Item 10 General Debate
Human Rights Council – 54th Session
Statement by the Delegation of the United States of America
As Delivered by Ambassador Michèle Taylor
Thank you, Mr. Vice President.
The United States appreciates OHCHR’s important work providing technical assistance and increasing countries’ capacities to respect and protect human rights.
We have seen improvements in the human rights situations of countries where governments openly and fully collaborate with OHCHR to protect civic space, promote accountability, and protect the most vulnerable.
We encourage this collaboration in Haiti, where OHCHR, the newly appointed independent human rights expert, and the government can strengthen institutions to counter gang violence and impunity for human rights abuses.
Colombia is the latest country to receive this Council’s support to receive tailored assistance from OHCHR to strengthen implementation of its 2016 Peace Accord, something the United States also strongly supports.
We welcome this cooperation in Georgia, where the government has allowed access to OHCHR monitors. Unfortunately, Russia continues to prevent access to the areas of Georgia it occupies. We call on Russia to cooperate with international monitors and to halt its human rights abuses in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, both Georgian sovereign territories.
We also welcome this cooperation with OHCHR in Somalia, and we look forward to reforms there that would strengthen protections for freedoms of expression and association.
The United States is proud to be one of the largest donors to OHCHR. We strongly support the High Commissioner and his team’s work to carry out this important independent mandate, as we face increasingly complex human rights challenges in every corner of the globe.
Thank you for the discussion on this important work.
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