OHCHR / TURK ECUADOR VISIT

STORY: OHCHR / TURK ECUADOR VISIT
TRT: 05:06
SOURCE: OHCHR
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 23 JANUARY, QUITO, ECUADOR

SHOTLIST:

1. Pan right, Quito
2. Wide shot, exteriors Carondelet Palace
3. Wide shot, HC Türk at Carondelet Palace
4. Med shot, HC Türk meeting with President Guillermo Lasso
5. Wide shot, press conference HC
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“Thirty years ago, Ambassador Lasso not only played a central role in the negotiations that led to the creation of the Office, but he also laid the foundations for the Office as an institution.”
7. Various shots, event to commemorate UDHR 75th Anniversary, 30th Vienna Declaration and Plan of Action Anniversary at MFA with Ambassador Lasso
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“Ecuador is a country that has ratified all of the nine international treaties that represent the pillars of international human rights law. On the international scene, it has also taken the leadership on issues such as the efforts to achieve a binding international treaty on business and human rights. I would like to recognize and salute Ecuador’s active role and continued commitment to multilateralism.”
9. Various shots, HC leaving the MFA
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“I would also like to recognize Ecuador’s efforts to receive and integrate refugees and migrants from various countries in the region – the approach of the State, but also the valuable work of fellow UN agencies and civil society organizations, and people.”
11. Pan left, Quito
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“The overall situation of profound socio-economic inequality, further exacerbated by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting challenges in people’s enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights. Specific issues in this regard include child malnutrition, and the particular impact of this inequality on rural, indigenous, Afro-descendant and Montubio populations, which often experience racism, discrimination and stigmatization.”
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“The worrying situation in Ecuador’s penitentiary system, where a number of massacres occurred over the last two years.”
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“The rights of children and adolescents, particularly in the context of a troubling tendency to increase the maximum penalties for juvenile offenders.”
15. Wide shot, Quito
16. SOUNDBITE (English) Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“The issue of extractive industries – oil production and mining – particularly in the Amazon region, their potential for social conflict and their impact on the rights of indigenous peoples as well as on the environment.”
17. Various shot, HC meeting Indigenous leaders
18. SOUNDBITE (English) Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“My Office provided technical assistance for the elaboration of the Government’s Public Policy on Social Rehabilitation, adopted last year. We have also collaborated in the elaboration of the Law on the Use of Force, which was adopted again last year, in 2022, which properly incorporates international human rights standards, and could become an example for other countries in the region.”
19. SOUNDBITE (English) Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“At the same time, we are also aware of the need for further and continuous review of progress on the 218 commitments that emerged from that dialogue. I would like to emphasize that dialogue is not a one-off event; it needs to be a process that will address all the elements of injustice and inequality inherited from the past and goes back centuries.”
20. SOUNDBITE (English) Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“We are young people. We make no distinction between who is Ecuadorian and who is not. Our concern is the here and now and to make the world a better place,’” he said. A fitting expression of the values set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.”
21. Wide shot, Quito


STORYLINE:

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk conducted a two-day official mission to Ecuador from Sunday 22 to Monday 23 January at the invitation of the Government.

During his visit, the first by a High Commissioner for Human Rights to Ecuador, Türk met with senior Government officials, representatives of civil society, human rights defenders, and indigenous leaders, as well as representatives of the international community.

He also attended an event hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility in Quito to mark the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The event included a conversation between Türk and Ambassador José Ayala Lasso who served as the first UN High Commissioner for Human Rights from 1994-1997.

At a press conference at the end of his mission, Volker Türk made the following comments: “Thirty years ago, Ambassador Lasso not only played a central role in the negotiations that led to the creation of the Office, but he also laid the foundations for the Office as an institution,” he said.

“Ecuador is a country that has ratified all of the nine international treaties that represent the pillars of international human rights law. On the international scene, it has also taken the leadership on issues such as the efforts to achieve a binding international treaty on business and human rights. I would like to recognize and salute Ecuador’s active role and continued commitment to multilateralism,” the High Commissioner said.

“I would also like to recognize Ecuador’s efforts to receive and integrate refugees and migrants from various countries in the region – the approach of the State, but also the valuable work of fellow UN agencies and civil society organizations, and the warm reception by the Ecuadorian people themselves.”

He met with the authorities, human rights defenders and representatives of the indigenous peoples; Ecuador is facing a number of human rights challenges.

“The overall situation of profound socio-economic inequality, further exacerbated by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting challenges in people’s enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights. Specific issues in this regard include child malnutrition, and the particular impact of this inequality on rural, indigenous, Afro-descendant and Montubio populations, which often experience racism, discrimination and stigmatization,” Türk stated.

“The worrying situation in Ecuador’s penitentiary system, where a number of massacres occurred over the last two years,” the High Commissioner said.

Türk also noted, “The rights of children and adolescents, particularly in the context of a troubling tendency to increase the maximum penalties for juvenile offenders.”

“The issue of extractive industries – oil production and mining – particularly in the Amazon region, their potential for social conflict and their impact on the rights of indigenous peoples as well as on the environment, both locally, in terms of pollution, and globally, in terms of impact on climate change,” he said.