9th Meeting - 63rd Session of Human Rights Council Human Rights Council Date: 14 September 2026 Language: English Transcript: https://transcripts.un.org/ru/hrc/63/9?lang=en Transcripts available through this tool are created by using automatic speech recognition and are not official records nor official documents of the United Nations. Official records and official documents are available on the Official Document System of the United Nations. --- Speaker 1 [12:48]: Important announcement. Message important. Anuncio importante. Urge from the speakers to give their data quickly to ensure a fast, complete and high-quality translation. To help you. Speakers are kindly reminded to deliver their. Statements at a reasonable pace to ensure complete and quality interpretation. Il. Est rappelé aux orateurs qu'ils doivent. Présenter leurs déclarations à un rythme raisonnable afin de garantir une interprétation complète et de qualité. Se ruega a los oradores que pronuncien sus declaraciones a un ritmo. Razonable para garantizar una interpretación íntegra y de calidad. HRC · Vice-President [14:26]: Good morning, Excellencies, distinguished colleagues. I hereby declare open the ninth meeting of the 63rd session of the Human Rights Council. Excellencies, dear participants, we shall now begin the interactive dialogue with the Expert Mechanism on the Right to Development. The list of speakers will close in 15 minutes. I will now give the floor to the chair of the expert mechanism, to Ms. Joana Maria Ibanez Rivas, to present the report. You have the floor. Expert Mechanism on the Right to Development · Chair · Joana Maria Ibanez Rivas [15:06]: Thank you very much. President, Excellencies, distinguished delegates, In my capacity as Chair of the Expert Mechanism on the Right to Development, it is an honour to present to this Council our annual report, along with two thematic studies prepared by my fellow experts. Since our last report to this Council, the Expert Mechanism held its 12th session in Geneva from the 27th to the 29th of October 2025. It also held its 13th session in New York from the 21st to the 23rd of April 2026. At our 12th session, we convened five focused thematic discussions on the impacts of trade tariffs on the realization of the right to development, on the impact of artificial intelligence on creative industries and cultural rights, on the role of civil society organizations in realizing the right to development at the grassroots level, on public participation as a tool for development, and on the 40th anniversary of the Declaration on the Right to Development. At our 13th session, we held further thematic discussions and substantive debates addressing, among other topics, artificial intelligence, peace and security, the role of regional mechanisms, equality and non-discrimination, the draft International Covenant on the Right to Development, and the participation and inclusion of migrants in development processes. We are grateful for the proactive engagement of Member States and UN entities, as well as intergovernmental organizations, regional mechanisms, national human rights institutions, academia, non-governmental organizations, and other stakeholders throughout both sessions. President, as we present this report, we feel it may be useful to recall the particular contribution that the expert mechanism seeks to make to the work of this Council. Our mandate is to provide the Council with thematic expertise on the right to development, to search for, identify and share best practices with Member States, and to promote the implementation of the right to development worldwide. This mandate is carried out through our annual sessions, thematic studies, study visits, contributions to international processes, and interactive discussions and consultations with Member States, UN entities, regional mechanisms, national human rights institutions, academia and civil society. It is in this spirit that today we present two thematic studies before this Council. These studies identify best practices and recommendations to advance the implementation of the right to development in relation to two pressing global challenges. These thematic studies, who are prepared by former members of the mechanism, are climate finance, vulnerability and responsibility, and artificial intelligence, cultural rights and the right to development. They are contained in documents A/HRC/63/39 and A/HRC/63/40, respectively. The first study looks at climate finance through the lens of vulnerability and responsibility. It calls for climate financing that is grounded in equality, meaningful participation, transparency and international co-operation. It takes stock of recent advisory opinions from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the International Court of Justice on climate change, which have clarified and enhanced legal understanding and obligations regarding climate finance. The study examines the potential and the limits of carbon markets, noting risks to their integrity and credibility, including overstated emission reductions and unequal benefit sharing, and calls for robust safeguards, fair pricing, and carbon strategies that are tailored to national contexts, rolled out in phases and supported by international cooperation in order to strengthen the position of least developed countries in carbon markets, while also considering clean cooking initiatives as a further avenue for climate mitigation with direct health and gender benefits. The study further explores critical minerals as a possible source of revenue for producers in developing countries, noting that the right to development and the right to a healthy environment are mutually reinforcing in this sector. It also calls for stronger South-South cooperation among mineral-rich developing countries in the face of recent disruptions to critical mineral supply chains. It also examines the repatriation of illicit financial flows as a means of supporting climate adaptation and transition. Across all these areas, the study finds that equitable benefit sharing and the active, free and meaningful participation of indigenous peoples, local communities and women are preconditions for climate finance to genuinely serve the right to development. The study calls for embedding these principles across climate governance and finance frameworks so that climate finance reflects both current vulnerabilities and the historical responsibility of states for greenhouse gas emissions. The second study examines the implications of artificial intelligence for cultural rights and the right to development. It naturally recognizes AI's potential to broaden access to creative tools, to preserve cultural heritage, and revitalize endangered languages, while at the same time cautioning that without safeguards, It may undermine creativity, displace human creative labor, reproduce dominant cultural and linguistic patterns, and narrow down the space for diverse cultural expression. These risks are especially significant for developing countries. indigenous peoples and minorities, as well as small-scale cultural producers, who all face unequal access to data, infrastructure, markets and decision-making power. The study pays particular attention to the situation of indigenous peoples, whose cultural heritage is increasingly used to train AI systems, at times without their free, prior and informed consent. It describes this practice as a form of what it terms digital extractivism, and it calls for the recognition of indigenous data sovereignty, community-based data governance, and equitable benefit sharing arrangements. The study recommends that AI governance be grounded in international human rights law and shaped by the right to development, so that it supports inclusive, culturally diverse, and human-centered development, rather than cultural homogenization and the concentration of creative and technological power It also calls for effective accountability and access to remedy for affected communities. The study further calls on states to adopt robust regulatory frameworks, ensuring transparency and human oversight, to reform intellectual property regimes in order to protect creators' interests, and to invest in multilingual data infrastructure. It calls on businesses and business enterprises to conduct human rights due diligence and to ensure transparency in their use of training data. In line with the Declaration on the Right to Development, the study also calls for strengthened international cooperation through technology transfer, capacity building and financial assistance. We trust that both studies will be of practical use to Member States and other stakeholders in advancing the right to development, and we look forward to continuing to draw on your inputs as we work to finalise our forthcoming study on peace, security and the right to development, which is expected in 2027. President, the liquidity situation affecting the United Nations regular budget has had direct and concrete consequences for the implementation of our mandate this year, including the cancellation of mandated country study visits and contributions to international processes. It has also included reduced opportunities for the participation of expert guests in our sessions. Despite these constraints, we have continued to engage with Member States and other stakeholders, including through side events and the development of policy briefs designed to make our thematic studies more accessible to a wider audience. This year's 40th anniversary of the Declaration on the Right to Development is, for the Expert Mechanism, much more than an occasion for commemoration. It is an opportunity to renew political commitment to this right and to translate the principles set out in 1986 into specific action and effective implementation. We also see it as an opportunity to build greater momentum towards the adoption of a draft International Covenant on the Right to Development. Looking ahead, the Expert Mechanism intends to build on this work by finalizing our study on peace, security and the right to development, and by considering, among possible future themes proposed by our newly appointed members, illicit financial flows, indigenous peoples and self-determined development, an adequate standard of living, and the impact of mandatory corporate human rights due diligence legislation on the right to development. We will also continue to deepen our engagement with regional mechanisms and with civil society at grassroots level. We are also preparing for our 14th session, which is to be held in Geneva from the 26th to the 28th of October 2026, and we would welcome very much your active participation in that session. I look forward to our interactive dialogue and to your guidance on the effective implementation of the mandate of our mechanism. Thank you very much for your attention. HRC · Vice-President [27:41]: Thank you. The list of speakers is now closed. I now invite interested delegations to ask questions and to make comments on the report. The speaking time is one minute and 30 seconds for all. I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of the European Union. EU [28:05]: Thank you, Mr. Vice President. The EU thanks the expert mechanism for this presentation. We continue to emphasize that inclusive and sustainable development and the full realization of all human rights are mutually reinforcing. Each state has the obligation and primary responsibility to deliver on that based on the universality, indivisibility, interrelation and interdependence of all human rights. including the right to development with individuals as the central drivers and beneficiaries of development. The existing human rights treaties, mechanisms, and bodies with the centrality of the 2030 agenda are key to guide states to pursue inclusive and sustainable development. The EU, including its member states, is a strong and reliable partner and continues to work together with stakeholders towards these objectives. While the EU reiterates its previously shared strong concerns and pending questions on the current draft of, uh, legal, of a legally binding instrument on, uh, the right to development, we continue being ready to engage constructively in future negotiations and discussions. We share the assessment by the expert mechanism that the AI governance should be grounded in international human rights law. The EU enforces comprehensive risk-based rules and dedicated oversight bodies through the EU AI Act and the European AI Office. EU is party to the Council of Europe Framework Convention on Artificial Intelligence. Thank you. HRC · Vice-President [29:42]: Thank you. I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of Uganda on behalf of the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries, NAM. Uganda · NAM [29:52]: Thank you, Mr. Vice President. Good morning. I have the honor to deliver the statement on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement. At the outset, the NAM expresses its appreciation to the expert mechanism for the important work and reiterate our support to you, particularly on the work and the activities that you continue to carry out in fulfillment of your mandate. The NAM reaffirms that the right to development remains a central player to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and in this vein, the NAM urges all UN Member States to pay particular attention to the right to development in the context of elaboration of their national policies in line with the 2030 Agenda. Vice President Nam continues to call upon the UN and all its specialized agencies, funds, and programs to mainstream the right to development in their respective policies and operational activities, including in the policies and strategies of the international financial and multilateral trading system. This remains central to the realization of the right to development. We remain concerned about the challenges and obstacles confronting the mechanism on the right to development, including the financial constraints, and remind all States that we all have the duty to take steps to facilitate the full realization of the right to development. Finally, we reassure the expert mechanism of continued and unwavering support of the NAM in the execution of your mandate. You can count on us. I thank you. HRC · Vice-President [31:20]: Thank you. I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of Belarus on behalf of a group of countries. Belarus · Group of Friends in Defense of the Charter of the United Nations [31:28]: Thank you, Mr. President. I deliver this statement on behalf of the Group of Friends in Defense of the Charter of the United Nations. The Group of Friends reaffirms the need to translate the recognition of the right to development into its full and effective realization for all peoples. In this regard, we value the contribution of the expert mechanism to examining the challenges that persist and identifying concrete measures to advance its implementation. The full realization of this right requires strengthening international cooperation and solidarity and advancing towards an international environment that enables all peoples to benefit equitably from development. We also consider it essential to consolidate an international framework grounded in the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, including through the adoption of a legally binding international instrument on the right to development. We note with deep concern the obstacles and challenges that continue to impede its full realization, particularly affecting developing countries, restricting their capacities to meet the needs of their peoples and undermining their efforts to achieve sustainable development goals. We therefore reaffirm the importance of addressing as a matter of priority the factors that hinder the full realization of this right. Thank you, Mr. President. HRC · Vice-President [32:58]: Thank you. I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of the Bahamas on behalf of Caribbean Community, CARICOM. Bahamas · CARICOM [33:07]: Thank you, Mr. Vice President. I deliver this statement on behalf of CARICOM states in Geneva. We welcome the expert mechanisms timely study recognizing the profound connections between climate, finance, and the right to development. For Caribbean SIDS, climate change continues to erode development gains and constrain already limited fiscal space. We therefore underscore the importance of the duty to cooperate at the international level, including through adequate, accessible and additional climate finance, technology transfer and capacity building. We appreciate the study's balanced approach to carbon markets. Properly designed, these mechanisms can mobilize resources, support sustainable development, and create opportunities for developing countries. We acknowledge that they require strong human rights and environmental safeguards, transparency, and equitable benefit sharing, and are intended to complement, not substitute, traditional climate and development finance. We equally welcome the focus on illicit financial flows. Efforts to address them must be effective, evidence-based, and proportionate, targeting illicit activity wherever it occurs, while avoiding assumptions based on a country's size or tax model. Tax cooperation assessments must consider current evidence, regulatory standards, and enforcement, and all states should participate equally in shaping global standards. In this regard, CARICOM supports the development of a framework convention on international tax cooperation toward a fair and more inclusive global tax architecture. The right to development demands not only national action, but genuine international solidarity and cooperation. I thank you. HRC · Vice-President [34:37]: Thank you. I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of Kenya on behalf of Group of African States, African Group. Kenya · Africa Group [34:46]: Thank you, Mr. Vice President. I have the honor to deliver this statement on behalf of the African Group. The African Group thanks the expert mechanism for its studies on climate finance and artificial intelligence. The study on climate finance reflects Africa's reality. Africa has contributed the least to climate change, yet remains amongst the most affected. Therefore, climate finance must be adequate, additional, predictable, accessible, with support for adaptation. It must not replace development assistance or increase Africa's debt. Climate action cannot succeed if countries must choose between climate impacts and meeting their developmental obligations. Africa is not only affected by climate change, it's also part of the solution. Our forests, renewable energy and minerals can support the transition, but their value must benefit African people. Carbon markets should be fair and transparent, while Africa should be supported to process its minerals locally, build industries and create employment. Artificial intelligence presents opportunities and risks. It can help preserve African languages, heritage, and creativity. However, unequal access to technology, infrastructure, and data widens inequalities and deepens Africans' dependence. For Africa to fully benefit from this technology, international cooperation, technology transfer, and capacity building are essential, alongside protection for creators and cultural knowledge. Ultimately, digital and climate transitions must advance rather than constrain Africa's right to development. I thank you. HRC · Vice-President [36:18]: Thank you. I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of the Marshall Islands. Marshall Islands [36:24]: Thank you, Mr. Vice President. The Republic of the Marshall Islands thanks the expert mechanisms for its study on aligning climate justice with the right to development. Climate change is an irreversible threat for all of us, but its worst effects fall disproportionately on those who contribute at least. The Marshall Islands stands among those most exposed with the least capacity to respond. Our development gains are being eroded by losses from extreme weather, sea level rise, and the degradation of ecosystems on which our economies and cultures depend. As noted by the expert mechanism, carbon pricing and markets can only serve climate justice when transparent, monitored, and grounded in real additional emissions reductions. Instead of a domestic carbon market, the Marshall Islands and a select few like-minded Pacific Island countries have been championing a mandatory levy on shipping emissions at the IMO. Nationally, we established a mirror trust fund in 2022 for long-term climate resilience and have endorsed the Pacific Resilient Facility, which delivers grant-based finance directly to vulnerable communities without creating new debt. To call for climate finance is to call for climate justice and the realization of the right to development for those on the front lines of this crisis. We urge states to simplify and accelerate access to climate finance for those who need it the most. Kamol Dada, and I thank you. HRC · Vice-President [37:54]: Thank you. I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of Zambia. Zambia [38:01]: Thank you, Mr. President. Zambia welcomes the Expert Mechanism Study on Climate Finance, Vulnerability and Responsibility. Climate change is a global problem requiring concerted global action. Climate finance should therefore be understood not simply as assistance to vulnerable countries, but as a collective investment in a healthier and more resilient planet from which all humanity benefits. For Zambia, this imperative is immediate. Recent droughts have simultaneously affected food. Speaker 18 [38:35]: Mike. Zambia [38:39]: Sorry. For Zambia, this imperative is immediate. Recent droughts have simultaneously affected food production, water availability, and hydroelectricity generation, with consequences for households, industry, public finances, and our broader development aspirations. Zambia continues to invest in adaptation, renewable energy, climate-smart agriculture, forest protection, and innovative financing, including carbon markets. Yet developing countries should not have to choose between financing climate resilience and investing in education, health, infrastructure and poverty reduction. We underscore that climate finance must protect and advance the right to development. It should be accessible, predictable and responsive to national priorities without creating unsustainable debt. Ultimately, climate resilience anywhere contributes to planet's resilience everywhere. The question is therefore not only who should finance climate action, but how we invest collectively today to safeguard our shared future. I thank you, Mr. President. HRC · Vice-President [39:46]: Thank you. I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of Mauritius. Mauritius [39:53]: Thank you, Mr. Vice President. We thank the expert mechanism for its report on climate finance and the right to development. We commend the reference to climate resilience, one of the main components of climate adaptation and an aspect of combating climate change, which has unfortunately not received subsequent financing from the international community, especially for SIDS, LDCs and African countries. Mr. Vice President, whilst the operationalization of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement at COP29 was a positive step in our effort to reduce our carbon footprint, concerns still remain about its effectiveness, impact on local communities, and issues such as double counting and greenwashing. We firmly believe that urgent action in terms of financing should be taken by the international community to address our adaptation needs, immediate decarbonization of our economies, inclusive actions to strengthen resilience, of the most vulnerable youth and women, and also towards eliminating all emissions of gases that cause warming, such as nitrous oxide and fluorinated gases. Private sector participation is imperative to address both adaptation and mitigation actions and achieve the 1.5 degree goal of the Paris Agreement. Mr. Vice President, the extraction and processing of critical chemicals and rare earths, essential to enable the green transition, have a huge environmental impact. There is no universal regulation. Instead, we are subject to a mix of national laws and voluntary norms. Should we not concentrate some of our efforts on the establishment of a global regulation to prevent irreversible environmental degradation? I thank you. HRC · Vice-President [41:32]: Thank you. I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of Nigeria. Nigeria [41:38]: Thank you, Mr. Vice President. Nigeria thanks the expert mechanism for its study on climate finance, vulnerability, and responsibility. The report is timely as developing countries face climate impacts despite contributing least to the crisis. Nigeria agrees that climate finance must be predictable, accessible, and should complement rather than replace official development assistance and other development financing, nor should it increase existing debt burdens. Nigeria notes the potential of carbon markets to support climate action and development. For developing countries to benefit fully, however, these markets must reflect national priorities, operate fairly and transparently, and ensure that benefits reach local communities. the developing countries should also require support. We also require support to participate effectively. At the national level, Nigeria remains committed to a just transition through the implementation of our Climate Change Act and Energy Transition Plan. Our approach seeks to expand energy access, support clean cooking, and promote economic growth. However, ambition must be matched by adequate finance, technology transfer, and capacity building. Finally, Nigeria supports the report's call for developing countries to move beyond the export raw materials towards local processing and value addition. This would create jobs, strengthen industries, and enable resource-rich countries to retain a greater share of their mineral wealth. I thank you, Mr. Vice President. HRC · Vice-President [43:05]: Thank you. I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) [43:13]: Gracias. Thank you, Vice-President. Venezuela welcomes the presentation of the annual report by the Expert Mechanism. We recognise the importance of the mechanism's work for moving towards full realisation of the right to development. The 40th anniversary of the Declaration on the Right to Development is an opportunity for raising awareness about this important human right. That being said, we do recognise that a significant gap remains between its recognition and effective realisation. As the report indicates, structural inequalities, climate vulnerabilities, unfair international economic structures, the persistence of colonialism and its legacy continue to limit the possibilities for development, especially in countries of the Global South. For Venezuela, development is an inalienable human right with both an individual and a collective dimension to it. Its realization requires stepping up international cooperation and solidarity on the basis of respect for the free determination of peoples' and states' sovereignty. Therefore, we welcome the call by the mechanism to overcome structural obstacles and to move towards an international economic and financial architecture that is more just, inclusive and equitable, and that more effectively responds to the needs and priorities of developing countries. Finally, Venezuela reaffirms its firm support for the adoption of an internationally legally binding instrument on the right to development to strengthen its implementation. Thank you. HRC · Vice-President [44:47]: Thank you. I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of Oman. Oman [44:52]: Good morning to you, Vice President. The Sultanate of Oman would like to thank the Expert Mechanism on the Right to Development for this instructive study, which showcases the relationship between AI, cultural rights and the right to development. The Sultanate of Oman is of the view that AI can be a veritable tool to accelerate development and expand access to information, knowledge, as well as innovation, for as long as the gaps in data and computing power, as well as digital infrastructure, do not lead to further inequalities and dependency. We are also of the view that the findings of the report showcase the importance of preserving cultural and linguistic diversity, as well as the importance of protecting local knowledge and guaranteeing equitable co-benefits from AI outcomes. Developing countries have to be co-beneficiaries in these outcomes, and the Sultanate of Oman would like here to ask a question. How can we develop an international cooperation system that guarantees for developing countries, particularly in the AI field fair access to technologies, data, and capacities while guaranteeing linguistic and cultural diversity. The full statement will be in the extranet. Thank you very much. HRC · Vice-President [46:19]: Thank you. I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of Tunisia. I believe they're absent. Now, moving on, I give the floor to the distinguished representative of Bangladesh. Bangladesh [46:39]: Mr. Vice President, Bangladesh thanks the Expert Mechanism for its annual report and welcomes its contribution to advancing the right to development. 40 years after the adoption of the declaration, the right to development remains an unfulfilled promise. Developing countries continue to face deep inequalities, unsustainable debt, climate vulnerability, protectionism, and unequal access to finance and technology. These are not merely economic challenges. They directly restrict the ability of developing countries to shape and pursue their own development pathway. Mr. Vice President, Bangladesh reaffirms that the right to development is a universal and inalienable human right, and people must remain at the center of development. We share expert mechanism view that a legally binding international instrument could operationalize this right. It would strengthen implementation, accountability, policy coherence, and international cooperation. It should complement existing human right instrument, preserve equal status of all human rights, reflect the needs and circumstances of developing countries. Bangladesh therefore supports the early adoption of the draft International Covenant to the right to development. The 40th anniversary should go beyond commemorating the declaration. It should renew our collective resolve to make the right to development a reality for all. I thank you, Mr. Vice President. HRC · Vice-President [48:05]: Thank you. I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of Fiji. Fiji [48:14]: Mr Vice-President, Fiji thanks the Expert Mechanism for its comprehensive report, and we value the mechanism's role in providing practical guidance, methodologies and tools that help translate the right principle into action. As a small island developing state, the right to development is inseparable. From our lived reality, climate change continues to erode development gains, strain public service, and threaten the well-being and dignity of our communities. Rising sea levels, intensifying cyclones, and coastal erosions create persistent obstacles to sustainable development and place disproportionate burdens on our vulnerable groups. We therefore welcome the mechanism focus on addressing structural barriers and strengthening international cooperation. Fiji encourages the mechanism to continue developing tools that help countries access progress, identify gaps, and strengthen national implementation frameworks. A question to the expert mechanism is what further technical guidance can be provided to help states strengthen data systems and indicators for monitoring progress on the right to development, particularly in the context of climate vulnerability and limited statistical capacity. We thank you. HRC · Vice-President [49:40]: Thank you. I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of Ethiopia. Ethiopia [49:48]: Thank you, Mr. Vice-President. Ethiopia aligns with the African Group and NAM statements and thanks the expert mechanism for their comprehensive and timely annual report. Ethiopia reaffirms that the right to development places human beings at the center of development as active participants and beneficiaries. Its realization requires enabling national and international environment founded on genuine international cooperation, solidarity, equality, and respect for national ownership and policy spaces. We note with concern the persistent structural challenges highlighted in the report, including inequality, climate change, debt burdens, unfair economic structures, and technological dividers. Developing countries, particularly those in vulnerable situations, require predictable climate finance, technology transfer, and fair access to global markets and financial resources. Ethiopia welcomes the mechanism's attention to artificial intelligence, peace and security, migration, participation, and non-discrimination. Emerging technologies must be governed inclusively and ethically to ensure that they narrow rather than widen the development gaps. In closing, as we commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Declaration on the Right to Development, Ethiopia calls for renewed political commitment and constructive engagement. I thank you, Mr. Vice-President. HRC · Vice-President [51:17]: Thank you. I now give the floor to the Distinguished Representative of Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia [51:27]: Thank you, President. We've taken careful note of the expert mechanisms and your report, and we support the report's conclusion concerning the need to reaffirm our commitment to this right to tackle the challenges of inequalities, emerging technologies, and geopolitical inequalities. So we must strengthen international cooperation in this area. Saudi Arabia's 2030 vision is an approach to development which is based on investing in people, using technology and innovation for comprehensive development. So we believe that the potential mentioned in the report is compatible with our country's efforts to build a comprehensive artificial intelligence system which serves education and human capacity. The government strives to ensure that AI serves people and development. We also see the link between peace, security, and the right to development. So we must strengthen international cooperation, transfer of knowledge and technology, and exchange of experiences in order to ensure that the right to development becomes a tangible phenomenon and which benefits everybody. Thank you. HRC · Vice-President [52:55]: Thank you. I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan [53:03]: Thank you, Mr. Vice President. We thank the expert mechanism for presentation of this report. Azerbaijan remains firmly committed to advancing climate action that's equitable, inclusive, and supportive of sustainable development. Under Azerbaijan's presidency, COP29 achieved significant progress. The Baku Climate Unit Park delivered important outcomes, including the full operationalization of high-integrated carbon markets, and Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, establishment of new collective quantified goal, further progress on the less and damage fund, as well as establishing adaptation roadmap and high level dialogue on adaptation. At the national level, Azerbaijan is pursuing energy diversification and green growth under the Azerbaijan 2030 national priorities for socio-economic development strategy. Azerbaijan's post-conflict reconstruction and development likewise integrate renewable energy, resilient infrastructure, modern urban planning, and smart city and village solutions. At the same time, we must also recognize different national circumstances and development realities. The principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities must remain at the core of our collective efforts, alongside predictable and affordable climate action, particularly for the most vulnerable. In conclusion, we would like to underscore the importance of continuity and regional solidarity between the COP29 and COP31 presidencies. We are confident that Turkey and Australia will deliver an effective and action-oriented COP process, and we look forward to working with all partners to ensure that progress achieved in Baku and Bali is further strengthened and translated into tangible outcomes in Antalya. I thank you. HRC · Vice-President [54:36]: Thank you. I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of Armenia. Armenia [54:42]: Thank you, Mr. Vice President. We thank the expert mechanism for its thematic studies on climate finance as well as on artificial intelligence, cultural rights, and the right to development. Regarding the first thematic study, we agree that without additional investment in conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, the current development financing tools will be largely insufficient to meet the social and economic development needs outlined in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In this context, as incoming president of COP17, Armenia is committed to mobilizing increased public private investment for biodiversity, creating fiscal space by putting in place catalytic incentives for nature-based solutions and ecosystem-based approaches, strengthening capacity building, scientific and technical cooperation, technology transfer and innovation, while enhancing international partnerships and cooperation to support implementation, particularly in the least developed countries and small island developing states. We took note of the second thematic report on AI, cultural rights and the right to development, and believe human rights due diligence and meaningful stakeholder engagement are essential in addressing many challenges imposed by the growing use of AI and its impact on full realization of cultural rights. We are happy to note that Armenia has recently joined the Council of Europe Framework Convention on Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law. The incoming Armenian presidency of the COP17 aims at delivering a truly inclusive and participatory COP, ensuring that the voices of all stakeholders, including indigenous peoples and local communities, civil society, academia, women, youth, are heard and meaningfully reflected. I thank you. HRC · Vice-President [56:17]: Thank you. I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Iran (Islamic Republic of) [56:25]: Mr. Vice President, we thank the Expert Mechanism for its valuable work on artificial intelligence, peace and security, and the right to development. These discussions raise a fundamental question: Whose technological and development aspirations are considered legitimate, and whose are viewed as a threat? The recent military aggression against Iran has demonstrated that development cannot be separated from peace and security. When civilian infrastructure and years of development investment are destroyed by military force, the right to development itself comes under attack. In this context, we invite expert mechanism to consider the emerging concept of South phobia, a structural tendency to view the technological and developmental aspiration of global South disproportionately through a security lens. At its core lies an asymmetry of technological trust. The same capability may be considered legitimate when possessed by one state, but treated as a threat when pursued by another. Such distrust can lead to securitization, restriction on technology and scientific cooperation, unilateral coercive measures, and ultimately deeper development inequalities. encourage the expert mechanism to examine cloud phobia as a structural obstacle to the right to development, particularly in the context of emerging technologies. I thank you. HRC · Vice-President [57:54]: Thank you. I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of Senegal. Senegal [58:01]: Monsieur le President, Vice President, Senegal would like to thank the expert mechanism for its report, which highlights the challenges and paths to follow in order to fully achieve the right to development. It's absolutely vital to achieve the right to development for all the other human rights, so there should be special attention paid to the right to development. Around 40 years after the declaration on the right to development, there continue to be inequalities between states and within states. In order to tackle them, we must set up a fairer, open and equitable international trade and financial system which will support the most developed, the least developed countries. So this is the task that my government is tackling through our Vision 2015, which will support human capital, close inequalities and support inclusive and sustainable development. My government supports the adoption of a legally binding instrument on the right to development. Thank you. HRC · Vice-President [59:22]: Thank you. I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of Eritrea via video statement. Eritrea [59:30]: Eritrea thanks the Expert Mechanism for its annual report and the two thematic studies. These studies underscore an important reality: the right to development cannot be realized in isolation from the structural inequalities that continue to shape the international economic, financial and technological order. For developing countries such as Eritrea, climate vulnerability is compounded by limited access to adequate, predictable and affordable climate finance, technology and capacity building. The principle of common but differentiated responsibilities must therefore remain central to international efforts to address climate change and its developmental consequences. Similarly, artificial intelligence presents significant opportunities for accelerating development, but without equitable access to technology, infrastructure, knowledge, and digital capacity, it risks widening the existing development and technological divide. Developing countries must not become merely consumers of technologies designed elsewhere. They must have the capacity to participate in their development, deployment, and governance. We ask the Expert Mechanism how can it ensure that its work translates these principles into concrete measures that expand the policy space, technological capacity, and access to finance of developing countries while safeguarding their cultural identity and nationally determined development priorities. I thank you, Mr. President. HRC · Vice-President [1:00:56]: Thank you. I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. OIC [1:01:04]: Thank you, Mr. Vice President. My delegation takes note of the annual report and two thematic studies prepared by the expert mechanism. We agree with the expert mechanism that regional mechanisms play an important role in advancing the realization of the right to development. In this regard, we appreciate the expert mechanism's ongoing cooperation with the independent Permanent Human Rights Commission of the OIC. We support the expert mechanism's call for strengthening cooperation between regional and international mechanisms for more effective implementation of the right to development. To that end, we welcome the expert mechanism's intention to further deepen engagement with regional mechanisms. At OIC, we welcome this intent and look forward to strengthening cooperation with the expert mechanism and other partners to advance the realization of this right. Mr. Vice President, as we mark the 40th anniversary of the Declaration, the central message underscores that international cooperation is indispensable for creating an enabling international environment, one that supplements national efforts and helps states fully realize these rights. One concrete expression of steering international cooperation is the adoption of the International Covenant on the Right to Development without further delay, which would translate this long-recognized right into binding commitments and meaningful implementation. I thank you. HRC · Vice-President [1:02:25]: Thank you. I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of China. China [1:02:35]: Mr. Vice President, China has perused the annual report of the expert mechanism on the right to development. We welcome its thematic focus on climate finance, artificial intelligence, cultural rights, the right to development, and peace and development. We appreciate its emphasis that the right to development is a people-centered framework and support its efforts to advance the right to development Under its National Human Rights Action Plan, China remains committed to solidarity and cooperation, an environment conducive to peace and development and the well-being of people in developing countries. China is committed to synergies in efforts to accelerate the 2030 Agenda and continuously increase resource allocation. And China also advocates openness and mutual learning to provide innovation-led development, as well as multilateralism with a view to improve global governance system. Two weeks ago, China and 28 other countries jointly launched the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization, responding to the calls of Global South and contributing to the AI development and governance. On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Declaration on the Right to Development, China stands ready to continue as a responsible major country to steadily advance the Global Development Initiative and join the international community in seizing new opportunities and addressing new challenges together. together. Thank you, Mr. Vice President. HRC · Vice-President [1:04:06]: Thank you. I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of Iraq. Iraq [1:04:16]: Thank you, Vice President. Iraq attaches particular importance to the right to development in light of current challenges such as climate change, the water scarcity and desertification, in addition to the challenges linked to AI and technological developments and digital transition. Last year, Vice-President, we adopted a national plan with a view to reducing the vulnerability of people exposed to climate change, and we also set national priorities for tackling climate change. We're also working on a national strategy in artificial intelligence in order to ensure that it can be better used for the purposes of education, health, agriculture, water and the environment. We also see how artificial intelligence can be used to foster development. The government is also supporting our poorest regions. We have a national plan for social protection covering the period up to 2030. We really appreciate the conclusions in the expert mechanisms report. Thank you very much. HRC · Vice-President [1:05:59]: Thank you. I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of Peru. Peru [1:06:06]: Thank you, Vice President. Peru would like to thank the expert mechanism for presenting its reports. In the light of these reports, we would like to reiterate that the scope of challenges linked to climate change and artificial intelligence make it absolutely vital that we put people at the centre of our approaches as both participants and beneficiaries of inclusive and sustainable development. We also share the expert mechanisms concern about the difficulties facing developing countries in order to finance climate adaptation and strengthen resilience. Climate financing must be accessible and respond to national needs and capacities and vulnerabilities. It must be supported by international cooperation and transfer of technology. This is particularly relevant for Peru because we're tackling recurrent phenomena such as El Nino, which has direct impact on livelihood, infrastructure and basic services. This means we have to invest in prevention, adaptation, early warning systems and disaster risk reduction. We appreciate the report on AI. This technology provides opportunities for development, but its benefits must be fairly distributed so that we don't widen digital gaps and undermine cultural and linguistic diversity. We have a national strategy for AI and an appropriate legal framework promoting safe, ethical and inclusive use. We must ensure that climate transition and digital transitions continue to benefit people. Thank you. HRC · Vice-President [1:07:43]: Thank you. I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of Pakistan. Pakistan [1:07:49]: Mr. Vice President, my delegation thanks the Expert Mechanism for presenting its annual report and takes note of its latest studies applying a right to development perspective to climate justice, as well as AI and cultural rights. Mr. Vice President, climate justice remains a priority for Pakistan. As a country that contributes negligibly to global emissions, yet is highly vulnerable to climate change's negative impacts, we reiterate that the principle of CBDRRC must remain central to all climate action and financing frameworks. Pakistan underscores the urgent need for operationalizing the loss and damage fund while accelerating reform towards a more equitable global financial architecture. Both are essential for meaningful progress towards climate justice. Mr. Vice President, AI should drive inclusive development and not new forms of inequality or exclusion, which are major obstacles to the enjoyment of all human rights, including cultural rights and the right to development. AI systems are not neutral. They reflect the priorities of their developers and algorithmic data and automation biases. The risk of AI systems that amplify pernicious phenomenon, such as Islamophobia and marginalized communities, must not be underestimated. Enabling all people's benefit from AI therefore requires continued efforts to address systemic barriers. These include access to compute, data, infrastructure, skills, markets, and capacity. It also requires international cooperation, technology transfer, and capacity building at the international level. Thank you. HRC · Vice-President [1:09:21]: Thank you. I give the floor to the distinguished representative of Gambia. Gambia [1:09:27]: The Vice President, the Gambia thanks the Expert Mechanism on the Right to Development for its two important studies on climate finance and on artificial intelligence, cultural rights and the right to development. While both reports raise important issues for developing countries, my delegation wishes to focus on its remarks on the study on climate finance. As a climate-vulnerable country with a very small contribution to global emissions, the Gambia strongly reiterates the report's concern that countries least responsible for climate change continue to bear a disproportionate share of its impacts and, increasingly, the financial burden of responding to them. We therefore agree that climate finance should be additional to development finance and should not deepen the debt vulnerabilities of developing countries. The Gambia is also increasingly exploring the opportunities presented by carbon markets. And in March 2026, we hosted a regional meeting of West African countries on carbon markets and the implementation of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, with particular emphasis on equity, national ownership, and the participation of local communities. This work complements our climate prosperity investment and financing strategy 2025. 2050, we seek to mobilize investment for adaptation, energy transition, and climate resilient development. For countries such as ours, however, access, transaction costs, technical capacity, and equitable benefit sharing remain important concerns. We ask, therefore, what practical measures would you recommend to ensure that LDCs obtain a fair share of the development benefits generated through carbon markets? Thank you. HRC · Vice-President [1:11:04]: Thank you. I give the floor to the distinguished representative of Cuba. Cuba [1:11:09]: Vice President, we'd like to thank the expert mechanism for the two thematic studies. Artificial intelligence offers opportunities for implementing the right to development, but these emerging technologies require effective governance frameworks in order to prevent the repetition of existing inequalities in the international order, which particularly affect developing countries. AI governance must promote inclusive and culturally diverse development instead of cultural homogenization, digital dependence, and the concentration of creative and economic power. With regard to climate funding, small island developing states must have advantageous sources of funding in order to avoid great indebtedness and vulnerability. There must be no limits placed on climate action. So Cuba was lastly like two. express its support for adopting a legally binding instrument on the right to development, which puts it on the same level as all other human rights, with enforceable measures to achieving this right at an international level. Thank you. HRC · Vice-President [1:12:36]: Thank you. I give the floor to the distinguished representative of India. India [1:12:43]: Thank you, Mr. Vice President. We thank the expert mechanism for its annual report and thematic studies. India recognizes the right to development as a distinct, universal, and inalienable human right. Development is the cornerstone of our public policy. It is embedded in policy design and delivery through access to essential services, support for vulnerable groups, digital public infrastructure, and cooperative federalism. converting entitlement into capabilities and agency. We acknowledge the study's treatment of climate finance through vulnerability and responsibility. Consistent with CBDRRC, developed countries must provide new, additional, and concessional finance. Climate finance cannot substitute for development finance and must support both adaptation and mitigation measures. India AI Mission democratizes computing access, improves data quality, builds skills and supports inclusive development and innovation. The New Delhi AI Impact Summit advanced to this vision through people, planet and progress, linking inclusion with equitable sharing of AI benefits. For multilingual societies, AI must expand cultural participation, not deepen asymmetries. We support open, inclusive and multilingual data infrastructures, capacity building and technology transfer. How can the mechanism translate these studies into practical guidance that preserves developing countries policy space? Thank you. HRC · Vice-President [1:14:12]: Thank you. I give the floor to the distinguished representative of Ireland. Ireland [1:14:18]: Ireland aligns with the statement of the EU and thanks the expert mechanism for its annual report and its thematic reports on climate finance and on AI and development. Climate justice is a core priority for Ireland. Through our international development programme, we support efforts to reduce inequalities and expand opportunities for those facing the greatest barriers to development. Ireland recognises that climate change disproportionately impacts the world's poorest and most vulnerable populations, presenting a significant barrier to the right to development. Climate finance is an important enabler of low-carbon development pathways and resilience to shocks. Since 2020, we are proud to have doubled the international climate finance we provide, with a primary focus on adaptation. Ireland is committed to human rights, both online and offline. Your report on AI and development clearly outlines the profound opportunities that artificial intelligence presents in the sphere of cultural rights. but also the serious risks it entails in the absence of appropriate safeguards. Ireland fully agrees with the need you have identified for a human rights-based and human-centric approach to development, regulation and governance in the use of artificial intelligence and new and emerging technologies. Experts, how can states best strengthen international cooperation to close the normative and regulatory gaps in the field of artificial intelligence and cultural rights? I thank you. HRC · Vice-President [1:15:43]: Thank you. I give the floor to the distinguished representative of Angola. Angola [1:15:56]: Mr. President, Angola aligns itself with the African group and NAM statements. Angola welcomes the work of the expert mechanism on the right to development and reiterates its commitment to the realization of this right, including through the elaboration and adoption of legally binding instruments. Uganda recognizes the transformative potential of artificial intelligence to foster economic growth, improve people's lives, and expand opportunities for businesses, while also supporting cultural and linguistic diversity. At the same time, we share the concern that developing countries could become provider of data and cultural resources while remaining dependent on technology and technologies developed and controlled elsewhere. Data governance, cultural sovereignty, equitable benefit sharing, and access to infrastructure must therefore be integrated to a human rights-based approach to AI. Mr. President, the same principle of equity must guide climate finance. Climate action should enable rather than constrain developing countries' efforts to eradicate poverty and invest in health, energy, and infrastructure. Countries already facing significant debt burdens require accessible financing. particularly grant-based resources rather than additional unsustainable debts. Angola therefore supports stronger climate finance mechanisms, reform of multilateral development banks and greater access to green technology. Thank you. HRC · Vice-President [1:17:20]: Thank you. I give the floor to the distinguished representative of Indonesia. Indonesia [1:17:25]: Thank you, Mr. Vice President. We take note of the expert mechanism report on its thematic studies, particularly on AI, cultural rights and the right to development. AI possesses dual potential. It can be a powerful tool for reshaping how cultural knowledge, practices, and heritage, including endangered language, are created, transmitted, and preserved. However, without proper safeguards, it also enables their appropriation, distortion, or commercial exploitation without the free, prior, and informed consent of the communities. Holding them. This dual potential makes it urgent to embed consent and benefit sharing into AI design, deployment, and governance, not as new principles, but as established rights now facing rapid technological advancement. More broadly, AI governance must integrate economic, social, and cultural dimension centered on human needs. It must account for developing countries' needs and policy space to pursue their own development paths, guided by equal participation, equity, accountability, and international cooperation. On that note, how can the international community concretely support developing countries in developing an inclusive AI governance that protects cultural rights and ensures meaningful participation of communities? I thank you. HRC · Vice-President [1:18:38]: Thank you. I give the floor to the distinguished representative of Egypt. Egypt [1:18:47]: Thank you, Vice President. delegation of Egypt would like to welcome the expert mechanism and we do welcome the reports, in particular the notion of addressing the causes and obstacles which are standing in the way of stepping up efforts in favor of development. Today, AI brings major opportunities, but also significant and numerous risks which can slow down the race towards development. Artificial intelligence can have a very deleterious impact on creativity, cultural creativity and innovation, but at the same time, it can come to the rescue of languages and traditions that are endangered. AI will also probably exacerbate existing gaps on the technological level because these technologies are the monopoly of a number of companies and countries. It is therefore very important to channel efforts towards a human rights-centered approach which protects human creativity. Thank you, President. HRC · Vice-President [1:20:13]: Thank you. I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of Algeria. Algeria [1:20:22]: Thank you, President. My country's delegation would like to thank the expert mechanism for having presented the report, and we commend the efforts that the expert mechanism has tirelessly been undertaking. Algeria is among those countries that have constantly defended the right to development, and we continue to lend our full support to this right through a comprehensive approach to human rights, which are indivisible and mutually reinforcing. Algeria would like to reaffirm its commitment to the right to development. At the national level, we have opted for a national strategy that is in favour of development, grounded in our constitution and based on free education and cooperation between countries of the Global South and also with other Arabic-speaking countries. We believe that AI must be developed on the basis of sovereignty and equal participation by developing countries. It is essential to take into account their right to development and equal access to technology. This right is a fundamental pillar of the international rule of law. Therefore, we must not adopt a selective approach here. Algeria will pursue its cooperation-based approach. Thank you. HRC · Vice-President [1:22:01]: Thank you. This was the last speaker on my list. We shall now turn to the list of speakers for national human rights institutions and non-governmental organizations. And I give the floor to representative of the British Humanist Association, intervention by video. British Humanist Association [1:22:24]: The expert mechanisms timing report on artificial intelligence, cultural rights and the right to development is guiding principles broadly reflect those of the Luxembourg Declaration on artificial intelligence and human values adopted by the global humanist movement in 2025. These include preserving human judgment and autonomy, maintaining democratic and transparent governance, committing to the common good and shared prosperity, and harnessing AI to advance human freedom and flourishing while protecting people from harm. The expert mechanisms report recognizes that historically biased training data can reproduce discriminatory representations in AI generated outputs and highlights the importance of epistemic pluralism. However, we are concerned that representations of different knowledge systems will not by themselves, by itself, eliminate bias. particularly gender bias. While epistemic pluralism can counter the dominance of a particular knowledge system, cross-cultural research has found AI reproducing gender biases across different cultural and linguistic contexts, with some research identifying intersectional religious dimensions. We would therefore like to ask the expert mechanism how the principle of epistemic pluralism should be applied when gender biases persist across dominant and minoritized knowledge systems. In particular, how can the application of this principle avoid reproducing or reinforcing such biases in AI generated outputs in order to uphold the cultural rights and the right to development as well as gender equality? HRC · Vice-President [1:23:52]: Thank you. I give the floor to the representative of Tamil Uzhagam. Tamil Uzhagam [1:24:00]: Thank you, Mr. Vice President. We thank the expert mechanism for this report. We wish to draw the Council's attention to the situation of Eelam Tamils in the northeast of Sri Lanka, who continue to live under sustained military occupation more than 17 years after the end of the Sri Lanka's genocidal war against Eelam Tamils. This occupation is not incidental to the exclusion from development. It is a principal driver of it. Tens of thousands of acres of Tamil-owned land remain occupied by military for so-called security, archaeological, or development purposes, displacing families and blocking access to agricultural livelihoods, housing, and local economic planning. Militarized zones restrict freedom of movement and civilian participation and decisions over land and resources that international law recognizes as central to the right to development. State-sponsored settlement schemes and demographic engineering in the northeast further entrench structural race-based discrimination against Tamils in access to public investment, infrastructure and economic opportunity compared to other parts of the island. Development that is imposed through militarization without free, prior and informed consent and without addressing the root causes of dispossession cannot be considered development in line with the 1986 Declaration on the Right to Development, which requires active, free and meaningful participation of the people concerned. We therefore ask the Expert Mechanism what guidance it can offer to Member States and UN mechanisms on assessing whether encroachment and... HRC · Vice-President [1:25:37]: Thank you. I now give the floor to the Distinguished Representative of Movement of the Young and Students Joint Statement. MAJE · families of the enforced disappeared and Eelam Tamil communities [1:25:49]: Thank you, Mr. Vice President. MAJE speaks today on behalf of families of the enforced, disappeared and Eelam Tamil communities. living under prolonged military presence in the northeast of Sri Lanka. We welcome the work of the Expert Mechanism on the Right to Development and wish to draw attention to a community for whom this right remains largely theoretical. Families of disappeared continue to wait for truth and justice, denied both closure and the ability to rebuild their lives and livelihoods, meanwhile continued military occupation of civilian and agricultural lands, restriction on livelihoods and what affected Eelam Tamils describe as systematic ethnic and religious discrimination have entrenched on development in Tamil homeland. Loss of land undermines food security, cultural continuity and local economic participation, all core components of the right to development as articulated in the 1986 declaration. Genuine development cannot be be built on militarized governance, land dispossession, or the suppression of a community's political and cultural identity. Sustainable, people-centered development requires land restitution, demilitarization, accountability for enforced disappearance, and non-discriminatory access to resources and self-governance. We, therefore, ask the Expert Mechanism... Thank you. HRC · Vice-President [1:27:26]: I now give the floor to the representative of Traditional Medicine and Health Development Society of Iranians, intervention by video. Traditional Medicine and Health Development Society of Iranians [1:27:36]: Mr. President, we raise a simple concern. What happened to the right to development when a country is hit twice by war and prior to that, face years of unilateral measures deemed unlawful by this Council's rapporteurs? For ordinary people, development is not abstract. It means medicine, electricity in hospitals, jobs, schools, and safe homes. After two military aggressions by the United States and Israel against Iran, urgent reconstruction became necessary. Yet, sanctions were intensified, making access to banking, technology, investment, medical supplies, and essential imports even harder. This creates a second crisis after two illegal aggressions. Damaged services cannot be rebuilt, businesses cannot recover, and families face higher costs and fewer opportunities. When a country faces aggression and sanctions together, the right to development loses its meaning. Following recent report by the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Development, we ask the expert mechanism to examine sanctions as a barrier to post-war recovery. Sanctioning states must recognize the long-term consequences of their illegal, politically driven sanctions on the right to development of target societies and be held accountable. We believe UCMs intentionally designed to harm the health and development of ordinary people are not mere sanctions. They constitute crimes against humanity. I thank you, Mr. President. HRC · Vice-President [1:29:02]: Thank you. I give the floor to the representative of China Foundation for Human Rights Development, intervention by video. China Foundation for Human Rights Development [1:29:11]: We agree with the view in the annual report of the expert mechanism on the right to development that the raising tariffs and protectionist measures affect the realization of the right to development, and a fair, non-discriminatory multilateral trading system is essential to the right to development. We note that in February 2024, several experts of the HRC special procedure stated that the unilateral sanctions imposed by the US against specific countries negatively affect the enjoyment of the right to development by the people of the countries concerned. We believe these protectionism measures will only increase humanitarian crisis. Strengthening international development cooperation is the correct path. It is for this reason, China remains committed to promoting trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, and has become a major trading partner of more than 160 countries and regions. Also, China attaches particular importance to assisting capacity building in developing countries. implement zero-tariff measures for 53 African countries with which it has diplomatic relations. Thank you. HRC · Vice-President [1:30:40]: Thank you. I give the floor to the representative of Centre Europe. Centre Europe [1:30:49]: Mr. President, President, one of the studies carried out by the expert mechanism is on AI, cultural rights and the right to development. It appears that there is broad consensus to invest in AI and to give an almost total free rein to the AI industry for its development, allowing it to exploit cultural and social data without consent. This is nothing less than a process of data pillaging of the heritage of humanity. We can already see the disastrous consequences of AI governance by a handful of actors in many fields, censorship and disinformation, appropriation of literary and artistic works, the growing threat to academic freedom, mass surveillance, and the list goes on. The frenzied development of AI is already having an impact on the living conditions of many populations, not to mention the job destruction caused by automation. If AI is not regulated by the public authorities in the general interest, the general public good, AI will continue on its course to become a tool for manipulation and control serving individual interests. Therefore, the negotiations that have begun within the intergovernmental working group on drawing up a binding treaty on transnational corporations is an opportunity that would make it possible to provide for binding regulatory mechanisms and therefore an AI clause ought to be included therein. Thank you. HRC · Vice-President [1:32:27]: Thank you. I give the floor to the representative of APG 23 for a joint statement. APG23 [1:32:33]: Dear Vice-President, The cosigning NGOs at the PG23 welcome the annual report of the Expert Mechanism on the Right to Development and its thematic studies. On climate finance, climate breakdown disproportionately harms the Global South. Climate governance must embody common but differentiated responsibilities, prioritising no-debt-creating grant finance and the Loss and Damage Fund over speculative carbon markets. Regarding artificial intelligence, technology must serve human dignity, not deepen inequalities. As Pope Leo XIV emphasized in his encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, safeguarding the person in the AI age requires placing inviolable human dignity at the center of technological progress. AI must never replace human conscience, diminish worker dignity, or fuel digital colonialism. AI governance must guarantee digital equity, data sovereignty, and inclusive benefit sharing. On peace and security, we reaffirm that true peace demands structural justice, demilitarization, and equitable resource allocation. By aligning global governance with human dignity and by addressing the root causes of climate vulnerability, digital inequality and conflict, the international community can ensure a human-centered development framework where no one is left behind. Thank you. HRC · Vice-President [1:34:00]: Thank you. I give the floor to the representative of ARO, intervention by video. Asian and Pacific Resource and Research Center for Women · APFSD Youth Forum · Megha Maske [1:34:19]: Thank you, Chair. I am Megha Maske, and I deliver this statement on behalf of the Asian and Pacific Resource and Research Center for Women and the APFSD Youth Forum. We welcome the Expert Mechanism's report and echo their call for people-centered, rights-based development. First on artificial intelligence, we share the mechanisms warning that AI risks deepening digital extractivism and the exclusion of youth and marginalized communities from decisions over technologies that shape our futures. We urge states to ensure meaningful youth participation in AI governance frameworks. The APFST Youth Call to Action recommends to align infrastructure expansion with digital literacy, AI literacy, and safe technology use education to ensure equitable innovation capacity and bridge digital divide. Second on climate finance. Young people across Asia Pacific are already living the consequences of climate crisis, like the flash floods in Nepal, which could further increase the climate debt burden. We call for equitable, public, predictable, grant-based, new and adequate finance that reflects common but differentiated responsibilities and is driven by local needs. This finance is neither aid nor charity, but is full reparation for climate harm and loss and damage owed by developed countries arising from their historical emissions and extractive practices. Thank you. HRC · Vice-President [1:35:47]: Thank you. I give the floor to the representative of FIAN International, intervention by video. FIAN International [1:35:53]: This statement is supported by IT4Change. welcome this study, which identifies risks arising from AI. AI risks further homogenizing food systems in ways that favor industrial production models to the detriment of small-scale food producers and their diverse and sustainable food systems. This exacerbates marginalization, undermines the right to food and self-determination, and erodes the diversity of knowledge developed by food-producing communities. The growing concentration of power through convergence among big agriculture, tech, and finance, and the use of intellectual property law, turn rural communities into mere data sources. It also constrains open innovation and entrenches corporate monopolistic control over digital infrastructure and AI development. Proprietary rights must be balanced with safeguards for transparency, accountability, and the public interest. We support the mechanisms called for strong human rights-based regulation. It must address corporate concentration, accountability, and safeguard the rights of present and future generations. We also urge states to recognize data as a knowledge commons, to establish obligations for dataset transparency, common standards on AI data provenance and use, on equitable benefit sharing, as well as regarding preferential access for communities whose data is used to train AI. HRC · Vice-President [1:37:15]: Thank you. I now give the floor to the representative of China NGO Network for International Exchanges, intervention by video. China NGO Network for International Exchanges · Chairman · Tong Hongliang [1:37:25]: Distinguished delegates, I'm Tong Hongliang, chairman of China Association for Barcode Technology and Application, representing China NGO Network for International Exchanges. The right to development is a fundamental human right. digital technology is key to realizing it. In China, barcodes and two-dimensional codes are part of daily life for 1.4 billion people. OneScan enables payments, public transport, product tracing, and government services, giving citizens, small businesses, and rural vendors affordable access to the digital economy. These technologies lower costs, streamline trade, help small business owners, and close the digital gap. They put people first and make development a lived reality. We look forward to working with all countries, businesses, and civil groups to share our digital experience, promote barcode cooperation, and help developing nations share in the benefits of digital progress so that everyone can enjoy the right to development. Thank you, Mr. President. HRC · Vice-President [1:38:47]: Thank you. This was the last speaker we could accommodate at this debate. I now give the floor to Ms. Ibanez Rivas for her concluding remarks. You have six minutes and 35 seconds. Expert Mechanism on the Right to Development · Chair · Joana Maria Ibanez Rivas [1:39:03]: Thank you very much, Vice President, and many thanks to all delegations and observers for their participation. This really shows the impact of the mandate of the group of experts, or the expert mechanism rather, on the right to development, and we're very grateful for your input. We do very much value your comments here within the Council. I will try and respond within the time that has been allocated to me and if I don't have time to answer all your questions I can assure you that we will go through the minutes of this meeting and make sure that your concerns are reflected in our work. First of all it is absolutely essential for us to underscore all the potential of the right to development. It is not only an inalienable right, but it also represents better than any other right, the interdependencies between the different rights, cultural and social and economic and political and civil. It has two dimensions, an individual dimension and a collective one. It involves the meaningful participation of peoples. and so it is intrinsically linked to cooperation. Regarding the draft International Covenant on the Right to Development, we have always underscored the importance of adopting such an instrument, which will be a fundamental addition to international human rights law. We held a thematic debate on this topic during our 13th session. We explained chapter per chapter the scope and implications of this draft so as to strengthen the discussions which at the end of the day will fall to member states. It is up to member states to advance the draft on the International Covenant on the Rights to Development. Regarding our thematic reports, I'm very happy to hear the value you attach to them. As you have seen, part of our mandate is to identify best practices that can be shared between states and other relevant stakeholders, and to ensure that those best practices can then be implemented for the good of peoples and individuals. Regarding climate finance, as you rightly pointed out, the state underscores key issues and alternatives, such as, for instance, carbon markets, illicit financial flows, clean cooking, and in terms of cooperation, and this has been one of the recurring issues, it is important to note that the report does underscore the need for economic cooperation, but also cooperation in terms of technology and capacity building in light of the harm that can stem from climate change. We are talking about a legally binding instrument for all obligation, rather, for all states, this obligation to act in the face of climate change. And as you know, right now, in addition to soft law instruments and treaties, there is also case law from the International Court of Justice and the advisory opinions from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. Regarding the thematic study on artificial intelligence and cultural rights and the right to development, The cross-cutting theme is underscoring that the right to development is also in line with technological progress, as long as that progress remains in keeping with human rights. And here, cooperation is of the essence, and it's important to highlight that in the thematic study, we strove to provide recommendations at the end, with a view to those recommendations being put into practice by the various stakeholders. In this particular case, in this study, we also included guiding principles which seek to shape or provide guidance for shaping AI governance and accountability and the equitable benefit sharing. part as well. Regarding the thematic report that is currently in the pipeline on peace, security and the right to development, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for all the input we've received so far. You have until 15 September to provide further input, and that will be fundamental for the preparation of that report, which comes at a very timely moment, given the global context. On the website of the expert mechanism, you can find an initial draft of that thematic study. We have structured it so far along three thematic pillars. The first one refers to general obligations of states under the UN Charter on peacekeeping and the peaceful settlement of disputes. The second pillar is on obligations of states to carry out disarmament initiatives. And the third pillar is focused on obligations of states on transitional justice. All of this based on the two specific articles of the Declaration on the Right to Development, which link security, peace and development to this inalienable right. And finally, I'd just like to ask you to continue sharing with us your best practices, best practices that can already be seen in your states in terms of climate transition, fair climate transition. in terms of artificial intelligence and peace, security and development. All examples of best practices are very much welcome and then we make it our task to give greater visibility to them through our website. So thank you very much once again for your participation and we look forward to having your active participation for our October session as well. Thank you. HRC · Vice-President [1:45:26]: Thank you. This brings us to the end of this interactive dialogue, and I thank Ms. Ibanez Ripas for her participation. We will now take a short break before holding the interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the implications for human rights of the environmentally sound management and disposal of hazardous substances and wastes. Excellencies, distinguished colleagues, we will proceed with the interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the implications for human rights of the environmentally sound management and disposal of hazardous substances and wastes. Let me welcome the new mandate holder, Ms. Bethany Carney-Almroth. The list of speakers will now close in 15 minutes. And now I give the floor to Ms. Carney-Elbrodt to present the reports. You have the floor. UN · Special Rapporteur · Bethany Carney-Almroth [1:48:53]: Thank you, Mr. Vice President, Excellencies, distinguished delegates, representatives of civil society, colleagues and friends. It is an honor to address the Human Rights Council for the first time as United Nations Rapporteur on Toxics and Human Rights. I take up this mandate at a time when the scale and complexity of toxic pollution is increasing rapidly, impacting human rights. Chemicals and hazardous materials move through and into our economies and environments, from extraction and production to transportation, use, waste, and remediation. They enter our air, water, soil, food, and ultimately our bodies, and they impact the enjoyment of many, if not all, human rights. These consequences are not equally distributed. Workers, women, children, indigenous peoples, people of African descent, persons in poverty, people living in frontline and fence line communities are exposed first and worst. At its core, this mandate asks how we can ensure that the extraction, production, and use of chemicals meet all three pillars of sustainability, ecological, social, and economic. And how can we strengthen evidence-based approaches to protecting human rights? Excellencies, today I present two reports of my predecessor, Dr. Marcos Oriana. The thematic report, Forever Chemicals and Human Rights, and the report on his country visit to Mexico. The thematic report examines per- and perfluoralkyl substances, called PFAS. through a human rights perspective. PFAS are thousands of synthetic chemicals that are highly persistent and travel long distances through air and water. Once released, they may remain in the environment for centuries, and there are currently no effective and scalable technologies capable of removing PFAS from contaminated ecosystems. Exposure occurs across the full life cycle at production sites and occupational settings, through contaminated water, food, and in consumer products. PFAS impair rights, including the right to life, to health, to a healthy environment, to a safe and healthy working environment, and access to information, justice, and remedy. They can cross the placenta. They've been found in the blood of umbilical cords, in breast milk. They expose people at their most sensitive developmental stages. Exposure can also affect our hormone systems, our liver function, our immune systems. So this is an issue of global environmental justice. These are largely manufactured in industrial states and spread globally through emissions, through transboundary movement of PFAS-laden waste. Communities that are already facing poverty, discrimination, and marginalization often carry a disproportionate share of the consequences. The report underlines the human rights obligations of governments to prevent toxic exposures and calls for urgent action, including an immediate ban on all non-essential uses. Its message is fundamentally one of prevention. When pollution is highly persistent and potentially irreversible, Waiting for complete certainty before acting can itself cause harm. On the country visit to Mexico, I join my predecessor in thanking the government of Mexico for its excellent cooperation and the many communities, civil society representatives, public authorities, academics, and others who shared their experiences and knowledge. The report recognizes Mexico's important international environmental leadership and constitutional recognition of the rights to health and to a healthy environment. It also identifies serious challenges, including sacrifice zones, hazardous pesticides, agro-industrial practices, mercury mining, industrial and water pollution, and obstacles to access to information, participation, justice, and effective remedy. The proliferation of industrialization and sacrifice zones is of particular concern, and the report calls for stronger environmental governance, standards based in the best available science, effective enforcement, meaningful participation, access to information, and protection for human rights defenders. And finally, I would like to take this opportunity to address my vision. As I begin my tenure, I would like to allow how I will approach my mandate. I come to this role as a professor of environmental toxic science and ecotoxicology. My professional life has been devoted to understanding how hazardous chemicals move through ecosystems and the consequences of exposure from molecular toxicity to planetary scale impacts. Toxics introduce multiple dimensions of harm across their full life cycle, and we cannot continue to manage toxic pollution primarily after harm has occurred. We must move upstream, and this will be central to my mandate. Moving upstream means looking across the full life cycle. It means asking not only how we can clean up contamination, but asking why hazardous substances enter into our products, our bodies, our economies in the first place, whether their uses are essential, and whether safer and more sustainable alternatives exist. It means taking up a holistic, integrated approach and looking across sectors to prevent harms from spanning across multiple domains. It means applying precaution where there's credible evidence for potentially serious, irreversible harm. Human rights protections cannot wait decades for certainty while harm continues. My second priority would be strengthening the interface between science and human rights. People cannot protect themselves from risks they do not know about. States cannot form effective policies without reliable evidence. Courts cannot provide justice when essential information on toxics remains unavailable to them. We must protect independent science from conflicts of interest, disinformation, and manufactured doubt, while supporting scientific progress and making knowledge accessible to those whose rights are at stake. Third, global environmental justice will remain at the heart of this mandate. Those carrying the greatest toxic burdens are often those with the least power to determine their living and working conditions. A human rights-based approach requires us to ask not how much pollution exists, but who is poisoned and who benefits, who bears the costs, and who makes the rules. Prevention requires accountability. States have obligations to protect human rights. Businesses have responsibilities to respect them. Where harm occurs, people must have access to information, meaningful participation, justice, and effective remedy. Finally, I want to make this a mandate that bridges and connects. Scientific expertise is indispensable, but it is not sufficient. Workers understand workplace exposures. Communities understand changes in their water, their land, their health. Indigenous peoples hold knowledge that is accumulated across generations. Civil society, health professionals, scientists, and other knowledge holders see dimensions of problems that can otherwise remain invisible. I therefore intend to build strong dialogue across scientific disciplines, regions, forms of knowledge, connecting science, human rights, public health, policy, and lived experiences. Excellencies, toxic pollution is sometimes presented as an inevitable price of development, but I reject that premise. Science can help us identify harm. Human rights can tell us why that harm matters and whose rights must be protected and where the responsibilities lie. The knowledge and experience of affected people can help us understand what meaningful solutions require. Ultimately, our task is not to manage hazardous substances more effectively. It is to ensure that people everywhere can live, work, study, play, and raise generations in a toxic-free environment. I thank you for your attention, and I look forward to our dialogue. HRC · Vice-President [1:55:58]: Thank you. According to our practice, we will start by hearing from the delegation of the country concerned. I give the floor to the distinguished representative of Mexico. You have five minutes. Mexico [1:56:16]: Thank you, Vice President. Mexico would like to thank the report on his visit to our country by Marcos Orellana and its presentation, and we cordially welcome the incoming Special Rapporteur, Dr. Bethany Kani-Almroth. We wish her every success. We reiterate that we remain firmly committed to the Council's special procedures and recognise the importance of their work for promoting and protecting human rights. For Mexico, respect, protection and promoting the human rights to a free, healthy and sustainable environment is a priority. We share the diagnosis that Managing toxic waste and hazard, I beg your pardon, toxic substances and hazardous waste is one of the major environmental and human rights challenges of our time. We need an intersectional approach because exposure to toxic substances and hazardous waste has a disproportionate impact on women, indigenous peoples and communities, Afro-Mexicans, children, older persons, and persons living in poverty. In recent years, we would like to highlight the legal reforms that we have adopted, as well as planning instruments, environmental regeneration activities, mechanisms to protect environmental defenders, regulatory updates and the strengthening of our institutions. Much of this work has been recognised in the report. We have also developed inventories such as the current federal law being drafted on managing chemical waste. We also have a national program for remediating contaminated sites. We have a federal law on the circular economy, which introduces a concept of extended producer responsibility. A significant number of high risk pesticides have also been prohibited or subject to stiff restrictions. The regulatory framework calls on the hydrocarbon sector to undertake an environmental and social impact declaration ahead of any project being implemented, including prevention, mitigation, and remediation plans for the environmental impacts. The final version of the report has incorporated a number of the comments made by the Mexican authorities following the report. We'd like to underscore that the mining law was reformed last year, giving a priority to the right to water, which allows us to reduce or cancel the water which has been granted to mining operations when there is water scarcity for people and there is also obligation to undertake free, prior and informed consultations of indigenous peoples. Last month, a new bill to update the federal law on ecological balance and environmental protection was presented. This would replace the legislation in force since 1988 and is in line with international instruments such as the Escazu Agreement. Allow me to underscore that in Mexico, we do not allow fracking, but we are assessing the use of technology and operations with lower environmental impacts. If we can't make use of this without affecting the environment or the people, then we will not undertake new project. in low permeability deposits. A group of scientists is currently analyzing alternatives and recognize that toxic chemical compounds not be used in drilling fluids. The Mexican government has recognized the relevance of these recommendations and express its agreement and acceptance. Mexico welcomes this report as a contribution to dialogue and for us to collectively think about how to further protect human rights in view of the risks from substances and waste which are hazardous. Mexico reiterates that it stands ready to work constructively with the Special Rapporteur, the Office of the High Commissioner and all human rights mechanisms in the UN system. Thank you very much, Vice-President. HRC · Vice-President [2:00:52]: Thank you. The list of speakers is now closed. I now invite interested delegations to ask questions to the Special Rapporteur and make comments on her report. The speaking time is one minute and 30 seconds for all. I now give the floor to the Distinguished Representative of the European Union. EU [2:01:17]: Thank you, Mr. Vice President. The EU thanks the Special Rapporteur for the thematic report and reiterated support to this mandate. We shared assessment that PFAS pollution poses significant and long-term threat to health and ecosystems, undermining the right to health and right to clean, healthy, and sustainable environment. The extreme persistence and mobility of these substances, together with their presence in global supply chains, mean that no country can address this threat alone. As the report underlines, these impacts are not distributed equally. Preventing further harm requires precaution, transparency throughout supply chains and access to information. Accountability is essential so that those affected do not bear the cost of pollution. EU chemical strategy works towards a universal PFAS restriction, while new rules already restrict these chemicals in food contact packaging. The strategy pays specific attention to ensuring global protection of the environment and health, particularly that of consumers, vulnerable groups and workers, ensuring their right to information, participation and non-discrimination. Its international dimension reflects our commitment promoting the right to health and healthy environment for all. Madam Special Rapporteur, given the transboundary in nature of PFAS pollution, what specific best practices do you recommend for states to ensure that affected individuals have effective access to justice and remedies? I thank you. HRC · Vice-President [2:02:49]: Thank you. I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of Kenya on behalf of a group of African states, African group. Kenya · Africa Group [2:03:00]: Mr. Vice President, I deliver this statement on behalf of the African group. The African Group thanks the Special Rapporteur for the presentation of her in-depth report on the human rights, health and environmental impacts of PFAS. We take note of the report's concern about the extreme persistence, mobility and toxicity of PFAS, which pose a global threat to human health and the environment, particularly in developing countries. The African Group points out that Africa is particularly vulnerable to PFAS pollution. due to the importation of hazardous waste, the lack of technical capacity for the management of toxic substances, and the weakness of national regulatory frameworks. We recall that the Bamako Convention prohibits the import of hazardous waste into Africa. The African Group urges countries to abide, to comply with the applicable limitations regarding the use of PFAS. in line with the obligations stated in the relevant multilateral environmental agreements. The group further calls upon the international community to provide developing countries, including in Africa, with the adequate means of implementation, including finance, technology, and capacity building, to effectively combat and prevent and reduce pollution causes, and to ensure that additional measures do not impose disproportionate burdens on developing countries. In conclusion, the African Group reiterates its support for the Special Rapporteur and wishes to emphasize the importance of this mandate, given the complex and multifaceted climate challenges facing the world. The Group would therefore like to invite the Council to give due attention and resources to the effective and efficient implementation of this mandate. I thank you. HRC · Vice-President [2:04:37]: Thank you. I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of Japan. Japan [2:04:43]: Thank you, Mr. Vice President. The full version of our statement will be posted on the extranet. We sent the special laboratory for her presentation and the report, and we would like to reiterate our view on some points. The report mentioned that the severe PFAS contamination has been detected around the Futenma and the Kadena Air Base in Okinawa. However, as PFAS are used for various purposes, it is difficult at this stage to definitively establish a causal relationship between PFAS detection and activity at the facility and the area used by U.S. Forces Japan. The government of Japan takes the concern of local residents seriously. We are taking the necessary measure based on scientific findings and sharing the relevant information with the public. In 2024, Japan Food Safety Commission under the Cabinet Office conducted a risk assessment of the PFOS and the PFOA. Subsequently, as of April 2026, a combined limit of 50 nanogram per liter was set. as a water quality standard for PFOS and PFOA. From 2019 to 2023, the government provided subsidy to the Okinawa prefectural government to install granular activated carbon at the Chita water purification plant. This subsidy was provided under a framework intended to help ensure stable water supply to U.S. forces in Japan, and the prefectural government was fully aware of its scope. We will continue to consider what measure can be taken to ensure the safe drinking water For the people of Okinawa, I thank you. HRC · Vice-President [2:06:14]: Thank you. I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of Cote d'Ivoire. Côte d’Ivoire [2:06:24]: Vice President, Cote d'Ivoire endorses the statement delivered by the African Group. We'd like to thank the Special Rapporteur for the mandate's report highlighting a significant global threat. that of PFAS. These synthetic chemicals are contained in over 10,000 products which we use on a daily basis. They're practically indestructible and build up once they've been released into the environment, contaminating water, air, the soil, fauna and flora, with serious effects on human health. We share the Special Rapporteur's concerns about the harmful impact of these forever pollutants, and we support urgent, coordinated action based on human rights in order to prevent irreversible pollution and protect current and future generations. In view of this threat, my country last year adopted its second update of the national plan for implementing the Stockholm Convention. This strategic programme has a funding package of around 12 million Swiss francs over five years to eradicate persistent organic pollutants, POPS. We renew our support for the mandate on harmful substances and call on member states to implement the recommendations of the report to better protect all our people. Thank you. HRC · Vice-President [2:07:51]: Thank you. I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of UNICEF. UNICEF [2:07:56]: Thank you, Mr. Vice President. UNICEF welcomes the report of the Special Rapporteur and supports its recommendations. PFAS threaten children's rights to life, to the highest attainable standard of health, and to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment. As noted by the Special Rapporteur's report, they can cross the human placenta and have been detected in umbilical cord blood and breast milk, thereby exposing children from the early stages of life and affecting development and immune function. We concur with the Special Rapporteur that PFAS pollution raises serious environmental justice concerns. Children in communities already facing poverty, inadequate waste management, and environmental contamination may bear a disproportionate burden, with children working at dump sites or living in the vicinity of PFAS-producing industries, PFAS-using military bases, or contaminated agricultural lands among those particularly exposed. UNICEF is deeply concerned that these chemicals can persist in children's bodies and environments for years. Further exposure can and must be prevented. We therefore call on states to urgently phase out non-essential use of PFAS and regulate PFAS as a class of chemicals. States should strengthen monitoring and public access to information, including on PFAS in products, and hold polluters accountable while promoting safer alternatives. UNICEF stands ready to support states in protecting every child from the harms of forever chemicals. Thank you. HRC · Vice-President [2:09:29]: Thank you. I give the floor to the distinguished representative of Mauritius. Mauritius [2:09:36]: Mr. Vice President, Mauritius thanks the Special Rapporteur for highlighting the dangers of PFAS and aligns with the African statement delivered by Kenya. The 1987 Montreal Protocol, the most ideal treaty, was decisive in the restoration of the ozone layer, our natural shield against excessive UV radiation, through the phasing out and banning of ozone-depleting substances. Subsequent use of hydrofluorocarbons as alternatives in refrigerants and aerosols was found to be aggravating global warming, and hence is phasing down for the Kigali Amendment. Unfortunately, progress has been very slow, with slow pace of ratification or implementation of obligations. Mr. Vice President, PFAS are being touted as the alternative to hydrofluorocarbons. They are increasingly being used in the AI industry for production of semiconductors and in cooling systems. Their production results in the emissions of GHGs and ozone-depleting substances. There is also a direct link between PFAS and global warming through its effect on natural carbon sequestration. Tackling PFAS, which is believed to cause cancer is therefore a human rights issue. We agree that the Council should engage with relevant multilateral organizations such as BRS or UNEP on this issue. We understand that the Special Rapporteur will be attending the first international conference of the global framework on chemicals in Geneva in November. We urge the Special Rapporteur and the OHCHR to use this opportunity to express our concern on PFAS. I thank you. HRC · Vice-President [2:11:06]: Thank you. I give the floor to the distinguished representative of the State of Palestine. State of Palestine [2:11:13]: Thank you, Mr. Vice President. The State of Palestine congratulates the Special Rapporteur on her appointment and wishes her every success in discharging her mandate. Gaza carries a toxic legacy from Israel's genocide and ecocide. UNEP estimates that over 61 million tons of debris blanket the strip laced with asbestos, heavy metals, and unexploded ordnance. Given the scale of munitions use, fuel contamination, and destroyed industrial sites, we urge independent testing for PFAS and other persistent chemical residues. Less than 5% of Gaza's agricultural land remains cultivable. At least 900,000 tons of solid waste sit on at improvised dump sites. Collapsed sanitation and sewage infrastructure have fueled a rodent and pest infestation affecting over 80% of displacement sites, exposing nearly 1.5 million people to rodent-borne disease. untreated wastewater now flows into the Mediterranean and the coastal aquifer, threatening marine life and further degrading the population's last sources of fresh water. This is not collateral damage, it is the systematic deliberate destruction of the natural foundations of Palestinian life, worsened by continued restrictions on the entry of fuel, machinery, and materials needed to clear debris and waste. The West Bank carries its own toxic burden. Settlement industrial zones dispose of Israeli waste on occupied Palestinian land. We call for accountability, remediation, and reparation for the Palestinian people. I thank you. HRC · Vice-President [2:12:45]: Thank you. I give the floor to the distinguished representative of Vanuatu. Vanuatu [2:12:54]: Mr. President, Vanuatu thanks the Special Rapporteur for his comprehensive report on the implications for human rights of environmental resource management and dispersal of hazardous substances and waste. We are deeply concerned that pollution and exposure to toxic substances continue to undermine fundamental human rights, including the rights to health, water, food, life, and clean, healthy, and sustainable environment. The disproportionate impacts on Indigenous people, women, children, persons living with disability, poverty, and environmental defenders are particularly concerning. I want to also emphasize the growing intersection between toxic pollution and climate change. The continued extraction and combustion of fossil fuels not only drive the climate crisis, but also generate pollution and toxic substances that disproportionately affect vulnerable communities. Climate action must be there for protect human rights and address the environmental and health consequences of fossil fuel dependence. We welcome the special rapporteur's call for stronger regulations, meaningful public participation, respect for indigenous peoples, prior and informed consent, access to justice, and effective remedies. Finally, to further stress the importance of international cooperation and technical support, particularly for developing countries and small island developing states, which face acute environmental and climate vulnerabilities. I thank you. HRC · Vice-President [2:14:17]: Thank you. I give the floor to the distinguished representative of Ghana. Ghana [2:14:22]: Thank you, Mr. Vice President. My delegation aligns with the statement delivered by the African group. We are concerned that the extreme persistence and transboundary movement of PFAS pose serious risks to human rights, including the right to health, safe drinking water, and a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment. Vulnerable populations face these risks disproportionately. Ghana supports the Special Rapporteur's call for stronger public education and awareness. We also emphasize the importance of effective regulation, technology transfer, and international cooperation, particularly in supporting developing countries to address emerging chemical risks. Environmental protection is firmly anchored in Ghana's constitutional framework, which recognizes the intrinsic link between the protection of life and a safe and healthy environment, as well as the shared responsibility of the state and its citizens to safeguard the environment. Consistent with these principles and these commitments, under the Bamako Convention, Ghana enacted the Environmental Protection Act 2025 to strengthen national oversight of hazardous substances and their impacts. We recognize that no country can address these risks alone. We therefore call for stronger international cooperation grounded in shared responsibility to ensure the environmentally sound management and disposal of hazardous substances and waste. I thank you. HRC · Vice-President [2:15:47]: Thank you. I give the floor to the distinguished representative of Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN, FAO. FAO [2:15:55]: Thank you, Mr. Vice President. The challenge highlighted by PFAS contaminations demonstrates the close interconnection between environmental integrity, food security, nutrition, and sustainable livelihoods. They also underscore that environmental risks are often experienced unevenly, with those facing poverty, isolation, or limited access to resources frequently bearing a disproportionate burden of environmental degradation. FAO supports members through science-based risk assessment, food safety monitoring, data collection, capacity development, and technical guidance. In partnership with WHO, FAO contributes to international scientific advice through the Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives and supports Codex processes that help countries assess and manage risks associated with contaminants in food. The FAO assists countries in the environmentally sound management of agrochemicals and waste, including obsolete pesticides, contaminated sites, hazardous agricultural waste, empty pesticides containers, helping to prevent contaminants from entering soil, water resources, ecosystems and food chains, while supporting circular economic approaches where appropriate. Cooperation, knowledge sharing and evidence-based decision making remain essential for promoting productive ecosystems. HRC · Vice-President [2:17:33]: Thank you. I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of Samoa. I understand that they are absent. Moving on, I give the floor to the distinguished representative of Panama. Panama [2:17:55]: Thank you, Vice-President. Panama would like to welcome the presentation of the report on PFAS substances. We recognise the importance of addressing their potential implications for human health, ecosystems and the enjoyment of human rights. Environmentally sound management of hazardous substances and waste requires, to our mind, An approach that is based on prevention, scientific evidence, international cooperation and capacity building, particularly for developing countries. Panama has experience in this field through its involvement and participation in the Basel, Stockholm and Minamata Conventions, as well as through the Regional Centre for the Basel and Stockholm Conventions Basel and Stockholm Conventions for Central America and Mexico, headquartered in our country. This contributes to strengthening regional capacities for the management of chemical substances and waste. We'd like to ask the Special Rapporteur How do you think that your mandate can contribute in cooperation with existing multilateral environmental mechanisms to building capacities for developing countries to identify, monitor and prevent exposure to highly persistent substances such as PFAS and to facilitate a transition towards safer alternatives that are based on the best available scientific evidence? Thank you. HRC · Vice-President [2:19:29]: Thank you. I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of El Salvador. El Salvador [2:19:38]: Thank you, Vice President. El Salvador welcomes the presentation of the report on forever chemicals, and we take note of the potential toxic effects of those chemicals. We also acknowledge the importance of strengthening mechanisms and measures for protecting the environment and human health. We have strengthened our legal and regulatory framework, including through the adoption of our national policy on hazardous substances and waste. This is geared towards prevention and management of hazardous substances throughout their lifecycle and in compliance with the existing multilateral agreements on chemicals and waste. In this context, El Salvador reaffirms its commitment to environmentally sound management of hazardous waste and substances We know that accountability is crucial for protecting the right to life, the right to health, and the right to a clean and healthy environment. El Salvador would also like to reaffirm its robust commitment to cooperating in a constructive way with international human rights mechanisms in order to ensure the well-being and health of current and future generations. Many thanks. HRC · Vice-President [2:20:48]: Thank you. I give the floor to the distinguished representative of Djibouti. Djibouti [2:20:55]: Thank you, Vice President. Djibouti aligns itself with the statement by the Africa Group. We thank the Special Rapporteur for the presentation of her report on substances commonly known as PFAS, as well as their implications on the effective exercise of human rights. We recognise that PFAS, because of their persistence and their ability to pollute water, soil, air and food chains, are not only an environmental issue but also a matter for human rights, especially as regards the right to life, the right to health and the right to a clean, safe, healthy and sustainable environment. For Djibouti, this issue should be examined through the lens of global environmental justice and equity, as developing countries who have limited capacity for detecting, controlling and eliminating hazardous substances should not become the receptacles of pollution generated elsewhere. Djibouti would also like to underscore the importance of heightened international cooperation and greater action at the regional and international levels, in particular through the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions, so as to develop guidance regarding the environmentally sound management of PFAS. Special Rapporteur, what specific measures would you recommend for helping developing countries to have the necessary financial, technical and scientific wherewithal for effectively fighting against the pollution from PFAS? Thank you. HRC · Vice-President [2:22:20]: Thank you. I give the floor to the distinguished representative of Cameroon. Cameroon [2:22:28]: Thank you, President. Cameroon aligns itself with the statement delivered by the Africa Group, and we thank the Special Rapporteur for the presentation of the report on forever pollutants. My delegation shares the concerns about the persistence of these substances in the environment and their accumulation in ecosystems and the risks that they can pose for human health and the effective enjoyment of human rights. Cameroon remains committed to the right to a healthy environment. This is enshrined in our constitution. We are also committed to the effective implementation of relevant multinational agreements on the environment. The report highlights an important matter of environmental justice. PFAS pollution is a global challenge, but states do not all have the same technical, scientific, and financial capacities for identifying these substances, monitoring their presence, handling waste which contain these substances or finding safe alternatives. This is of particular significance for developing countries, especially in the face of the cross-border movements of goods and waste that contain these substances. The Special Rapporteur also underscores that PFAS remain present in many goods that circulate at the international level and in global recycling and waste management chains. Because of different capacities, developing countries may end up bearing a disproportionate cost and disproportionate risks of the transition towards the elimination of non-essential uses of PFAS. So what specific measures could the Special Rapporteur recommend to ensure that the gradual phase out of PFAS is accompanied by sound technical and financial support for developing countries, especially for detecting these substances and managing waste that contain them and ensuring access to safe and affordable alternatives? I thank you. HRC · Vice-President [2:24:11]: Thank you. I give the floor to the distinguished representative of the Marshall Islands. Marshall Islands [2:24:16]: Mr. President, the Republic of the Marshall Islands thanks the Special Rapporteur for his report. The Marshall Islands has direct experiences with PFAS, chemicals that are persistent, mobile, and increasingly present in ecosystems and waterways worldwide. In 2022, approximately 380 gallons of PFAS-containing firefighting foam leaked into the environment on Kwajalein Atoll from storage drums in place since 2020. As a nation that has lived through radioactive contamination from nuclear weapon testing, the Marshall Islands knows firsthand how persistent hazardous substances can irreversibly harm ecosystems and communities for generations. To this day, our people continue to live with the consequences. Atolls like Bikini remain uninhabitable. Communities such as Rongelap were displaced from their ancestral homes, and health impacts persist to this day. Once released into the environment, such substances endure for decades or even centuries. Guided by this experience, we welcome the Special Rapporteur's recommendation to strengthen regional instruments to explicitly address PFAS waste, and we'll consider it as part of our ongoing efforts to close gaps in our national and regional hazardous waste government work. Kumuldata, and I thank you. HRC · Vice-President [2:25:55]: Thank you. I'll give the floor to the distinguished representative of Zambia. Zambia [2:26:03]: Vice President, Zambia aligns with the statement by the Africa Group. The persistence of hazardous substances across borders and generations remind us that chemical pollution is not merely a national environmental concern, but a shared global responsibility. For developing countries, prevention presents particular challenges. Effective regulation requires scientific knowledge, laboratory capacity, reliable information on chemicals contained in imported products, and access to affordable and safer alternatives. These capacities cannot always be assumed. As Zambia pursues industrialization, including through our mining and manufacturing sectors, we believe development and environmental protection must reinforce rather than undermine each other. Developing countries should be supported to industrialize without becoming destinations for hazardous products. wastes or technologies being progressively abandoned elsewhere. We call for stronger international cooperation, technology transfer and capacity building to enable all countries to identify, regulate and safely manage hazardous chemicals. The transition towards safer alternatives must also be affordable and equitable. International cooperation must ensure that developing countries are not left carrying a disproportionate burden of the global transition away from forever chemicals. I thank you. HRC · Vice-President [2:27:26]: Thank you. Now I give the floor to the distinguished representative of Angola. Angola [2:27:34]: Mr. President, Angola aligns itself to the statement of the African Group and thanks the Special Rapporteur for the report and welcomes its important contributions to understand the implication of PFAS pollution for the enjoyment of human rights. We are particularly concerned by the transboundary dimension of this challenge. While much of the production and historical use of PFAS has been concentrated in in industrialized countries, the impact extended far beyond the places of origin through international trade, waste movements, water and air currents, and products containing these highly persistent substances. Developing countries may face particular vulnerabilities, including limited regulatory, monitoring, and waste management capacities. The transfer of PFAS-containing products, wastes, and pollutant technology Technologies, particularly without adequate transparency and labeling, risk further shifting the environmental and health burden toward countries that have contributed least to the problem. Angola therefore stresses the importance of international cooperation, technology transfer, capacity building, and adequate financial and technical assistance. In this regard, we welcome initiative undertaken through the United Nations system, including UNEP, to strengthen national chemical and waste management programs and capacities in development, developing countries. Special Rapporteur, given the ability of PFAS to travel across borders and enter developing countries through products, technology, and waste streams, what concrete international measures would you recommend to prevent the transfer of PFAS-related risk to countries with limited regulatory and monitoring capacity? Thank you. HRC · Vice-President [2:29:16]: Thank you. I give the floor to the distinguished representative of Ecuador. Ecuador [2:29:22]: Thank you, Vice President. My delegation welcomes the new special rapporteur, and we agree with the report and the need for an immediate prohibition on all non-essential uses of the chemical substances PFAS. whose effects, which have been scientifically proven to be carcinogenic and work as endocrine disruptors, and their extreme persistence over decades, centuries, or even millennia after their dispersal, pose a grave threat for health and the environment at the global level. Ecuador has developed measures to improve the identification and management of PFAS, including by drawing up a list of imports of goods that might contain them. We have also eliminated 22.5 tons of firefighting foam waste and are promoting its their gradual phase-out. Also, pursuant to the decision adopted at the last Conference of the Parties to the Stockholm Convention, since May this year we have prohibited the import of goods, commodities and substances that contain chlorpyrifos, and we have also strengthened the reduction programmes for hazardous pesticides and promoted clean production, traceability and economic circular economy with an emphasis on women, young people, small producers and vulnerable communities. However, it is essential to continue strengthening prevention of exposure to PFAS and access to information and a controlled transition towards safe alternatives, including through greater international cooperation, technology transfer and the construction and capacity building for developing countries. We also welcome negotiations on legally binding instruments on plastics, amongst other things. Thank you. HRC · Vice-President [2:31:00]: Thank you. I give the floor to the distinguished representative of Nepal. Nepal [2:31:06]: Mr. Vice President, Nepal thanks the Special Rapporteur for presenting the report. Developing countries continue to bear a disproportionate share of the burden resulting from the exposure to synthetic chemicals through various pathways. This raises serious concerns of global environmental justice with implications for the rights to health, life, safe working conditions, and a clean environment. The constitution of Nepal guarantees the right to a clean and healthy environment for all. Prevailing Nepali laws make provisions for the compensation in line with the polluter pays principles. Nepal is party to international environmental agreements, including the Basel, Rotterdam Convention, and the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants. In this regard, we would like to hear from the Special Rapporteur on how the international community can support developing countries in raising awareness about PFAS and other hazardous substances. We wish the Special Rapporteur every success in delivering on this important mandate. I thank you, Mr. Vice President. HRC · Vice-President [2:32:20]: Thank you. I give the floor to the distinguished representative of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Democratic Republic of the Congo [2:32:32]: Vice President, my delegation aligns itself with the statement of the Africa Group, and we thank the Special Rapporteur for her report. We share the Special Rapporteur's concern about the impact of hazardous goods and waste on human rights, their ability to irreversibly alter vital ecosystems poses a direct threat for human health, for the environment, and therefore for the full enjoyment of human rights. That is why my country supports the recommendation of the Special Rapporteur to immediately prohibit all non-essential uses of PFAS. The DRC calls for urgent global action, coordinated and binding action, in order to effectively control these molecules and apply the polluter pays principle. Therefore, we are stepping up our own efforts in this field, in particular by modernising our legislative framework in order to bring our national rules into line with international conventions on chemicals. Our customs agency is also stepping up controls over imports, and our Government is actively co-operating with civil society in order to raise awareness about toxicological risks. Moreover, as a country home to a significant share of global biodiversity and water resources from the Congo River Basin, the DRC is particularly exposed to chemical pollution of natural environments. Special Rapporteur, what would you recommend to ensure that developing countries, who often lack the necessary monitoring and decontamination infrastructure, can enjoy their right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment? I thank you. HRC · Vice-President [2:34:17]: Thank you. I give the floor to the distinguished representative of the Maldives. Maldives [2:34:22]: Thank you, Mr. Vice President. The Maldives thanks the Special Rapporteur for her report. As a party to the Basel, Rotterdam, and Stockholm Conventions, the Maldives remains committed to strengthening the management of hazardous chemicals and waste throughout their life cycle. With the support of development partners, we are strengthening island-level waste and resource management centers and regional waste processing capacities in developing and operationalizing interim hazardous chemical and waste storage facilities in the Maldives, while also advancing the phase out single use plastics. The recent amendment to the Waste Management Act has further strengthened the environmental safeguards and regulatory oversight, including an enhanced role for the Environmental Regulatory Authority in addressing violations affecting the environment and public health. For its geographical dispersion, limited economies of scale and constraints in technical capacity compound the impacts of pollution and waste streams generated through unsustainable patterns of production and consumption. International cooperation, including accessible finance and technology transfer, is essential to strengthen our ability to address these risks. The MLDs therefore calls for the swift conclusion of an ambitious and equitable legally binding instrument on plastic pollution that effectively addresses PFAS and other hazardous chemicals of concern in plastics, with adequate and predictable means of implementation for States. I thank you. HRC · Vice-President [2:35:46]: Thank you. I give the floor to the distinguished representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Iran (Islamic Republic of) [2:35:54]: Madam Special Rapporteur, Mr. Vice-President, my delegation welcomes Dr. Bethany Carney's report and its recognition that PFAS, owing to their extreme persistence, mobility, and toxicity pose a profound threat to human rights and the environment. As noted in the report, PFAS can persist in ecosystems for extremely long periods of time and contaminates water, soil, food, and human bodies. Against this background, my delegation draw attention to grave environmental consequences of the U.S.-Israeli aggression against Iran's energy infrastructure, including the Shahron oil facility and petrochemical installations. The destruction and burning of such facilities, together with firefighting operation, release hazardous and persistent substances, including PFAS, containing firefighting foams have been used. Such attacks engage the prohibition contained in Articles 35 and 55 of the First Additional Protocol concerning methods or means of warfare expected to cause widespread, long-term, and severe damage to natural environments that seriously threatens health and civilian health and or survival. Iran, therefore, urges the Special Rapporteur to document these attacks, investigate possible PFAS and other toxic releases, and assess the consequences for human health and environment. I thank you. HRC · Vice-President [2:37:33]: Thank you. I give the floor to the distinguished representative of Togo. Togo [2:37:41]: Thank you, Vice-President. My delegation would like to thank the Special Rapporteur for her enlightening report on the threat posed by PFAS substances on the exercise of human rights. Togo shares the concerns expressed regarding the deleterious impacts of these forever pollutants on human health and the environment, and we agree that urgent action is needed. Mindful of the importance of a sound management of hazardous waste and goods and substances, Togo has a live legal and institutional framework. The constitution enshrines the right to a healthy environment, and we have a new framework law on the environment which reaffirms the principles of precaution and prevention. We here, therefore, have a clear import framework for hazardous waste, which is only authorized under conditions, therefore ensuring traceability and management in keeping with international standards. We have ratified the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions, and we are actively implementing their provisions. We are stepping up our national capacity in terms of chemical safety, and we are fully committed to the fight against hazardous substances, as can be seen by the elimination, as of 2010, of CFCs and the ratification of the Kigali Amendment. My delegation would like to reaffirm its commitment to the principle of the polluter pays. We believe this principle is vital for ensuring reparation for damages caused by toxic substances and for ensuring effective protection for vulnerable communities. I thank you. HRC · Vice-President [2:39:11]: Thank you. I give the floor to the distinguished representative of Malawi. Malawi [2:39:16]: Vice-President, Malawi aligns with the statement of the African group and would like to assure the new mandate holder of our full support. As the Council is a multilateral platform, we believe that international cooperation must remain at the center of our response to her mandate. The challenges faced by developing countries in the management of hazardous substances and plastics throughout their life cycle demand urgent collaborative approach. Equally important, Malawi would like to see greater emphasis placed on environmental justice, particularly with a view to minimizing the transfer of hazardous chemicals and waste to States that are neither main producers nor primary users. Stronger international safeguards, greater transparency across supply chains, and. Responsible corporate due diligence can be critical in preventing developing countries from bearing disproportionate share of the risks associated with. Hazardous substances and wastes. We commend the mandate holder for raising awareness on these hazardous substances and wastes. Our hope is that the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights can work with other relevant regional bodies to ensure access to information, meaningful participation, and effective remedies where exposure causes harm in our communities. I thank you, Mr. Vice President. HRC · Vice-President [2:40:52]: Thank you. I give the floor to the distinguished representative of Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe [2:40:57]: Thank you, Mr. Vice President. Zimbabwe welcomes the report of the Special Rapporteur and takes note of the recommendations. We recommend the need to sound management of chemicals and waste in the protection of the environment and human rights. In that regard, Zimbabwe has made progress in strengthening its national framework on hazardous substances and wastes. Collaborative efforts and partnerships are being pursued to assist the country in meeting its obligations under the Bamako, Basel, Rotterdam, Stockholm, and Minamata Conventions, and implement the strategic approach to international chemicals management. Legislation governing the licensing, transportation, classification, and labeling, and safe handling of hazardous substances, as well as prohibiting and illegal discharge into the environment have been strengthened to align with the constitutionally guaranteed environmental rights. We continue to tackle the recklessness, the reckless disposal of hazardous substances and waste as well as mitigating its effects to the populace by regularly conducting educational awareness sessions on chemicals in the environment with the companies, mining firms, as well as the communities. We reaffirm our commitment to environmentally management of hazardous substances and waste and to protecting the health dignity and rights of our people I thank you. HRC · Vice-President [2:42:24]: Thank you I give the floor to the distinguished representative of Iraq. Iraq [2:42:33]: Thank you, Mr. Vice President. The Republic of Iraq would like to thank the Special Rapporteur for the instructive report that sheds light on the interface between climate change, the right to health, waste management, and effective remedy. Iraq reaffirms that environmental and climate challenges represent an issue that is increasingly hurtful of human rights. This requires international cooperation and placing the right national frameworks to protect the right to clean, healthy, and sustainable environment. Iraq is facing ever-increasing challenges in managing hazardous chemicals and wastes, given conflict-related waste as well as industrial pollution, residues, and POPs. This is why in 2026, Iraq has undertaken a number of practical measures to combat these crises. Our Ministry of Environment and the UNDP have signed in February of this year an agreement for an integrated management of POPs and chemically polluted zones in order to combat pollution and to ensure environmental sustainability in Iraq, which is now for us a national roadmap for environmental action. We're working also towards developing techniques and technologies to deal with hazardous materials and wastes in order to be able to identify them and especially ensure oversight over radioactive materials and pollution. We reaffirm our commitment to the principle of effective remedies and the implementation of the right to a healthy environment. Thank you very much. HRC · Vice-President [2:44:08]: The floor to the distinguished representative of Mali. Mali [2:44:17]: Thank you, Vice-President. Mali endorses the statement delivered by the African Group and thanks the Special Rapporteur for the report. We have identified a number of different pollutants, particularly the PFAS, which remain in the environment for decades and which can pollute water, soils and the food chain. Available data shows that PFAS accumulate in water, soils and living organisms and have a significant impact on health, notably the immune system, hormones and carcinogenic risks as well as fertility and foetal development risks. In view of their hazardous nature, Mali has adopted a series of provisions to identify, monitor and reduce the presence of PFAS, considered to be eternal or forever chemicals with a high risk for health. We've set up a national monitoring system, drafted a plan of action and regulatory drafts on PFAS, notably those present in everyday objects, and reduced industrial discharges of them. We've extended health checks and integrated PFAS in a number of strategic frameworks. We believe that we must take measures in the UN, particularly in the ILO and the World Health Organization, in order to tackle the problems linked to PFAS, which affect the rights of workers and human health. Thank you. HRC · Vice-President [2:45:49]: Thank you. I give the floor to the distinguished representative of Bangladesh. Bangladesh [2:45:56]: Mr. Vice President, Bangladesh thanks the Special Rapporteur for presenting the report on forever chemicals and human rights. We remain concerned about the continued production and widespread use of hazardous substances that pose serious risks to human health and ecosystems. Such substances seriously undermine the enjoyment of human rights, particularly the rights to health, safe drinking water, and a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment. Developing countries face disproportionate risks as they lack adequate information, testing facilities, safer alternatives, disposable technologies, as well as financial and technical capacity to identify and manage toxic substances and waste. Mr. Vice President, Bangladesh has strengthened its legal and institutional framework for stricter regulation of hazardous chemicals, extended producer responsibility, safer recycling, and environmentally sound waste management. Nevertheless, significant capacity and technological gap remains. We stress the need for an enhanced international cooperation that remains crucial to preventing the transboundary movement of toxic substances, facilitating the exchange of information, knowledge, and best practices, and developing harmonized rules and regulation. Stronger regulation should remain in place throughout the life cycle of hazardous products, particularly at the production stage. Technology transfer could support efforts to develop safer alternatives and establish efficient disposal. and waste management system. I thank you, Mr. Vice President. HRC · Vice-President [2:47:30]: Thank you. I give the floor to the distinguished representative of Pakistan. Pakistan [2:47:36]: Thank you, Mr. Vice President. We thank the SRF for the presentation of his report. As regulatory action on PFAS advances, attention is needed to ensure measures implemented equitably. Monitoring PFAS, identifying contaminated sites, and ensuring safe management require technical capacities that remain unevenly distributed among countries. We particularly share the SR's concern that this is an environmental justice issue. As developed countries tighten PFAS regulations, safeguards are needed to prevent PFAS-intensive production and associated pollution burdens from shifting to developing countries. Such relocation would not contain the problem. PFAS can re-enter global markets through trade products, allowing pollution generated in one part of the world to have consequences far beyond it, consistent with the polluter pays principle, those responsible. for PFAS pollution should bear the cost of prevention and remediation. Equally important is access to safer alternatives. Developing countries should not face new barriers due to their cost or limited availability. Mr. Vice President, Pakistan has adopted the National Hazardous Waste Management Policy in 2022 to strengthen the sound management of hazardous chemicals and waste. This commitment is further reflected in Pakistan's presidency of the Bureau of the Global Framework on Chemicals. We seek the SR's thoughts on how international cooperation can help prevent regulatory disparities from shifting PFAS-related risks and burdens toward developing countries. I thank you very much. HRC · Vice-President [2:49:03]: Thank you. I give the floor to the distinguished representative of the Dominican Republic. Dominican Republic [2:49:10]: Thank you, Vice President. The Dominican Republic thanks the Special Rapporteur for presenting her report. We appreciate the ongoing dialogue that we started following the official visit of your predecessor to our country in May of last year. We appreciate the fact that the Dominican Republic's input has been included in the report, notably with regard to offshoring, the costs of pollution, environmental justice and the participation of affected communities. We continue to strengthen our legal institutional frameworks, notably through the law on the comprehensive solid waste management and the national plan for solid waste management running up to 2032, and the national strategy to close down and remedy over 240 dumps. Nevertheless, the specific challenge of PFAS requires additional capacities for identifying them in imports, national laboratories and developing safe alternatives. For small island developing states, technical and financial cooperation is not a nice to have, but a must have in order to ensure a fair transition. This must be based on extended producer responsibility and the polluter pays principle so that the costs aren't borne by the countries that don't produce these substances, which do bear their impacts. Madam Special Rapporteur, what are your recommendations in terms of financing, technology transfer and corporate responsibility in order to strengthen the capacity of small island developing states and other developing countries? Thank you. HRC · Vice-President [2:50:52]: Thank you. I give the floor to the distinguished representative of Burkina Faso. Burkina Faso [2:51:02]: My delegation. My delegation endorses the African Group statement. We congratulate the Special Rapporteur on the high-quality report on the impact of forever chemicals on human rights. You've made relevant recommendations, particularly those concerning the ban on the non-essential use of PFAS and adopting measures to progressively eradicate the production, trade and use of PFAS. We appreciate them. We have a legal framework protecting the right to a healthy environment. According to Act 006 of 2013, which is the environment code, those who commit environmental crimes can be held responsible. Article 122 of the law ensures the punishment of environmental crimes. And when it comes to plastic pollution, we have adopted a law which will eradicate disposable plastics and combat the dangers of plastics. Furthermore, the victims of environmental crimes have access to independent, impartial justice and can gain reparations for harm suffered. By way of conclusion, my delegation calls for greater commitment to combat the use of toxic products, uh, which undermines the right to a healthy environment. Thank you. HRC · Vice-President [2:52:32]: Thank you. I give the floor to the distinguished representative of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Democratic People's Republic of Korea [2:52:39]: Thank you, Mr. Vice President. The DPRK welcomes the report of the Special Rapporteur and deeply concerned about the continued discharge of radioactive wastewater. into the Pacific Ocean by Japan, despite serious concerns of the international community. Since the discharge began in August 2023, Japan has continued this practice according to a long-term plan. Recently, the 23rd discharge was carried out, and Japan plans to continue releasing approximately 1.3 million tons of radioactive wastewater over the coming decades. Such a large scale and prolonged discharge of radioactive substances into the common marine environment raises serious concerns for the protection of environment and the human right. To a clean, healthy and sustainable environment. Japan should immediately stop discharging the radioactive wastewater. The DPRK calls upon the Special Rapporteur and the international community to closely and continuously monitor the human rights and environmental impacts of Japan's practice and to address this issue responsibly to protect present and future generations. Japan should bear in mind that the longer it persists in this reckless course, the more crimes against humanity it will add to its record. I thank you. HRC · Vice-President [2:53:59]: Thank you. I give the floor to the distinguished representative of Turkey. I will give the floor to the distinguished representative of Sudan. Sudan [2:54:25]: Thank you, Vice-President. We've taken careful note of the report from the Special Rapporteur. We thank you for addressing such an important subject. Forever, chemicals and pollutants continue to be a major threat to the environment and human health. That's why it's so important that we adopt rules to regulate their use. We must attach due importance to them in order to remedy the effects of the use of pollutants and the and hazardous waste. More support must be given to developing countries so that they can tackle this threat. Furthermore, importing hazardous waste has created a new problem for developing countries. They face the daily impact of this issue. So we need an international agreement to ban the trade and use of these forever chemicals. We deplore all forms of such pollution. So we call on reparations to be paid to the countries which have been victims of this system. When it comes to industry, Companies must obtain authorization from the state in order to undertake extractive activities if they're going to use such pollutants so that workers' rights are protected as well as their health. Thank you. HRC · Vice-President [2:56:04]: Thank you. I give the floor to the distinguished representative of Ukraine. Ukraine [2:56:11]: Thank you, Mr. President. We welcome the Special Rapporteur and thank her for the report. Russia's ongoing war of aggression against Ukraine has caused severe environmental damage through attacks targeting industrial facilities, pharmaceutical and chemical storage sites, as well as energy infrastructure. As a result, Ukraine's air, water, and soil are being contaminated while our ecosystems are struggling to recover. This environmental devastation is not temporary. Its consequences will persist for decades. Thousands of kilometers of fiber optic cables from UAVs have contaminated Ukraine's agricultural land, rendering it unsafe or impossible to cultivate, moreover, approximately 22% of Ukraine's territory is potentially contaminated with explosive hazards. Daily missile strikes and drone attacks have devastating effects not only on Ukraine's environment, but also on neighboring regions. Water contamination, missile and drone debris, and air pollution have no boundaries. These actions fall directly within the scope of the Stockholm and Basel Conventions. The threat posed by transboundary pollution requires urgent and concerted action by the international community. Madam Special Rapporteur, against this background, what concrete measures can international community take to ensure accountability and effective access to justice and remedies for communities affected by Russia's environmental destruction in Ukraine? I thank you. HRC · Vice-President [2:57:46]: Thank you. I give the floor to the distinguished representative of Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia [2:57:55]: Thank you, Vice-President. We've taken careful note of the report on forever chemicals and their impact on human rights. With regard to the management of these substances, it must be done appropriately in order to mitigate their impact on human rights. We must pull data management with regard to toxic substances. Our country has adopted measures under Vision 2030 in order to ensure appropriate management of chemical substances and protect the environment. We must follow all the stages of the use of these chemical substances from their production to their Disposal. We have established a national system for the ecological management of chemical substances. We call for more sustainable systems in line with Vision 2030. We must sustainably manage the environment in order to ensure development and quality of life. Thank you. HRC · Vice-President [2:59:18]: Thank you. I give the floor to the distinguished representative of Ireland. Ireland [2:59:24]: Ireland aligns with the statement of the EU and welcomes the Special Rapporteur as she begins her new role. We thank the previous Special Rapporteur, Marcus O'Reilly, for his report on forever chemicals and human rights. We echo the Special Rapporteur's findings that PFAS pose profound, irreversible threat to life-supporting ecosystems. and impair the effective enjoyment of human rights, including the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment. We welcome the report's highlighting of the negative impact of these substances on the health of women and girls in particular. In 2027, the European Commission is expected to bring forward a draft universal PFAS restriction proposal for discussion, which is currently under consideration by the European Chemicals Agency. If supported by the REACH Committee, it will have a significant impact on the environment, enterprises and society. The promotion of environmental rights, sustainable health policies and climate justice is a consistent foreign policy priority for Ireland, on which we actively engage at multilateral fora to address global chemical pollution, including the Global Framework on Chemicals. Our fourth national implementation plan on persistent organic pollutants, as required under the Stockholm convention, will be published in the coming weeks, outlining the actions that we are taking and will continue to take on those pollutants. Special rapporteur, what measures are most critical to successfully implement an immediate ban on all non-essential uses of PFAS? I thank you. HRC · Vice-President [3:00:58]: Thank you. I give the floor to the distinguished representative of Malaysia. Malaysia [3:01:04]: The Vice President, Malaysia thanks the Special Rapporteur for his report. We recognize the potential impacts of PFAS to human health and the environment. Their sound management is closely linked to the enjoyment of human rights, including the rights to health and to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment. Domestically, Malaysia is strengthening its management of environmentally hazardous substances. The proposed environmental quality regulations, we reinforce notification, registration and control mechanism. Internationally, Malaysia continues to fulfill its obligation under the Rotterdam Convention and is preparing towards ratification of the Stockholm Convention. We also maintain strict controls on contaminated plastic waste in accordance with the Basel Convention. Any future move to phase out or prohibit PFAS requires careful consideration of its environmental, health and socio-economic implication. Such measures should be based on sound regulatory readiness and the availability of safe and practical alternative. Malaysia supports stronger international cooperation and effective implementation of existing multilateral agreements. Developing countries should be supported through technical assistance, capacity building and access to safer alternative. We will continue engaging constructively through practical solutions that protect people and the environment while enabling an equitable and sustainable transition. Thank you. HRC · Vice-President [3:02:28]: Thank you. I give the floor to the distinguished representative of India. India [3:02:35]: Mr. Vice President, my delegation has consistently held that the specialized topics be discussed in their appropriate forum and the Council deliberations should not be used to prejudge such discussions in this case under the Stockholm Convention. We also believe that SRs as domain experts have a responsibility to ensure that while giving due consideration to the submissions from civil society in their report, also reflect the relevant facts and status of legal compliance of states with due precision. Mr. Chair, India complies with international obligations under the Stockholm Convention. Our environmental framework provides robust checks and balances through environmental impact assessment, clearance requirements, pollution control consents, inspections, and hazardous waste safeguards. Central and provincial pollution control boards exercise regulatory oversight, complemented by independent judicial scrutiny, including through the National Green Tribunal. We also believe that effective implementation requires international cooperation that responds to the developing countries' capacities and development priorities. We request the SR to consider the following questions for future thematic work. First, how can the increasing implementation burden on developing countries as international chemicals and waste instruments expand in scope be adequately addressed? Second, how can equity and CBDRRC be translated into enhanced access to predictable finance, environmentally sound technologies, technical assistance and capacity building, enabling developing countries to implement their international obligations while safeguarding their right to sustainable development? Thank you. HRC · Vice-President [3:04:12]: Thank you. I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of Algeria. Algeria [3:04:33]: Yes. Sorry, Mr. Chair. Yes, thank you. The Algerian delegation thanks the Special Rapporteur and takes note of this report. The transboundary movement of synthetic chemicals produced and released in industrialized countries constitute a planetary public health and environmental challenge. Developing countries bear a disproportionate burden of the environmental and health impact of these hazardous substances, despite little contribution to their production, consumption, or historical release. Besides, despite existing international and domestic legal frameworks, developing countries face implementation challenges related to limited resources and capacities. Therefore, we underscore the importance of international cooperation in addressing these global challenges through resource mobilization, financial support, technology transfer, and capacity building. Finally, efficient and equitable alternatives are a sound management of these chemicals are indispensable to the enjoyment of the right to health and the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment for present and future generations. Thank you, Mr. Chair. HRC · Vice-President [3:05:44]: Thank you. I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of Peru. Peru [3:05:51]: We'd like to thank the Special Rapporteur for presenting her reports. We've taken note of her remarks concerning PFAS and their effects on health, ecosystems and enjoyment of human rights. We agree that it's important to strengthen prevention better scientific management and promoting life cycle management of chemicals. The report on the visit to Mexico contains important indicators for our region, notably on the management of toxic substances and reducing their impact on people and the environment. Peru has strengthened its legal framework, notably through the Chemical Substances Management Act this year, and we also have strengthened provisions on labeling, classification, exchange of information. We also have national plans for implementing the Minamata and Stockholm protocols and conventions. We are seeking to strengthen national capacity and at regional level as well. We are also enhancing access to relevant information. We will continue to promote holistic management of chemical substances and waste through the exchange of information and good practices. Thank you. HRC · Vice-President [3:07:12]: Thank you. This was the last speaker we could accommodate for this dialogue. We shall now turn to the list of speakers for non-governmental organizations. I give the floor to the representative of ARC, intervention by video. Association for the Defense of Human Rights of Azerbaijanis of Iran [3:07:30]: Mr. President, the Association for the Defense of Human Rights of Azerbaijanis of Iran thanks the Special Rapporteur for the opportunity. In Iran, hazardous substances and unsafe waste management continues to undermine the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment. Azerbaijanis in Iran are disproportionately affected by the environmental degradation resulting from inadequate oversight and persistent government inaction. In East and West Azerbaijan provinces, Iranian authorities have failed to prevent the use of polluted surface water and untreated sewage for agricultural irrigation, exposing communities to contaminated soil, crops, and water, threatening food security and increasing the risk of serious diseases. Rather than addressing these environmental challenges transparently, the government of Iran increasingly treats environmental concerns as a matter of national security. Independent experts, researchers, and civil society actors face restrictions that impede professional reporting, public scrutiny, and evidence-based environmental solutions. These policies not only deepen environmental harm but also deny affected communities their rights to information, participation, and effective remedies. We urge the government of Iran to end these practices, ensure transparent environmental governance, uphold the obligations under the international human rights law, and protect the rights of the Azerbaijanis in Iran and all other communities affected by the hazardous substances and based. Thank you. HRC · Vice-President [3:09:01]: Thank you. I give the floor to the representative of CL. CIEL [3:09:07]: Thank you, Vice President. The Center for International Environmental Law strongly welcomes Dr. Carney Almerod's appointment and this crucial report on forever chemicals. The report is clear. States must ban PFAS as a class now. This work is underway. We call on the European Commission to set an example by broadly restricting PFAS production and use. But that is only a starting point. PFAS are a global threat to health, environment, and human rights, and require global action. PFAS don't appear by magic. A handful of companies produce them despite decades of knowledge of their harms. The Forever Lobbying Project exposed this industry's orchestrated lobbying and science disinformation campaign, which, as the report notes, implicates the right to science and the principle of prevention. Governments and intergovernmental institutions must exclude this industry from policy discussions to protect the integrity of policymaking. PFAS toxic legacy threatens our rights and those of future generations. the Council and special procedures can play a key role in providing further guidance on relevant states' obligations. I thank you. HRC · Vice-President [3:10:28]: Thank you. I give the floor to the representative of Earth Justice. Earthjustice [3:10:34]: Thank you, Mr. Vice President. Earthjustice and Clean Cape Fear congratulate you, Ms. Bethany Carney Clean Cape Fear [3:10:39]: Omroth, for your appointment as Special Rapporteur and look forward to working with you. Mr. President, I speak here as a victim of PFAS contamination coming from an affected community in North Carolina in the United States. companies who caused it continue to evade regulations and require expensive court battles to provide the most basic justice. Meanwhile, they still poison our water and our blood. We didn't ask for any of this. Such dangerous forever chemicals must be addressed as a class, and the OEC definition is very helpful for that. Earthjustice [3:11:12]: A chemical by chemical regulatory approach does not work. Clean Cape Fear [3:11:15]: A globally coordinated intervention is urgently needed. Earthjustice [3:11:19]: Therefore, we call states to ban PFAS as a class of forever Clean Cape Fear [3:11:23]: chemicals and immediately cease all non-essential uses, as well as engage in a global and legally binding phase-out strategy. Earthjustice [3:11:31]: Urgently act to end human rights violations and sacrifice zones by providing medical monitoring and treatment in contaminated communities. issue strong deterrent measures providing justice and environmental restoration beyond, for example, just drinking water filtration. In our country, unfortunately, the current administration does not act to stop production, neither to provide meaningful remedies. Worse, they allow the chemical industry unrestrained privileges at our expense. This must stop. Thank you. HRC · Vice-President [3:12:02]: Thank you. Now I give the floor to the representative of Guinea Medical Mutual Association intervention by video. Guinea Medical Mutual Association [3:12:14]: We wish to draw the Special Rapporteur's attention to the toxic impacts of the armed conflict in Sudan and their long-term risks to civilian health and the environment. Of particular concern are allegations that the Sudanese Armed Forces have used chemical weapons. These allegations are alarming not only because they concern prohibited weapons, but also because exposure to toxic chemicals may cause serious and lasting health effects for victims, as well as risks of contamination of water, soil, and the environment. Health effects have been observed among individuals in areas allegedly exposed to toxic chemicals. This requires independent scientific testing and analysis, medical care for victims, and long-term health monitoring. Despite the Sudanese authorities' declared willingness to cooperate with the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, independent and effective international access to the locations concerned has yet to take place. We therefore call upon the Special Rapporteur to give particular attention to Sudan, examine the health, environmental, and human rights implications of these allegations, and call for an independent scientific investigation and long-term monitoring of victims and affected areas. The toxic legacy of this war may continue harming civilians for years after the weapons become silent. Thank you. HRC · Vice-President [3:13:40]: Thank you. I give the floor to the representative of Juventum e.V. Intervention by video. Juventum e.V. [3:13:47]: Mr. President, Juventum congratulates the appointment of Madame Special Rapporteur and expresses our gratitude for all the contributions made by the previous mandate holders. Five severe nuclear meltdowns and numerous leaks have happened since 1979. The risks of nuclear power outweigh the benefits. Reactors in war zones and the deregulation of reactor age limits are among the serious risks. Industrial greed wants to feed nuclear electricity to cool data centers. Scattered SMRs could spread radioactive contamination to the neighborhoods. The contaminated soil from Fukushima will be used for public projects, and the modified meltdown juice will be released for the next 60 years. The solution to pollution is dilution has been a common attitude. Nobody has seen the safety of the nuclear wastes stored for hundreds of years. The under-informed public is persuaded to become too permissive toward the nuclear contamination. Radioactive contamination must be mainstreamed in environmental discussions. It would be wonderful if Madam Special Rapporteur could review the Fukushima disaster and/or compile a comprehensive report on nuclear materials similar to the one on PFAS. Thank you very much for your attention. HRC · Vice-President [3:15:17]: Thank you. I give the floor to the representative of Make Mothers Matter, intervention by video. Make Mothers Matter [3:15:24]: Mothers Matter welcomes this critical discussion on an issue that requires urgent action. The report rightly identifies the severe impacts of PFAS on mothers and children. In addition to the harm and risks for mothers themselves, PFAS cross the placenta and have been detected in breast milk, thereby exposing fetuses and infants during their most vulnerable stages of development. However, the report fails to frame this issue at the intersection of women's rights to health, maternal health, children's rights, and the rights of future generations. It also fails to recognize the exposure continuum from preconception through pregnancy, fetal development and birth, to early childhood. Furthermore, the socioeconomic consequences for mothers are overlooked. Contamination can increase women's unpaid care work, a cost that must be factored into damage assessments and redress mechanisms. To complement the Special Rapporteur's recommendation, we call on Member States to adopt a life course and intergenerational approach to PFAS policies with particular attention to the periods surrounding conception, pregnancy, and early childhood. Measures must include exposure prevention, biomonitoring, and guaranteed access to information and health services. Crucially, responsibility for preventing chemical exposure must not be shifted onto mothers and families. PFAS must be eliminated from the environment. Thank you. HRC · Vice-President [3:16:49]: Thank you. This was the last speaker we could accommodate for this meeting. Excellencies, distinguished participants, this brings us to the end of this meeting. We will reconvene in the afternoon at 3:00 PM to continue the interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur. on the implications for human rights of the environmentally sound management and disposal of hazardous substances and wastes, and then to hold the interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation, to be followed by the interactive dialogue with the Working Group on the Use of Mercenaries. I hereby close the ninth meeting of the 63rd session of the Human Rights Council.