psychological\neyes wide open, I fear that we are nowhere near that cathartic turning point of\ndisillusionment, truth and vision, from which the UN was born. We appear closer\nto a moment of 1914 or 1939, complacently sleepwalking into an abyss of\npolitical, economic and social destruction, devolution and cruelty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our only hope, it seems to me, is that those ringing the alarm bells, such as Professor Melzer, will be heard, and that they will prove me wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DON’T MISS ANYTHING! ONE CLICK TO GET NEW MATILDA DELIVERED DIRECT TO YOUR INBOX, FREE!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post While We All Sleepwalk Into A Human Rights Vacuum, The United Nations Is Facing Its Moment Of Truth<\/a> appeared first on New Matilda<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

This post was originally published on New Matilda<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Humankind has faced greater challenges than the COVID-19 crisis. Indeed, we were already confronting a few of them as the world started to lockdown earlier this year. Now, more than ever, is the time we need a United Nations of purpose and resolve, writes Dr Lissa Johnson. During his speech at the opening of this […]<\/p>\n

The post While We All Sleepwalk Into A Human Rights Vacuum, The United Nations Is Facing Its Moment Of Truth<\/a> appeared first on New Matilda<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":638,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1969,1970,1964],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7003"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/638"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7003"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7003\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7004,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7003\/revisions\/7004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}