ZEID RA'AD AL HUSSEIN, NEW UN HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS, ADDRESSES OPENING OF HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL’S 27TH SESSION
8 September 2014
Twenty years ago, I was exposed to a cruel, pointless, war. I was serving with the United Nations Protection Force in the former Yugoslavia, and learnt then a number of simple lessons. Violence at the extreme is so callous, so sickening and beyond the absurd, the human mind can barely edit into comprehensible thoughts what it sees. No war is worse than another in this regard; all wars, big and small, reveal factories spewing the same wickedness. And yet, astonishingly, the authors of the crimes themselves, and their supporting communities, will always believe their actions were somehow necessary, even if they knew they were also wrong. Indeed, every individual, political party, association, ethnic, sectarian, or national group, or government discriminating and inflicting violence on others, believes that when doing so they are excused, or absolved, by circumstance or history.Human Rights, Addresses Opening of Human Rights Council’s 27th Session by Thavam
