US Mission Geneva

As the Council commemorates the anniversaries of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Vienna Declaration and Program of Action, we are concerned by efforts to inappropriately collectivize human rights, which are rights guaranteed to individuals, as well as by efforts to make development a precondition for the fulfillment of human rights obligations and commitments.

Today, we want to reiterate U.S. concerns over reprisals targeting the special procedures of this Council, the staff of the Office of the High Commissioner, and civil society actors who cooperate with the Human Rights Council and its mandates, and with the UN more generally.

Under U.S. federal law people with disabilities are protected from discrimination in State and local government services, programs, and activities, including law enforcement agencies, justice system entities, and juvenile and adult corrections agencies.

The United States has a legacy of legal protections for individual privacy dating back to our founding.

We appreciate their efforts to highlight the urgency of addressing violence against children and children and armed conflict, and to advocate for rights and protections of children.

The United States would like to thank the Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities for her report. We also want to thank the Independent Expert for her work on Albinism.

The United States supports efforts to prioritize the needs of children in humanitarian situations. Children are the agents of change, and each day we are reminded that every young person is a key driver of prosperity and freedom.

We remind the Council of the repeated violations and abuses against civilians by the Syrian authorities and their supporters in previous post-ceasefire agreements, documented by numerous UN reports, including those of the Commission of Inquiry.

All of the Russian amendments before us today are an attempt to divert the Council’s attention from the issue at hand: the continued violations of the ceasefire by the regime and its Russian supporters.