EU Statement – UN General Assembly 3rd Committee: Combined Interactive Dialogue with ASGs for Human Rights

Chair,

The EU and its Member States welcome you, Ms. Fuentes Julio, in your new role and thank you for presenting the long list of reports by the Secretary-General.

All these reports are important and deserve our full attention. They provide vital information about how our work in this Committee, our obligations we must respect and the commitments we have all made, are translated into reality and impact people’s lives. 

For the sake of time, our intervention will focus on 3 points. 

First, we acknowledge in particular the report on cooperation with the United Nations. We are appalled by the reported increase in intimidation, harassment and reprisals against those who cooperate or seek to cooperate with the UN. These acts silence the voices we need to hear to uphold our responsibilities to the people we serve; they undermine the very fabric of our societies and impair the effective functioning of the UN system.

While we welcome the good practices at national and international levels indicated in the report, we deeply regret the instrumentalization and misuse of the legislation by some States, including the unsubstantiated designations of persons and organizations as terrorists, aimed to deter or hinder cooperation with the UN.

Although States’ human rights obligations transcend national borders, few States are held accountable for committing transborder human rights violations. The disturbing increase of transnational repression, enabled by digital surveillance, demands stronger and more coordinated action. We therefore welcome that the joint statement issued by over 130 UN human rights experts calls for stronger prevention, accountability and protection for those affected.

Question: How can we strengthen protection and follow-up on persistent cases of reprisals, including transnational repression, while respecting the wishes, integrity and safety of those affected?

Second, the SG’s report on the human rights treaty body system remind us that protection depends on functioning institutions. We are deeply concerned that funding shortfalls and the liquidity crisis have severely curtailed treaty body meeting time, delayed State reviews and impeded access to these essential mechanisms.

Reform should improve effectiveness, harmonise working methods and address backlogs while safeguarding treaty body independence and the protection of rights holders. It must be accompanied by adequate, predictable and sustainable funding. 

We call on all Member States to ensure regular and timely reporting to treaty bodies, and to pay their assessed contributions in full and on time, and on the Secretary-General to ensure sufficient funding for the human rights pillar.

Question:  How can treaty body reform safeguard meaningful participation by independent civil society?"

Third, the Secretary-General’s reports on the four country situations: on the human rights situation of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, in DPRK and Iran, underscore the importance of independent monitoring, cooperation with UN mechanisms and accountability. 

We urge all delegation take good note of these reports, which provide objective, impartial information on the human rights situation in some of the most critical situations that requires international attention. 

Assistant Secretary General Lopez, 

Thank you for your presentation. 

We welcome in particular the launch of the next phase of the UN Disability Inclusion Strategy in June 2026 (UNDIS 2.0), and the commitment of the UN leadership in this regard. Disability inclusion work remains a crucial part of the work, across the UN system.

Question: With this new phase of the UN Disability Inclusion Strategy, how will the United Nations system ensure the mainstreaming of disability inclusion, including in planning, budgeting, performance management and accountability processes across all entities and country teams?

Thank you.