Towards universality in spirit and in practice

Excellencies,

It is my pleasure to welcome you to this pledging event for the Voluntary Technical Assistance Trust Fund to Support the Participation of Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States – SIDS and LDCs, as they are known – in the Work of the Human Rights Council.

Your presence here today shows your commitment to universal and meaningful participation in the work of the human rights system.

Because this Fund needs much more support. From a high of 1.2 million dollars in 2018, contributions fell by two-thirds over the past 6 years, to just over 410,000 dollars in 2024. 

While COVID-19 influenced the level of contributions, we hope this trend will be reversed immediately, and the amount will increase. Because we often talk about the importance of consulting the people most affected by crises – and this Fund is a concrete and cost-effective way to achieve that goal.

Small Island Developing States and Least Developed Countries are suffering disproportionately from the human rights impacts of conflict, economic shocks, and climate chaos. This Fund means they have a seat at the table; their voices are heard, and their contributions taken into account in decisions on these issues.

The Fund’s achievements speak for themselves and require everyone’s support.

First, thanks to the contributions of previous and current donors and partners of this Fund, almost all SIDS and LDCs have participated in the work of the Human Rights Council – a body where they were previously under-represented. Overall, more than 280 people from across 71 of these countries have participated in a Human Rights Council session.

Second, this Fund has helped bring about some important victories for multilateral cooperation, showing that SIDS and LDCs can be important agents of change. In 2021, the Maldives, together with beneficiaries of the Fund and four other Member States, led the Human Rights Council resolution on the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment.

Third, the Trust Fund has helped strengthen human rights capacity in beneficiary countries, by supporting more specialized and technical knowledge and know-how to engage with the human rights system. Some beneficiaries have led their countries’ Universal Periodic Review or reviews by treaty bodies. Others have helped implement the recommendations of human rights at the national level. Others still have joined their countries’ existing Permanent Missions in Geneva or have helped open new representations in Geneva.

Excellencies,

In that spirit, I strongly encourage you to scale up your financial commitments to the Trust Fund, or to make a commitment for the first time. Ideally, this would be in the form of predictable multi-year funding. That is the best way to ensure continued SIDS and LDC representation at the Human Rights Council and opportunities for capacity-building.

Non-financial contributions to the Fund are also welcome. This could include awareness-raising about the Fund, information sharing, or contributing to human rights capacity-building material and training courses.

Meaningful and inclusive participation in international fora is in everybody’s interest.

It enables dialogue, promotes progress, and helps find concrete, sustainable solutions to our common challenges.

Together, let’s do what we can to ensure universality in spirit and in practice.

Thank you.