Human Rights for All - From Commitment to Collective Action

And to do something even greater, to make the village larger. A village without borders, a village built on trust, a village built on partnership, a village built on compassion, a village where one of us, if one of us is tested, we all stand together. Because ultimately, our greatest strength is not found in what separates us, It is found in what we can accomplish together. I thank you.

Thank you, Your Excellency, for a very powerful statement. Dear ladies and gentlemen, we need to conclude in two minutes, literally, because of the time limitation, and also the President of Ukraine will speak at the UNGA. But we have a number of high dignitaries, participants from the floor. Let me just name them. Serbia, First Lady of Serbia, Honduras, First Lady of Honduras, United Arab Emirates, Secretary General of the General Women's Union, UNICEF, Global Director of Emergency Program, Costa Rica, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Liechtenstein, Her Excellency and we have one brief remark from the First Lady of Serbia, Mrs. Tamara Vucic. Please, the floor is yours. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Dear Olena, dear colleagues, First Ladies, dear friends, We have all agreed today that we live in the world of uncertainty and unpredictability, and we have agreed that the question is no longer whether we will face profound challenges, but how prepared and how strong we will be when they come. This is a kind of wrapping up today's event. To me, resilience means that even in times of crisis, a society remains exactly that, a society and a community. Social cohesion and national unity are therefore among the foundations of resilience. But unity does not mean uniformity or the absence of different opinions. Quite the opposite. Resilient societies return and turn diversity into strength, building upon what connects them, a shared identity and a sense of belonging. For centuries, gatherings, as we say in Serbia, sabori, have been an important part of the resilience of the Serbian people. In Kyiv, I spoke about Slava, a family gathering in honor of its patron saint, a tradition deeply rooted in our heritage. In a way, sabori are our largest Slavas, like gatherings and celebration of villages, towns, or even an entire country. One such gathering is the Vuk assembly or Vukov Sabor, held since 1933 and regarded as the oldest cultural manifestation in Serbia. It is dedicated to Vuk Stefanovic Karadzic, the great reformer of the Serbian language. And language, of course, is one of the deepest and most enduring expressions of a people's identity. Through our Cyrillic script, We have preserved our national memory for centuries in books, on monuments, and on the walls of our churches and monasteries. There is something else deeply characteristic of my people, a quality we proudly call inat. It is very difficult to translate it, but inat embodies defiance and determination not to yield in the face of injustice or hardship. For centuries, it has been our psychological shield, a way of transforming fear into inner strength and pressure into resistance. Slava, sabor, language, script, inat, they are all threads of the same fabric. They preserve our sense of belonging and help us remain true to ourselves, even in the times of great adversity. Because when we know who we are and where we come from, we can see more clearly where we are going and better understand and respect the differences of others. That is why Serbia does not protect its identity from the world. It proudly brings that identity into the world, open to friendship, cooperation, and mutual understanding. A resilient society is not one that faces no challenges, as we heard today. It is one that, even in times of adversity, does not lose itself and finds its strength in the ability to build the future together. Olena, thank you once again for bringing us together over and over again and for putting new challenges in front of us with new ideas and new initiatives. Thank you.

Thank you, Yacine, for sharing your unique service experience and also your reflections on resilience. Dear ladies and gentlemen, dear colleagues, we need to conclude, and I would like to express our gratitude to each and every participant for sharing with us your national experience of resilience. Please join, who hasn't joined, the vocabulary of resilience. And also, I would like to say huge thanks on my behalf as a moderator to our First Lady, Olena Zelenska, for her, a real symbol of resilience of Ukraine. Thank you for being with us today. Thank you. And I would like to invite everyone for a family photo. Thank you.

Never for law second Excellencies, distinguished guests, welcome to this important event on human rights for all, from commitment to collective action. And let me start by thanking the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and Mexico for organizing this event. And thank you also to our co-sponsors, Estonia, Jordan, and Liechtenstein. Our discussion is timely. Each week brings news of new challenges, artificial intelligence, conflicts, climate impacts. And as daunting as these problems may seem, what's worrying, I know, to the High Commissioner and to all of us, is how little human rights are being integrated, treated often as secondary or even challenged outright. So today, we have an opportunity to consider how human rights can be placed back at the heart of leadership and decision making, a moment that calls for new and cooperative action. And to drive it, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, has launched a new Global Alliance for Human Rights. It's already had its first 100 days, and it's really having ripple effects. And it is intended to bring together people like you and beyond, doers, thinkers, from every region, sector, generation, the vast majority that still believe in the commitments for good and that joint solutions can be found and hope can and should be communicated. So let me introduce our distinguished speakers. Soon we will have Mr. Rob Jetten, the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. He is at the moment speaking in the Security Council, but he's going to join us as soon as he gets here. Mr. Volker Turk, whom you all know, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. His Excellency, Mr. Enrique Javier Ochoa Martinez, Undersecretary for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights of Mexico, who is just arriving. Ms. Denise Dora, COP30 Presidency Special Envoy for Human Rights and a Just Transition. And Mr. Amitabh Behar, Executive Director of Oxfam International. And after our conversation, we'll hear perspectives and commitments from participants across sectors, regions, and generations. And of course, we'll do our best to accommodate everyone who has requested the floor. But we have, I think, an hour, maybe a little bit longer. So we'll do our best. If we're unable to get to your comments, we do encourage you to submit your interventions and commitments in writing. We have colleagues seated near the podium and throughout the room who are available to assist. And written contributions will be posted on the event's dedicated webpage. So to open the meeting, I am very pleased to welcome the High Commissioner for Human Rights. It is good to continue this conversation with you just over 100 days after the Global Alliance for Human Rights was launched in Geneva in June. And we want to hear from you three months on what gives you confidence that this alliance will be genuinely different from what we have and how will it build a broader movement for human rights. And I'd also just like you, because you just issued an open letter on AI, and how human rights fits into this discussion. And since it is really the topic of concern for all of us, if you could address that too. Thank you, Volker.

Well, great. Thank you very much. It's really fantastic to have a specific launch event also of the Global Alliance for Human Rights here in New York, and very grateful to all of you, and in particular the Kingdom of the Netherlands for hosting us here at UN and Mexico, of course, and many others who have joined. And I just wanted to maybe share with you a couple of reflections that, in a way, show you a little bit the genesis of what is behind the Global Alliance for Human Rights. I think many of us who have been working on human rights issues for a very long time share the sentiment that we have been put on the defensive And we all thought, and we came together through various brainstormings, that it is important to be on the offensive, because, of course, we live in a world in disarray, a lot of unpredictability. We live in a world where many people feel very hard done by. They feel frustrated. They feel anxious. They feel also hopeless, to some extent. At the same time, we see that a lot of opinion surveys, if you ask people around the world, especially young people, They care about fundamentally what human rights brings to the table. They may not always express it in these terms, but they do care about it. But sometimes they feel alone, they feel very isolated. They feel that they are not necessarily connected with each other when it comes to striving for a world that is better, kinder, that is at peace, not only with ourselves within societies, but also with other countries or at peace also with the environment. and that respects the environment. And so we thought it's time to actually bring that force of transformation that is behind the human rights movement out to the open and let it unfold and unleash to make sure that we have again the centrality of human rights in policy, in decision making, that member states don't just pay lip service to it or businesses or companies, but actually take it more seriously. And you know, make sure that human rights inform their policies and their decisions in a much more significant way. So it's not about a bureaucratic process because sometimes when we in the UN are very good at inventing all kinds of very bureaucratic processes, it's not meant to be at all like that. It is meant to connect different communities, to broaden the tent within the human rights ecosystem, to ensure that we also defend institutions that were created precisely. And that includes, by the way, the International Criminal Court and the accountability around it, because we have seen these massive attacks against an important pillar of the human rights ecosystem when it comes to accountability. So it is also about mobilization and activation of something that is extremely important. It is also, and that really leads to this open letter on AI, it is also fundamental about human agency and empowerment. I mean, AI has a huge potential to take that away from us, especially when you look in particular at autonomous weapons and the type of drones that are being used at warfare these days. And if you are not actually putting the human agency and the fundamentals of humanity up front, yes, we have very serious questions around it. prompted us to issue this open letter on AI almost two weeks ago now had a huge impact. We saw a lot of discussions because we saw also, of course, what was happening with the industry. And it is not that we did it just because the industry, some of the tech company leaders were talking about it. We have been having this discussion for quite some time because sometimes what gets forgotten is that if these big products are set out and if they are not taking into account human rights due diligence, if they are not looking at impact assessments, then you have a real problem. And we obviously wanted to set out transparency, oversight, the need for governance and regulation as an important element of all of this. So really it's about this whole Global Alliance, this historic arc about the past, why human rights movements are transformational, it informs the present, but really also to look to the future and what human rights, the centrality of human rights, mean for all of us within the international community and beyond.

So just a quick follow-up, because you talked about the future just now. December 2028 is the 80th anniversary of the Universal Declaration. Is that a concrete target? And if you could, If you could just manifest where the Global Alliance would be at that date, what would it look like?

I mean, first of all, we are going to have a big event in Geneva, but we also want to connect with different parts of the world. We really want to bring out the solution orientation of human rights. So if I had a wish list, we have currently 120 human rights cities in the world. I would hope that by the end of '28, we would have 1,000 human rights cities, because we know human rights are locally owned very often, that we would have not only five sports champions joining us, but maybe 100 talking about it, that we would have universal jurisdiction not only in 40 countries, but maybe in 120. mean, because that's an important accountability aspect, that we would have youth groups discussing human rights issues and feeling empowered and feeling mobilized to take that battle further, that we would have, and we will hear later on on the environment, that we would have 150 initiatives on climate justice, that we would have philosophers and intellectuals make the case again and again and again about the universality of human rights, that we would have people protected, the LGBTIQ+ community, that we fight the gender pushback that we currently see, that we include people of African descent, indigenous people, that we see migrants and refugees being respected and not becoming the scapegoat in electoral cycles, that we have more businesses join us. I mean, there's a whole list. And actually, that's the co-creation as well. This is only the beginning. I mean, we should let our creativity and innovation thrive. And there may be many other things, and that's why we also want to make sure that you all can participate, and beyond this room, of course, from civil society, from academic institutions, so that, yeah, we are able to create a new momentum and a new moment for the human rights movement so that we show that this is the future.

Thank you so much, Volker. A round of applause. I think I heard four words there that I think are really key for the Alliance, connect, broaden, defend, and empower. And I think we all like your vision. Before, the Prime Minister still seems to be in the Security Council, and so we are going to skip ahead on the agenda. And now we're going to move to Mexico. And we have His Excellency, Mr. Enrique Javier Ochoa Martinez, Undersecretary for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights. And Undersecretary, what does it take to close the gap between international commitments and also people's lived realities?

Thank you very much, Melissa, High Commissioner. Dear colleagues from the panel, thank you for the opportunity to be able to speak from here. I think to close the gap between commitments we make at international fora and the realities that people experience in their daily lives, we must move from a culture of commitment to a culture of implementation. After all, people do not experience human rights in conference rooms in New York or in Geneva. They experience them in their communities, in schools, in workplaces, at national borders, in digital spaces, and in their homes. For Mexico, the answer is quite straightforward. Human rights commitments become meaningful only when they are translated into public policies, institutions, and services that improves people's lives. International norms provide the vision, but implementation delivers the results. So this requires from our perspective three elements. The first one being political will. Human rights cannot remain confined to the UN, foreign ministries, or multilateral negotiations. They must guide decision making across governments from social policy and education to migration, security, health and environment protection. Second point is strong institutions, accountability and cooperation. International human rights mechanisms are most effective when the recommendations help strengthen domestic laws, institutions and public policies. Human rights have to be, must be measurable, must be monitored and continually advanced. And third, participation. People must be active partners in implementation. And policies are most effective, legitimate, and sustainable when they are developed with meaningful participation of those that they are intended to serve, particularly communities that have historically faced discrimination or exclusion. And when these three elements come together, human rights move from what we create here, aspiration, to reality, from commitments on paper to tangible improvements in people's lives. And this vision is reflected in the principles of what we call in Mexico, Mexican humanism, which places the human person, social justice, and human dignity at the center of public action. And in many respects, this approach brings together the three elements I have just mentioned: political will, strong institutions, and meaningful participation.

Thank you so much. Quick follow-up question. You spoke about the three elements. Do you have an experience, an example from Mexico where this kind of policy was translated into local relevance and where people were active partners? Yes. And then how do you believe the Global Alliance could help scale that experience that you're implementing in Mexico?

Yeah, and thank you very much for that follow-up question. Mexico's experience illustrates that both the importance of implementation and the value of collaboration. And under the leadership of our president, President Claudia Sheinbaum, as you know, it is the first woman to lead our country. Mexico is committed to placing human dignity and human rights at the center of public policy. And one example, as you asked, is the ongoing consultation process with Indigenous peoples and peoples of African descent. to support the effective implementation of the 2024 constitutional reform, recognizing indigenous and Afro-Mexican peoples as subjects of public law. This process reflects a simple but an important principle. Rights are strengthened when those most directly affected help shape their implementation. Another example is our commitment to advancing economic, social, and cultural rights particularly the right to an adequate standard of living and the right to just, favorable conditions of work. Mexico's efforts have contributed to lifting more than 13 million people out of multidimensional poverty since 2018, while raising living standards through substantial increases in the minimum wage and strengthened labor protections. These achievements demonstrate that human rights can and should be reflected in tangible improvements in people's daily lives. At the international level, Mexico's longstanding engagement with the Universal Periodic Review, the treaty bodies, and special procedures has also been an important tool for implementation. We do not view these mechanisms as merely reporting exercises. They are the mirror in which we see ourselves most clearly. They allow us to recognize both our progress and our shortcomings and help identify those areas of public life where further action is needed to make rights a lived reality for all. And this is why we think precisely that the Global Alliance for Human Rights can make a meaningful contribution. This alliance can help bridge the gap between commitment and implementation by providing us with a platform through which governments, civil society, international organizations, and the private sector can exchange practical experiences on how to improve the lives of those who have been historically marginalized, identify successful policies, and build partnerships around solutions that deliver real results for the people. And probably this is the obvious, but no country has all answers. But every country has lessons that can inspire others. And this is why we think that this alliance is so important. So as we move forward towards the 80th anniversary of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, our success should not be measured by the number of commitments we make, but by the numbers of lives that are improved because of those commitments being fulfilled. Thank you.

Under Secretary General of Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights of Mexico for those concrete examples and for that inspiration. It is now my honor to invite his excellency, Mr. Rob Jetten, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, to provide remarks. You have the floor.

Thank you so much. This summer, World Pride was held in my country. And for two weeks, Amsterdam was awash with pink. People came to the Netherlands from all sorts of countries, and in that open celebration of diversity, we were one. It was a powerful expression of something we deeply believe in, that every person should be able to live in freedom and dignity, regardless of who they are or whom they love. But the importance of human rights doesn't stop there. Human rights are not a hobby for a small and privileged group. In fact, human rights affect us all. It is about not having to pay a bribe to a policeman or to be able to practice the religion you want. Human rights protect our freedoms. Human rights give people the opportunity to participate, to contribute, and to shape their own future. They help create stable and prosperous societies, support sustainable development, and strengthen peace and security. Putting human rights at the core of policy is therefore in our self-interest. It is where strategic and normative interests come together. That is the why of human rights. And today, that why is more important than ever. Because in many countries, it's dangerous to show who you really are. Women and girls continue to face discrimination and violence. LGBTIQ+ people, people of color, followers of certain religion, and other minorities face discrimination, persecution, and violence. And we should be honest. Incidents occur in my own country, too. At the same time, we are living through an era of rising conflicts and crises, increasing power politics, and declining respect for international law and international institutions. The rules-based international legal order is clearly under pressure, also during this UNGA meeting. Power politics is gaining ground, but I'm convinced that we, all together, are not powerless. Because our response cannot be to step back. Our response must be to stand up for human rights and to act. And that responsibility lies with all of us. It lies with governments and international organizations, it lies with civil society and local communities, It lies with business, and it lies with each of us. At the international level, the United Nations has a unique responsibility. Human rights are one of the three pillars of the United Nations, alongside peace and security and development. And we should be clear, these pillars reinforce one another. Human rights are not an add-on to the work of the United Nations. They are an essential part of its core mission. And that's why the human rights pillar must be protected and strengthened. Our commitment to human rights cannot stop at the doors of the United Nations or this convention. This is why we have to broaden and deepen our partnerships and alliances based on our shared interest in a rules-based international legal order. And our commitment must also be visible in our countries, our cities, and our communities. And here is where the Global Alliance for Human Rights comes in. can bring people together from all walks of life to rally behind one goal: protecting human rights. Someone dressed in pink at the Amsterdam World Pride needs to join hands with that person paying the policeman a bribe, because they have the same goal: fighting for their shared human rights. Netherlands, with The Hague as city of peace and justice, will continue to stand firmly behind human rights. We will continue to defend them internationally. We will continue to strengthen them at home. And we will continue to support those who work every day to make human rights a reality for all of us. Today we are putting that commitment into action. In support of the Global Human Rights Alliance, we are pleased to announce an additional contribution of 2.5 million euros to support the important work of this amazing initiative to increase accountability worldwide. Thank you very much, and I invite you to join us.

I thank the Prime Minister for that very inspiring statement and also for that meaningful contribution that is going to go so far to help the alliance take off. If we could just ask a follow-up question, I mean, for you personally. We really are facing a time of polarization and skepticism. Any tips as a politician for how to get out there and lead on human rights? Because I mean, I think most people believe or are fearful of speaking up.

Of course, and I think political leaders all around the world are faced by so much hatred online, in the public debate, and sometimes it makes you feel to be all alone. But there are so many of us, and we shouldn't be naive that the attacks on queer rights, on women's rights, or other minorities, they're very well organized by some groups that are very well financed, and they go after For example, trans people, and if they finish that job, they will go after another. But it is a small and well-organized group, and we are with many, many more. We are the bigger group. So if we organize, if we come together, if we are able to finance some of these initiatives, we will be able to win and make sure that human rights prevail. I'm very confident about it. And some of the countries, for example, in Asia, that have been moving very fast, for example, for queer rights, show us that there is a better path than we see in some countries in Northern America, Europe and other continents. So let's come together, let's stick together, and we're going to win this fight.

Thank you, Excellency. We are the majority. I would like to now turn to our other speakers, all prominent in shining a light on human rights issues, but also engaged in finding solutions and also driving change on the ground. Denise Dora is the first UN climate negotiations envoy that has a focus on human rights. She is also co-leading one of the initiatives under the Global Alliance. the Suma Wuma pledging tree for climate-based action. And her work goes directly to one of the ambitions of the Alliance, connecting human rights principles with practical commitments in the areas that will be taken today to take-- that will shape people's lives for generations. So Denise, climate action is often just framed around emissions, targets, and finance, and may I say, often in language that nobody understands. For the people most affected, though, it is about livelihoods, it's about dignity, and about their rights. So how can rights guide climate action, and what human rights solutions are already working to address this crisis?

Thank you very much for the invitation, and it's really an honor and a great opportunity to be part of this conversation. As you mentioned, I'm the Special Envoy for Human Rights of COP30 Presidents. We've been working around issues of climate change and climate emergencies in the last year and a half. And it's really important to have a mandate that focus on human rights to help to build climate solutions. So the idea was exactly take the opportunity of COPs as one of the most important multilateral forums in our days, where 194 states come together to discuss the future of the planet and to make sure that in these negotiations, in the way that these solutions for climate emergencies are built, the human rights principles and the human rights international legislation is present. So this is part of intrinsic principle of building a new world where people will be included and not excluded. So this is a huge concern because we see all over the world lots of moments where the climate emergencies are devastating people's lives. several people die in different contexts. People are losing their jobs, losing their land, losing their means of livelihood. And the solutions to build a new world based on respect to nature and respect to humanity has to be established from the human rights principles. We have been, I'm from a generation that was born and raised under a dictatorship in Latin America, in Brazil, and finding human rights as one of the main instruments and guides to provoke change is really important. So now that we are facing this huge world crisis again, human rights can be the best solution for it. either because we can think about on how to provide transitions, economic transitions with equality and non-discrimination, on how to build negotiations with participation and not exclusion, and also on how to protect environmental defenders, journalists, lawyers, communicators, people living in the territories with programs that are based on protection for them to continue fighting for their rights, their land, their means of sustainable. So that's the idea of this Suma Uma initiative. We thought not only to incorporate in COP30, in the following conferences, the idea of having human rights as a guidance for the negotiations, but also for the solutions that needs to be built from there to be implemented at local level, but also how to protect this political environment with principles of participation, peaceful protest, and presence in the negotiations of women, Afro-descendant population, the idea of building a gender gap plan, a gender plan for action, to incorporate the language of indigenous peoples, to understand that they several times are the solution for the problems that we have. This is all human rights, not only at high level in tables of negotiation, but also it is translated into real and concrete life of billions of people in the world. So that's our, maybe our challenge and our task and our commitment at this moment.

Maybe just to follow up on how you think this Pledging Tree initiative could benefit the Global Alliance and maybe inspire a global movement in this direction.

One of the One of the things that we've learned in this process of incorporating human rights into the language of COP negotiations. So I will highlight two things. One, during the negotiations, the countries are there, representatives are there, and we have to remind them, they have ratified the conventions, the human rights convention. We have reminded them that they have ratified the economic, social and cultural convention, the civil and political convention, the women's rights convention, so that when they start working in a language about climate change, they have to incorporate the commitments, the legal commitments that they already have. It's not vague to ratify a convention. It needs a parliament, it needs a government, it goes to the General Assembly. It's a lot of legal process, so we need to remind again and again and in every COP about that. And the second part of it is every negotiation has to lead to an implementation policy. So in thinking about that, Suma Uma is our idea to have a legacy from COPs on concrete examples of what the states are doing, public policies in different places. Academics are building knowledge around how to implement a just transition process for climate change. Women's rights movements are building a lot of principles and concrete examples. And this is what Sumauma. Sumauma is the tree of life in the Amazon region. It's a big tree that save water for the moments where the rest of the field around is needing for water. And then she releases the water. We discovered recently that there is Sumauma in Ethiopia as well. So it's probably there are other Suma Umas, this big life, tree of life in other parts of the globe. So, but the example is how a tree can protect the fundamental principles of life. And that's why we connect with the idea of human rights. And we are building a library of very concrete examples about what is going on in several different countries that incorporate human rights as a basis for climate solutions. I will give one concrete example from my country, which is the program, the protection program for human rights defenders and environmental defenders, journalists and lawyers, which is a program that recognizes that these people are under threat because they are protecting natural resources and that they need to be protected from the state. So if we have protection programs for environmental defenders in different parts of the world, we would probably have less killings, less impunity, much more people feeling confident to protect their own territories. So this is a climate solution based on a very, very important human rights principle with the protection of life. And and that's the this idea of the Suma Uma three. It's the collection of concrete examples and commitments from the states that will lead to build much better climate solutions for the world. So thank you very much again.

Thank you so much. We need many more Suma Uma trees. Very good. So let's thank you very much, Denise. Let's now turn to those working on the ground. Amma Toubbeh has been has seen the extraordinary courage and resilience of communities and of human rights defenders. But there is also increasing political division, shrinking civic space and skepticism of institutions. And that makes the question not only how to defend human rights, but how to strengthen the people and the actors that work for them today, maybe also building on what Denise and also the Prime Minister said.

Thank you. It's a huge privilege to be here. Very grateful to Netherlands, Mexico, High Commissioner, and super delighted that we are part of the Alliance on Human Rights. So thank you for this initiative. And I'm glad you're framing the question both in terms of people who are skeptical and people who oppose. And I'll try and respond to that. But let me start first by paying a tribute, homage to more than 3,000 humanitarian workers who have been killed in the last three years in conflict zones. And this continues. On a daily basis, human rights activists get killed for asking for their land records, fighting against corruption, for just seeking basic information, or for asking for reproductive rights. So that's what we are seeing. I wanted to start from there and ensure that we recognize that human rights is essentially about challenging unjust power relations. And that's really the critical conversation, and it's important to underscore that human rights is about fighting indignity. It is about fighting for justice. It is ensuring rights for everyone. And this is really about reclaiming that narrative, that this is not a technocratic conversation happening only in the UN rooms. This is really what touches the daily lives of everyday people. And that's going to be the first important step at this moment that we reclaim that narrative and we re-communicate in a different way. The second I would say, I think we do need to recognize that the context has changed dramatically. We live in times where inequalities have become absolutely obscene. You have 3,000 billionaires who own $18.3 trillion, which is the GDP of China. And on the other hand, you have more than 800 million people actually sleeping hungry. They don't get three square meals a day. That's the level of inequality. But the Oxfam report says that these super-rich people are not happy now just being rich. This is about their buying power, this is about oligarchies. So when you have oligarchies, how do you now re-communicate human rights? I think it's really important to, again, highlight human rights is that framework. It is that bulwark against these oligarchies. It is the bulwark against unjust accumulation of power. And this is really, for common people, one of the most powerful tools, and I think that's gonna be really critical. And I just want to still go back to what you said, people who oppose. I think people who oppose, I think as the Prime Minister said, let's take them directly head on. They need to understand that the majority of the people are going to be with justice and with human dignity. So that's the path ahead for us.

we can clap, because I'm going to ask you a follow up, because I think that was that. But still, we can still clap. Yes, because, I mean, it's actually astonishing what your organization always uncovers about the billionaires, the oligarchy and the power that they have. Again, you also focused on the fact that the majority is actually not them. And maybe the majority, from what we see a lot in our polling is that the majority doesn't recognize that they are the majority. They think that they're in the minority. So how can we use the Global Alliance, build a human rights movement where people realize, actually, I'm not alone having these just basic human rights beliefs and being a champion of human dignity?

Thank you. Thank you for the question. And I would talk of two specific ideas. One, I've already said that, and I'm really happy that that resonates with what the panel has already said. I think this is a moment where we must recognize human rights is not just about the legality of it. It's important, but it is not just the legality of it. So how do we convert, and that's where I think the alliance can play a super important role, converted from a technocratic, legal-centric approach to a people-centric approach. People have to be at the center of human rights discourse, and that's the core idea of human rights. So I'm sure as this alliance grows, that would be, I think, one of our central endeavors. And once we do that, the majority will recognize the agency that this framework provides. But the second, and again, I think the High Commissioner said that really eloquently, it is important to recognize that this is not going to be, just to link back to my previous point, there are people who oppose it. The Prime Minister talked of it. I think this is not going to be just a battle of the people who sit currently in the human rights movement. We need a much broader alliance. a rainbow coalition where we must ensure that it's people who are working on human rights, on climate justice, on gender justice, academics, lawyers, media people, they all need to come together because they all believe in a just society. So it's really gluing together, bringing together multiple voices under this broad rubric of human rights, and I'm absolutely sure we will have an equal and just world.

Thank you, Amitabh. And I think the Global Alliance is a rainbow coalition. It's exactly as described. So thank you very much. And now we would like to bring more voices and commitments into the conversation and hear what advancing human rights could mean in practice. We hope to hear from most of you in the spirit of the Global Alliance from different regions, sectors, and generations. And of course, we are going to ask you to adhere to time so we can hear as many voices as possible. And before turning to our distinguished representatives from member states and also some other NGOs that we have on our list, we would like to acknowledge the youth representatives who have joined us here today to share their aspirations and ideas for action through the Global Alliance. We have Ms. Emma van Nieuwenhuizen. I hope I pronounced her name correctly. Who is the UN Youth Representative of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, who will deliver a joint statement, followed by Ms. Naranzaya Batsaikan, climate innovator from Mongolia. The floor is yours.

Thank you. I believe a picture can change the world, because look around this room. Nearly everything we know about the topics we discuss, we know because of the individuals standing their ground to get our facts. So today, I will not be speaking for myself. To the best of my ability, I will let my voice do justice to those who are not in this room today, but whose work helps us to understand and know what is needed. Riska Munawara is based in Indonesia, and she photographs the way in which people go on as conflict and injustice arise. This photo is taken through the rain at a public caning, and it shows a young generation of women who live with inequality and oppression. Clarence Siffray is from Haiti. He captures the human elements behind the statistics of an ongoing crisis. Because as he put said, it is about real people trying to survive and hold on to their dignity. This picture is of a 16 year old girl, Jean-Baptiste, who was shot in the face due to gang violence. Gershon Ndebo. has known nothing but successive wars in the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo since the day he was born. In his words, "Seeing my city filled with body bags was the worst scene I've ever witnessed." And now he's asking us if his picture will change our collective understanding or if it will simply allow us to look away once more. Think about that question. In a world where independent journalism is under constant attack and AI is coming up, these young storytellers are moving mountains to defend our public values. In bearing witness, they give us the opportunity to walk the needed miles in their shoes and use that perspective to inspire change. That's the commitment we need to make as this Human Rights Alliance. So please, Let these pictures spark a conversation. Carry them forward because this is how a picture has the power to change the world. It starts with whoever is looking, and that is you. Thank you.

Thanks so much, Emma. Now, Naren Sayer.

Thank you, Madam Moderator, Excellencies, and distinguished colleagues. I speak as a climate innovator and founder from Mongolia, and more importantly, on behalf of a generation that will live longest with the decision we make today. The General Assembly has recognized the right to a clean, healthy, sustainable environment. It reminds us that climate action and human rights go hand in hand. When we protect the land, water, air, we also protect dignity, livelihoods, and the rights of our future generations. I believe this is where human rights can offer real solutions, real hope to young people. The Global Alliance gave us a valuable opportunity to build on this, and I would like to share a few ideas. First, we warmly encourage governments, business, civil society to bring young people into decision-making spaces. where policies are shaped and resources are allocated. Our experience and energy can make these decisions stronger. Please bring us on board. And second, many young innovators from global youth, including me, are already building solutions in the climate, in the AI spaces, protecting human rights alongside. With the support of the Alliance, we hope they can connect with finance, partners, local communities, so that good ideas can grow into global action from local action. Towards the 80th anniversary of the Universal Declaration, I'm glad to commit to advancing climate as a human right in my work and to inviting more young voices civil society voices from Mongolia and beyond to join this alliance. As Emma said, it starts with us. Thank you.

Thank you both so much for those inspiring speeches. We are now going to move on to the list of speakers and I'm going to start with the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Liechtenstein, Miss Sabine Monauni.

Excellencies, dear colleagues, first of all, I would like to thank the youth representatives for their inspiring and encouraging interventions, and they motivate us to stand up for human rights and to defend them. Thank you very much. Liechtenstein is proud to co-sponsor this event and thanks the High Commissioner, the Netherlands and Mexico for convening us today. The strength of the human rights system does not depend on the support of any one country alone, but on the willingness of all of us to defend it. Human rights belong to every person, everywhere, simply by virtue of being human. As we have heard from the distinguished panel, this fundamental premise of the Universal Declaration is increasingly under strain. It is therefore not enough for states alone to reaffirm their commitment to this core pillar of the United Nations. Other relevant stakeholders, including civil society, youth, business and academia, must be equal partners in defending human rights as part of the response to today's most urgent global challenges. The Global Alliance for Human Rights offers a genuine platform for governments and non-governmental stakeholders alike to translate commitment into practice. And Liechtenstein intends to be an active partner in that effort. Let me name three commitments we bring to this alliance. First, the organization of and participation in discussions on how ongoing reform efforts at the United Nations can serve as an opportunity to strengthen the human rights pillar. Second, continued financial support for the UN human rights system as the largest per capita donor to the Office of the High Commissioner. And third, the protection of civic space, including by hosting an annual human rights dialogue with all Liechtenstein-based non-governmental organizations. As Member States advance the UN80 reform process, we believe that human rights deserve a place at its very center. Through collective efforts to strengthen the human rights pillar, we can help ensure that 2028 will indeed be a moment of renewed action, not a missed opportunity. Thank you.

I thank the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Liechtenstein, and it is now my pleasure to ask Uzra Zeya, President and Chief Executive Officer of Human Rights First, to take the floor. Thank you.

This global alliance could not come at a more critical time for a multilateral human rights system under siege. The US government campaign to dismantle the International Criminal Court and bully states parties to withdraw from the Rome Statute jeopardizes decades of progress to ensure accountability for atrocities. US retreat from other key multilateral human rights norms and institutions, including the Human Rights Council and the Universal Periodic Review, undercuts the spirit of collective problem solving that underpins this grouping and the UN itself. Human Rights First is laser focused on the human toll of this US retreat, documenting serious abuses against refugees and migrants in US detention, denial of due process to non-citizens seeking protection, and the forced transfer of people to third countries with well-documented records of systemic human rights abuses. We urge all countries party to or contemplating such agreements to reexamine them and refrain from any actions that violate refoulement, their treaty obligations, and human rights commitments to regional bodies. Against such headwinds, we urge Global Alliance governments to reaffirm and uphold commitments to international human rights treaties, including the Refugee Convention, which marked its 75th anniversary here at the UN this morning, as well as to institutions like the ICC, OHCHR, UNHCR, and the UPR. For our part, Human Rights First co-leads a cross-regional coalition of organizations helping to strengthen treaty adherence and improve implementation. Finally, given devastating global foreign assistance cuts, we must bolster diplomatic and direct funding support for human rights defenders and better heed their advice. Together, we can make a decisive difference. Thank you.

I thank Ms. Zeya from Human Rights First for her statement. And now we'll turn to the Undersecretary for Global Affairs of Estonia, Ms. Meena-Liina Lind.

Thank you so much, and honored to be with all of you here, and especially with these inspiring youth voices. Also, of course, wholeheartedly we support the High Commissioner's vision of mainstreaming human rights across the whole UN system. And for us, it's more than an institutional reform, because human rights must be part of the language on peace and security, development, technology, climate, and the future of our societies. Rights become real when people experience them in daily lives, at school, at work, in healthcare, and in their relationship with the state. Estonia knows both the fragility of freedom and the transformative potential of digitalization. As technology changes how people live and exercise their rights, our task is to make sure that human rights shape this change, rather than follow it. This matters particularly for young people, for whom the digital world is simply part of life. Estonia stands ready to contribute to the Global Alliance. Our answer is education. Through our AI Leap, we are bringing AI tools and AI literacy into schools and empowering teachers and students to use technology wisely, critically, and responsibly. Young people should not only know how to use AI, but how to question it, recognize its risks, and understand its impact on people and society. Estonia's strong results in the Programme for International Student Assessment, the PISA test, that measures 15 years old ability to use the reading, mathematic and science knowledge and skills to meet real life challenges gives us a reason to be very confident. AI Leap helps to prepare them for the future. This is Estonia's commitment to connect technology with education and empower the next generation to shape the future. Thank you so much.

I thank her excellency. the Under-Secretary for Global Affairs of Estonia. And I would now like to give the floor to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Montenegro, Mr. Ervin Ibrahimovic. Mr.

Prime Minister, dear High Commissioner, distinguished colleagues. I thank the organizers, the Netherlands and Mexico, along with the Office for Human Rights, for demonstrated leadership and commitment in strengthening the international human rights system at a time of growing global challenges. Montenegro has already extended its support to the establishment of the Global Alliance, as I have the honor to announce at the HRC high-level segment in February this year. The global state of human rights is under severe strain and hard-won progress is at serious risk. Human rights are not an optional aspiration. They are the foundation of peaceful, inclusive and resilient societies and an essential pillar of peace, security and sustainable development. Therefore, we understand the Global Alliance for Human Rights as an important platform to strengthen collective action. share good practices, support implementation of international human rights obligations, and ring in for the universality of human rights. We firmly believe that protection and promotion of human rights is a shared responsibility. No country can address today's complex challenges alone. Montenegro remains committed to working with partners across region to advance equality, combat discrimination, strengthen the protection of vulnerable groups, in particular women and girls, and ensure that no one is left behind. We will invest more efforts in creating environment to protect and ensure the independent work of human rights defenders, journalists, and civil society actors. The alliance and its vision of governments that are accountable, societies that are inclusive, economies that are fair, innovation that serves people, and trust that underpins institution is both necessary and urgent. As we move forward with this initiative, let me assure you of our strong commitment to working together in good faith to strengthen the alliance as a platform not only for dialogue, but also for concrete action that delivers meaningful improvements in people's lives. Thank you.

I thank His Excellency the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Montenegro. And I would now like to ask Ms. Agnes Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International, to take the floor.

Thank you very much. Thank you, Your Excellencies. I'm very, very pleased to be here. Thank you, High Commissioner, for bringing us together and for creating the Global Alliance for Human Rights. Amnesty International welcomes the initiative and the ambition behind the initiative to put human rights at the center of political decision-making and to build a broader constituency capable of defending them. As previous speakers have highlighted, there could not be a more crucial times. Predators are seeking to reverse the course of history. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind and in the mind of Amnesty International that this is a challenge that we are confronting and those predators are right here, or they were right here today, and some will be still here today, yesterday. They are seeking to normalize wars, to replace them with, to replace diplomacy with wars, to reject universality, to reject equality. They are threatening and they are blackmailing. So this initiative matters, as are all other initiatives right now, all other attempt at creating collectively, attempt to protect the rule-based legal order and multilateral actions. And I want to thank all the states that are saying no to the predators. It takes courage right now, and I know there is a lot of fear, including at the United Nations. So please do know that your courage is being noticed. We do know that there are fears. We also do know that collectively you can do far more. And that's why it's important that we are all joining in the attempt right now, including this one. Amnesty International is, of course, behind this. Our mandate is human rights. We have 60 years of history. Right now, our contribution to Volker's initiative will be focused on bringing the Amnesty movement, but also bringing a new initiative that we have called Constellation 2048, which is to demonstrate that to resist the attempt to reverse the course of history, we need to keep imagining, we need to keep creating and imagining what the incredible people of 1948 did for the world. Let's do that for the new generations. Let's be as brave, as foresighted, as visionary as the 1948 generation was, and that is what we will try to do and bring along everyone who is prepared to say no to the predators and to keep creating a world for the future generation that we just heard from. Thank you.

I thank Agnes Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International, for that rousing statement. And now I would like to ask the Honourable Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs of Bangladesh, Mr. Asad Uddin Aman, to take the floor.

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, I thank the government of Mexico and the Netherlands and OAS, CHSR for convening this event. I also thank the distinguished panelists for their insightful interventions. Bangladesh today stands at a moment of democratic renewal. The findings of OAS-HRS 2024 fact-finding mission on Bangladesh remind us of the painful consequences when human rights, democratic freedoms, and accountability are undermined. They also reinforce our resolve that such a slaughter is never repeated in our country. In only 20 days, around 1,400 people were shot dead. Around 30,000 people were permanently impaired. Some of them lost their eyes, arms, legs, and all this happens in July Revolution 2024. and OCHR had played a very vital role in restoring democracy in our country. Against this backdrop, our people spoke through the ballot on 12 February. This shows a democratic path where institutions are accountable, fundamental freedoms are protected, the rule of law prevails, and human dignity is at the heart of governance. With that overwhelming mandate, The government of Prime Minister Tarik Rahman has begun building a democratic, inclusive, and human Bangladesh. In just six months, this vision is already touching lives. The family card is expanding social protection and women's economic empowerment. The farmer card is supporting farmers, including women peasants. expanded access to education, healthcare, and employment is improving opportunities for all. However, lasting change requires a strong legal foundation. Just two weeks ago, our parliament enacted legislations on the prevention and remedy of enforced disappearance, and also on the National Human Rights Commission Act 2026. We amended property law to protect the lifetime rights of elderly parents. We are also reforming our cybersecurity framework to better safeguarding freedom of expression, challenging the AI issues in our new generations. With these words, I once again thank the organizers and to give me opportunity to speak on this August gathering. Thank you.

I thank the Honourable Minister of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs of Bangladesh for that testimony. And I'm going to switch the moderator. I'm having to shift to another moderating event, and I'm very pleased to give that role to the Assistant High Commissioner, Claudia Fuentes Julio.

Thank you. Let me try to drive you as smoothly as Melissa in this event. The next speaker is Mr. Jan Weyland, Global Head of Government and Public Affairs, Philips.

Thank you, distinguished guests. Thank you very much for the opportunity to speak. Philips is an innovation and med tech company set by core values that align very well with human rights, and we've embodied that in our mission to improve the lives of 2.5 billion people. And let me assure you that together with Philips, there are many, many companies out there that really value human rights and embed that in everything they do to uphold those. And I think we can do more to be creative, to work together, to have better impact on how we respect human rights. But Human rights are complicated. We need to be very creative, but we also need to talk. Let me try to be a bit controversial. The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights tell that the government have the duty to protect and business have the duty to respect human rights. But I don't think that always works. We need to mess it up a little bit and start to take each other's responsibility more seriously and share them, especially if you want to have impact beyond the scope of your own organization and you want to have impact at societal scale. Too often it is attempting to take a legalistic approach, as Oxfam already said, instead of taking a human rights approach. Let me illustrate it by a couple of challenges I'm grappling with that go beyond that legalistic approach. So we have a duty to respect the working conditions in our own operations and in our supply chains, fair wages, non-discrimination, et cetera. That's of course too complex for one company alone to achieve that. So we work together with other companies and we work together and have made the impact on millions and millions of workers around the world. Until one big member state of the United Nations decided to put the organization on a sanctions list that was actually facilitating all of this work, putting our work in jeopardy. We cannot solve that as business. We need governments to help out there. The second challenge, access to care is a human right. and we cannot discriminate in terms of access, quality, diagnosis and treatment. So what if there's unequal access or unfair access? I was going to talk about the legitimized pain or torture, if you like, of mammography and breast cancer screening, but I decided to talk about something else which I know better. It is about access to cardiovascular health for women. It takes six times longer for a woman get diagnosed and treated for cardiovascular disease than for a man. Is that a human rights issue? And if we are one of the biggest cardiovascular companies in the world, should we take that up as a human rights issue or is it just a business opportunity? I think these are challenges that we need to work on together and discuss. I cannot respect the human rights alone. You cannot protect them alone. But together we can be creative and teaming up because human rights is not just my business, it's everyone's business. Thank you.

Thank you so much for the statement, Global Head of Government and Public Affairs, Phillips. Let me continue with His Excellency Mr. Chang Wook Jin, Deputy Minister of Multilateral and Global Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Korea.

Thank you. Excellencies, globally, we are witnessing a crisis of trust, conflicts, deepened divide, Technology without proper safeguards can amplify discrimination and spread false information. Inequality undermines on the dignity itself. Against this backdrop, this alliance must be more than a platform for dialogue. It must be a vehicle for concrete action grounded in the rights and dignity of every person. In this spirit, Korea emphasizes on the three priorities. First, human rights must be localized. They must be implemented where they are most directly experienced, in our cities and communities. As a main sponsor of the Human Rights Council resolution on local government and human rights, Korea strongly supports expanding the Human Rights Cities movement to 1,000 cities by 2028. We are proud to have helped develop the OHA-CHR guidance on the framework to embed the rights into local governments. Second, human rights must guide our digital future. Artificial intelligence and emerging technologies are reshaping human experiences for better and worse. They can amplify discrimination, enable surveillance, spread misinformation, and concentrate power. As a lead sponsor of the resolution on new and emerging digital technologies and human rights, Korea advocates for digital change that is transparent, human-centered, and firmly grounded in international human rights standards. Third, we must deliver measurable results by 2028. This alliance should commit to concrete targets, making human rights impact assessments on the standard practices in digital context and bringing real improvement in access to justice, freedom of expression. This alliance must translate that dignity into concrete reality for all people. As former UN Secretary General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon reminded us, quote, "Human rights are the foundation of human dignity and cornerstone of peace and progress." Korea stand ready to support all this noble endeavor. Thank you.

Thank you to the representative of the Republic of Korea. Let me now give the floor to Her Excellency, Ms. Isabelle Rome, Ambassador at Large for Human Rights, France.

High Commissioner, Minister, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, our warmest thanks to the Office of the High Commissioner, the Netherlands, and Mexico for holding this event. Whilst human rights are now being used as a bargaining chip in regions affected by conflict and destabilisation, and whilst we are the target of political rhetoric that would have us believe that human dignity is an ideological or biased concept, we stand firm. The global Alliance for Human Rights is a concrete embodiment of this determination, and I would like to congratulate the Office of the High Commissioner for this crucial initiative. France expressed its support for the Global Alliance for Human Rights at an early stage following its launch in June 2026. I would like to reaffirm France's support to this initiative, and we share the ambition to reaffirm the absolute, universal, and indivisible nature of fundamental rights and freedoms. Our common objective is clear. In order to push back against the backlash, we must not let the spirit of defeat spread. We need to unite and mobilize around a positive and proactive agenda in favor of human rights and their universality. In the run-up to the anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, this alliance is a precious tool for mobilizing and reaffirming the absolute universal and indivisible nature of fundamental rights and freedoms through rapid response mechanisms to crises, particularly in conflict zones where traditional protection mechanisms are often ineffective or non-existent, bringing together all stakeholders, states, local authorities, civil society, youth, universities, and the private sector in order to promote a culture of human rights, innovating and addressing emerging issues, notably artificial intelligence. You can count on France's utmost support. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Frans. Let me now give the floor to Mr. Philippe Bolibon, Executive Director, Human Rights Watch.

Thank you. Thank you, High Commissioner, for your initiative. We believe it's very timely. We believe it's a really dangerous moment for the human rights movement. It's under attack in many parts of the world. It feels at times a bit like an existential threat to what our organizations are trying to achieve, and it's good to see the UN trying to answer this moment in the middle of what's almost a perfect storm with powerful countries like the US, like Russia, like China, where times are conspiring to try to undermine global institutions that are there to advance justice, that are there to advance human rights, which is very dangerous to our project. We see democracy receding around the world for 20 years in a row. The world is becoming more and more autocratic. That's very dangerous for the human rights movement. And then there is what the UN Secretary General calls a world on fire, more wars and conflicts today than at any point since Second World War. And many of these conflicts marked by mass atrocities, war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide in Darfur, in the Sahel, in the DRC, in Ukraine, in Gaza, in the West Bank, The list goes on and on and on. And those are the very crimes that the UN had promised 20 years ago, a bit more than 20 years ago, to not tolerate anymore with the responsibility to protect. So clearly, a really dangerous time for the human rights movement. But I realize we are not here to admire the problem. We are here to offer some practical solutions. So two ideas I would put on the table. One, which we've worked with very closely with my colleague from Amnesty International and other NGOs, which is the idea of a global alliance of countries that will rise up in this moment to protect human rights and democracy, to protect the institutions on which we rely as a human rights movement to protect rights. The Prime Minister of Canada, Mark Carney, has put some interesting ideas on the table. The partners for multilateralism is one of them. We need in this moment for governments still believe in democracy, in human rights, to come together and try to protect the system that took decades to build up. It's a dangerous time. Second one, the ICC, the International Criminal Court. A few weeks ago, the U.S. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, promised to dismantle the court brick by brick. And he means it. And the U.S. is taking steps in that direction. It's an existential threat for the ICC, one of the greatest achievements of the human rights movement. We need to see countries rise to its defense now. Human Rights Watch is doing its part with other organizations. We are suing the Trump administration in US court to try to strike down the sanctions regime. We welcome the statements from the foreign minister of the Netherlands. raising the possibility of using the blocking mechanism to blunt the sanctions in Europe, but that's not enough. The ICC has 125 members. We need to see them come together in this moment and protect the court, or maybe tomorrow it won't be there anymore. Thank you.

Thank you. Let me now give the floor to His Excellency Martin Bill Hermann, Managing Director for Multilateral Relations, European Union.

Thank you very much. Let me start by saying that the European Union really, really welcomes this occasion. We think it is a very, very timely event. Human rights lie, of course, at the heart of the UN Charter and are fundamental to the credibility of the multilateralism. Just sort of three quick points from my side. I mean, I think At a time when rights cannot be taken for granted, if they ever could, we must reaffirm that respect for human rights is not only a principle in itself, but a foundation for resilient societies, for inclusive and sustainable development, and ultimately, lasting peace. Human rights are firmly anchored in the EU treaties and remain central to the Union's policies and action, both internally and externally. And we will continue working with partners across regions and sectors, in government, in civil society and private sector to, how should I put it, turn rights into realities. That was my first point. My second is that as we advance UN reform and renewal, human rights must remain an equal and integral pillar of the United Nations. A stronger UN requires a strong and might I add an adequately funded human rights architecture, with human rights integrated across its work from conflict prevention and development to ensuring that AI serves people and their rights. Now, and in this context, the High Commissioner's independent mandate and the ability of his office to work effectively are more important than ever. You can count on the European Union as a steadfast partner, and High Commissioner, we are proud to support the Global Alliance for Human Rights. Now, my third and final point, and others have mentioned it today, is that we should remember and remind ourselves that there remains a strong demand for human rights, for democracy, rule of law, and accountable governance worldwide. And many continue to look to the UN and to the EU, and in fact, to all of us in this room, to uphold these universal principles and to counter the challenges to them, and to showcase the transformative power of human rights as an indispensable enabler of peace, of security, and sustainable development. Thank you.

Thank you, European Union. Let me now give the floor to Ms. Maria Noelle Beretta, Director of Multilateral Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Uruguay. So, let me then take the time and give the floor to the Vice Minister and the Secretary of State for Foreign and Security Policy, Finland.

Excellencies, distinguished colleagues, Finland sees the Global Alliance as a timely initiative. We welcome the Alliance's inclusive and multi-stakeholder approach. In our own country, an active civil society, broad public participation and close dialogue between public authorities and other stakeholders have been important strengths in advancing human rights, democracy and resilience. Strong partnerships are equally essential in responding to current threats to human rights. Independent and pluralistic media play a vital role in safeguarding transparency and accountability. Finland advances this agenda through its co-chairpersonship of the Media Freedom Coalition. We also serve on the board on the newly established multi-stakeholder Lighthouse Fund, which supports human rights defenders. They, together with other civil society actors, must be able to work safely and freely. Another important priority for Finland is the inclusion and empowerment of persons with disabilities. In this regard, I would particularly like to highlight our support for the UN Disability Inclusion Strategy on this. It remains our shared duty to work towards a world where human rights can be enjoyed equally by everyone. Thank you.

Thank you for the statement. Let me now give the floor to the Vice Minister of Multilateral Affairs of Venezuela.

Excellencies, nearly eight decades ago, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights expressed a conviction that remains as relevant today as ever, that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. Today, as polarization, conflicts, inequalities, and new global transformations put that aspiration to the test, our response cannot be less multilateralism, but rather more dialogue, more cooperation, and a greater capacity to translate our commitments into concrete results. Venezuela believes that this effort must be grounded in the universality, indivisibility, and interdependence of all human rights. It also requires a strong, impartial, and trustworthy institutions capable of acting without politicization, selectivity, or double standards. Otherwise, this would only serve to further erode trust in the international system while distorting the very purposes for which these institutions were created, including the very spirit of human rights. Having said so, we value initiatives as this Global Alliance that may contribute to expanding inclusive spaces for dialogue and cooperation based on mutual respect. Mr. High Commissioner, Excellencies, as we approach the 60th anniversary of the International Covenants and the 80th anniversary of the Universal Declaration, we have a unique opportunity to renew not only our commitment, but also our capacity to effectively fulfill them. May dignity be our common compass, dialogue and cooperation our method, and the full and effective enjoyment of all human rights by all our horizon. I thank you very much.

Muchas gracias. Let me now give the floor to Mr. Dydar Temenov, Director, Department of Multilateral Cooperation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kazakhstan.

Thank you, Madam Chair, Excellencies, High Commissioner Turchak. great pleasure to address this distinguished audience today. Kazakhstan fully supports the launch of the Global Alliance for Human Rights. Kazakhstan views human rights, sustainable development, and peace as deeply interconnected and we place special focus on the right to development. Kazakhstan is advancing constitutional and political modernization to uphold human rights in line with the UN Charter and core international instruments. Our new constitution enshrines values of a just Kazakhstan, the concept of a law and order headed by guarantees of rights and freedoms of human. The key human rights novelties into the constitution include protection of personal data, intellectual property, digital rights, Miranda warning, prohibition of arbitrary detention, judicial oversight of liberty restriction, abolition of death penalty, and environmental duties. To be effective, the Global Alliance should complement in our mind the existing international human rights architecture because as we know, we already have very strong legislative base, very strong international human rights standards. The only thing is the lack of real actions on the ground. So we remain and we should make sure that Global Alliance is complementing the existing human rights norms as well as remains open and non-politicized, ensure equitable geographic representation, and encourage voluntary and realistic commitments. Kazakhstan stands ready to work with all partners to turn universal principles into real world action. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Let me thank everyone who shared here a perspective or a commitment, and of course, to each one of our speakers for a very rich conversation. This is the kind of enthusiasm that we want to have for the next two years until we celebrate the 80th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. To the ones that didn't speak, can of course send us in writing, and we will post it online. So having said that, let me give the floor to our High Commissioner for last words.

Hopefully not the last ones, but look, first, no, thank you very much for this, really great. I think we can see we need much more time and we will have more time. I mean, the next thing that we are hoping to do is having a forum in Geneva to take stock of where we are, but also to make sure that it really keeps growing. The organic way of describing it through a tree of life is basically, I think, almost a symbol that could become the symbol for the Global Alliance for Human Rights. But I think it's clear we are in very unprecedented times. We need all hands on deck, and we need to make sure that these hands even go beyond the current ones. And some of the issues that you have raised, very important ones. I think it's precisely that's why we need this dialogue. We need this constructive engagement. And a particular shout out to our young participants. I mean, we have a youth advisory group, which is really important. And we are looking forward to working with you all. Thank you very much.