UN wants $500 million to advance human rights in 2024

The UN rights office said it needed $500 million to fund its work this year to advance  human rights in a world damaged by the "deep scars" of war.

"We are living in profoundly divided times. Conflict continues to spiral in many parts of the world, most recently in the Middle East," UN rights chief Volker Turk told diplomats in Geneva.

"These wars are etching deep scars -- breeding grievances that, without justice, will greatly harm the future of entire nations, driving more polarisation, and creating deeper fractures."

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has 1,962 staff in 91 countries.

The agency said that last year it helped secure the release of 13,476 detainees, undertook 3,664 monitoring missions and contributed to the improvement of laws and policies in 43 countries.

Turk said $500 million was needed to "boost considerably" OHCHR's ability to change lives and address some of the biggest human rights challenges being faces across the globe.

Member states contributed $283.2 million in voluntary contributions to OHCHR last year -- far short of the $452 million requested as the agency celebrated the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The top five donors were the European Union, the United States, Sweden, Germany and Norway.

"We are still falling drastically short of the funding we need to provide human rights solutions that are more effective and wide-reaching," said Turk.

The high commissioner called for countries to put rights at the centre of governance, giving equal weight to civil and political rights as to economic, social and cultural rights.

Turk also urged nations to "end once and for all the cycles of injustice and inequality that have defined our societies for too long".