September 07, 2026
Delivered partly in French
and Spanish
Mr.
President,
Excellencies,
Distinguished
participants,
We live in an age of
extremes.
Raging wars, painful polarization, climate
chaos, and head-spinning technological change make people
feel disoriented and even powerless.
Strong forces are
working to create and sustain that feeling.
Tech
moguls, populists, and vested interests, amplified by social
media echo chambers, tell us these trends are
inevitable.
In fact, the opposite is
true.
History is full of brave people who took action
to resist oppression and demand their rights. People who
called out injustice and inequality. People who refused to
accept their fate, coming together to channel the universal
values that underpin our humanity.
This truth is a
force to be reckoned with, underpinning all we are
doing.
The past years have been marked by a growing
number of armed conflicts, and diminishing respect for
international human rights and humanitarian law, and the
United Nations Charter itself.
There are now more than
60 wars involving at least one State – the highest number
since the end of the Second World War. The surge in conflict
between States takes us into particularly dangerous
territory.
I am alarmed by the resumption of attacks
between the United States and Iran, affecting the entire
Gulf region. Recent reports of civilian deaths and injuries,
including at a wedding in Hormozgan province, are
particularly concerning. The geopolitical and economic
impacts of this entirely avoidable crisis are again
reverberating around the world, and I appeal for an
immediate return to negotiations.
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Russia’s
full-scale war in Ukraine, now in its fifth year, is on a
menacing trajectory, with soaring civilian casualties and
intensified attacks on energy infrastructure. While the
overwhelming majority of civilians killed are Ukrainians,
there are also reports of growing numbers of deaths and
injuries in Russia.
I am horrified by reports that
fully autonomous drones launched by the Russian Federation
killed three Ukrainians last month. Ukraine has reportedly
also field-tested such weapons. I join calls for the urgent
prohibition of weapons that can take lives without human
involvement.
There is only one way out of this
madness: peace negotiations that respect the UN
Charter.
In its fourth year, the war in Sudan is
expanding. Parties to the conflict continue to launch
attacks on markets, hospitals, fuel stations and other
civilian infrastructure. I urge the Council to focus on the
deteriorating situation in Kordofan, Blue Nile, and North
and West Darfur, where civilians are at imminent risk.
Again, there needs to be an immediate ceasefire, an end to
foreign involvement, and a return to inclusive civilian
rule.
In Gaza, Israel has killed more than 1,300
Palestinians in daily strikes, despite the ceasefire that
was announced almost a year ago, according to figures from
the Palestinian Ministry of Health. It continues to restrict
the entry of humanitarian aid. I am appalled by Israeli
proposals for the forced expulsion of all Palestinians from
the Gaza Strip, and the constant stream of dehumanising
rhetoric by some senior officials.
I am also troubled
that armed groups affiliated with Hamas have executed and
tortured several Palestinians suspected of
collaboration.
In the West Bank, Israel’s annexation
is unfolding, unobstructed, despite the clear ruling of the
International Court of Justice. What more will it take for
States to take action to prevent the entrenchment of
occupation across land earmarked for Palestinians under the
two-state solution? They need to end the transfer to Israel
of arms that risk being used to violate international law.
Companies also need to end business practices that support
illegal settlements.
We need far greater efforts by
the international community towards sustainable peace, in
which Palestine and Israel live side by side in equal
dignity and rights, in line with UN resolutions and
international law. Words of condemnation ring hollow in the
face of deliberate violations and suffering.
In
Lebanon, Israeli forces must end attacks on civilians and
civilian infrastructure. My Office’s assessment team is
investigating violations committed by both Israel and
Hezbollah since 2 March; this is crucial for truth-telling
and accountability.
Beyond these conflicts, there are
many places around the world where people are neither at
war, nor at peace.
Negotiations are breaking down.
Ceasefires are disregarded.
I am concerned about
renewed hostilities in South Sudan and escalating tensions
in Yemen. I urge the parties to exercise restraint and the
international community to do all it can to avert a return
to all-out war.
And I again urge the Houthis to
release at once our 73 UN and NGO colleagues who have
dedicated their lives to easing the suffering of the Yemeni
people.
In Ethiopia, civilians are bearing the brunt
of attacks in Amhara and Oromia, and of renewed tensions in
Tigray. I urge all parties to end attacks against civilians
and to respect international law, and I call on the
government to deliver transitional justice and
accountability.
We will provide detailed updates on
the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Myanmar, and
other countries later during this session.
Mr
President,
War reflects the failure of our
humanity.
The pursuit of peace embodies humanity at
its best.
My Office will continue its vital work to
prevent conflict, monitoring and documenting human rights
violations, and supporting states through technical
cooperation and capacity building.
We will denounce
all attempts to disregard international human rights and
humanitarian law.
And we will continue seeking ways to
break cycles of violence.
I see seven entry points
that I hope to pursue in the coming years:
First, we
will step up our analysis and advocacy around the colossal
business and economic interests that fuel wars. We will not
shy away from exposing the shadow players and calling for
accountability.
Second, we will support States to
advance comprehensive transitional justice, looking at all
perpetrators, and centred on victims. Without truth-telling,
reconciliation and accountability, trauma and grievance turn
towards vengeance and renewed violence.
Third, we will
continue to support mediation, including through
confidence-building measures grounded in human
rights.
Fourth, we will work to increase women’s
participation and leadership in peace processes. Despite the
historic role that women played as peacemakers in Ireland,
Liberia, the Philippines and beyond, women are largely
absent from negotiations on the DRC, Gaza, Sudan, and
Ukraine.
Fifth, we will work with the grassroots
organisations mobilizing for peace around the world, across
communities and divides.
The vast majority of people
everywhere want peace – and they need our
support.
Sixth, we will leverage human rights as an
early warning tool. We will strengthen our investigative and
analytical capacities, to help identify tensions before they
erupt in violence.
Finally, we will continue pushing
for accountability – a prerequisite for sustainable
peace.
I urge States to strengthen domestic
accountability mechanisms and to give their full backing to
the International Criminal Court. I also encourage States
who have yet to do so to exercise available universal
jurisdiction, so that those accused of atrocity crimes face
justice even when domestic courts are unable or unwilling to
act.
Mr. President,
The tragedy of conflict has
touched almost all our lives.
The human cost echoes
down the generations, and every war has a devastating impact
on our health and our environment.
But today, we face
other threats to our rights that are unfamiliar; even
unprecedented.
The relationship between digital tools
like AI, and our human nature, our human agency, will be a
priority for the years ahead.
The need for AI
governance is widely acknowledged – but where is the
action? Delay only benefits the massive tech companies,
their owners and enablers.
A handful of men has almost
unlimited power over AI, which we are repeatedly told has
unimaginable computing capacity. They talk about freedom,
but on closer inspection, this turns out to be little more
than the freedom to exploit our data.
There has been
some recent progress at the international level, including
the establishment of the Global Dialogue on AI and the
Independent International Scientific Panel on AI.
And
I welcome landmark steps on platform accountability by the
European Commission, and AI governance by the Republic of
Korea, among others.
However, I share the concerns of
industry insiders that advanced AI could pose an existential
risk to humanity.
AI that escapes its testing
environment, or blackmails developers to prevent itself from
being turned off, is AI that is too powerful.
I am
calling here, today, for an all-out effort to put cast iron
guarantees in place around the safety and security of AI,
before it is too late.
I will be writing to AI
companies in the coming days, to urge them to take the steps
that are within their control, to reduce risks,
now.
At a minimum, we need countries hosting AI and
those involved in its supply chains to come together around
agreed red lines.
We need independent verification,
and much stronger collaboration on security within the
industry.
We also need to consider the human rights
impacts of AI on employment practices, on fundamental
principles of democracy, and on our
environment.
Little wonder people are rejecting AI and
even refusing to use it. Governments and companies need to
listen.
Human rights offer a way to navigate these
difficult issues.
I will put a particular emphasis on
looking for solutions, together with all those who are
calling for technology that serves humanity rather than the
other way round.
Mr. President,
When I hear
about technology leading to extraordinary progress and
prosperity, I can’t help asking: where will that
prosperity come from if we don’t change the way we treat
our planet? From scorched, exhausted land?
Technology
is not a magic wand. Its development needs to be matched by
action on the other challenges we face.
Take the
climate crisis. The massive hidden cost of fossil fuels to
our health, economies, and environment far exceeds what
appears on our energy bills. The International Monetary Fund
puts those costs at some $6.7 trillion a year – nearly six
percent of global GDP.
European heatwaves have killed
an estimated 35,000 people this summer, with the true toll
likely to be much higher.
None of this is
inevitable.
We must keep our focus on limiting global
warming to 1.5°C, as set out in the Paris Agreement, by
ensuring the current overshoot is as small and short as
possible.
We need to pursue decarbonization urgently
and increase investment in resilience, adaptation, and early
warning, based on equity and solidarity. These are human
rights imperatives, if we are to safeguard people from
catastrophes like the recent glacier collapse in Nepal and
China.
An advanced early warning system enabled
Switzerland to evacuate the entire village of Blatten before
it was buried last year.
Unfortunately, today’s
investments and innovations seem to be driven largely by
profit – regardless of the costs.
These business
models are squeezing our planet – and its people – past
breaking point.
Mr. President,
The immense
concentration of wealth and power in one small corner of
humanity is creating tensions that undermine both stability
and sustainability.
Yet rather than urgently
addressing these imbalances, some leaders are exploiting
them.
Imposing crippling tariffs on countries already
under severe stress from the climate crisis, debt burdens,
and inequitable tax rules, weakens their political autonomy
and their ability to fight poverty.
With less than
four years left to deliver on the 2030 Agenda, only 36
percent of its targets are making progress, and 15 percent
have gone into reverse.
Across the world, growing
numbers of people cannot afford secure housing or a healthy
diet.
When we celebrate economic growth, let’s be
honest about where this growth goes. The International
Labour Organization estimates that over the past two
decades, it has benefited owners and investors more than
workers. In several countries in sub-Saharan Africa, for
example, economic growth is not matched by reductions in
poverty.
These injustices are putting the social
contract under increasing strain.
In many countries,
including Albania, Argentina, India, Indonesia, and Tunisia,
anger over inequality, unbearable living costs, lack of
basic services, unemployment, and corruption has boiled over
into the streets.
Conversely, economies grounded in
human rights bring stability, opportunity, and trust. They
foster transparent institutions, fair taxation, and
effective public spending. At a time of dwindling foreign
aid, they can be instrumental in mobilizing domestic
resources.
Our work in Kenya illustrates this clearly.
By supporting the authorities to include communities in
economic decisions, we have helped address concerns that
were fuelling public discontent.
We are working with
governments in Cambodia, Iraq, Liberia, South Africa and
beyond to fight corruption, protect the rights of workers,
and build economies that work for everyone.
I will
continue, in the coming years, to push for the human rights
economy to become a universal model.
Human rights need
to underpin all development efforts if they are to be truly
sustainable. We will work to ensure they are at the heart of
global policy, including the UN Tax Convention, the
International Panel on Inequality, the Loss and Damage Fund
– and the emerging vision for sustainable development
beyond 2030.
Mr. President,
I will also focus on
civic space, and on people’s rights to peaceful protest,
free expression, and information.
These rights build
trust between people and their governments. They are a
bridge between frustration and dialogue; between aspirations
and change.
Yet, instead of engaging with the
legitimate concerns of their people, many States are
resorting to repression.
In Iran, the authorities are
using the war as a pretext to pursue even more brutal
oppression. Since March 2026, 59 people have been executed
on national security-related charges – more than the
number put to death on the same charges in the whole of
2025. Business closures linked to compulsory hijab
requirements are also troubling.
In Pakistan, the
authorities have used excessive lethal force and arbitrary
detention to quell protests.
The recent protests in
India showed the best response is dialogue with youth
leaders, not the excessive use of force.
In Nicaragua,
the authorities have closed down opposition political
parties. In the Russian Federation, the authorities have
continued to suppress the opposition, and bar parties from
participating in elections.
Restrictions on civic
space and media freedom are deepening, from Azerbaijan,
Georgia and the Russian Federation to Tunisia and
Uganda.
I deplore the prohibition of demonstrations
across Afghanistan by the de facto
authorities.
Digital surveillance is becoming an
increasingly powerful tool of repression in several
countries, including Angola, Myanmar, and
Serbia.
Ahead of elections in Bosnia, I urge political
leaders to counter hate speech and discrimination, and to
end the glorification of war criminals.
In Venezuela,
all arbitrarily detained people need to be released, and my
team granted immediate access to all places of
detention.
I welcome Mexico’s adoption of a protocol
to investigate crimes committed against human rights
defenders.
Mr. President,
A tide of systemic
discrimination is sweeping around the world.
Across
regions, femicide is an alarming trend.
In recent
weeks, for example, seven women were reportedly killed by
current or former partners in Italy, and nine women were
reportedly killed in Cameroon. Huge data gaps make this
crime particularly difficult to track.
Legislation and
prosecution are crucial, but we also need to address root
causes: discrimination, inequality, and gender
stereotypes.
Studies show higher rates of femicide and
other violence against women are linked to broader social
tensions and an increased likelihood of violent
conflict.
In Libya, I hope the new political agreement
will create the momentum to adopt the law on violence
against women, which has been pending for years.
I
again call on the de facto authorities in Afghanistan
to rescind their appalling decrees and policies effectively
criminalizing the presence of women and girls in public
life. Their system of severe discrimination and oppression,
now in its sixth year, is nothing short of gender-based
apartheid.
LGBTIQ+ people are facing growing threats.
In Burkina Faso, Niger and Senegal authorities have arrested
people under discriminatory laws; and Kyrgyzstan, Portugal,
the United Kingdom and the United States are adopting or
considering restrictions on the equal rights of transgender
people.
Racism is one of society’s deepest
ills.
Hard-won gains for people of African descent are
deliberately being undermined in some countries, including
cuts to anti-discrimination programmes and attempts to
distort history.
Politicians, traditional and social
media amplify isolated incidents to portray migrants,
refugees, Muslims, marginalised racial and ethnic groups,
and minorities as a collective threat.
In some
countries, such depictions have led to attacks against
entire communities.
I urge the United States to halt
the return of people to places where they could suffer
irreparable harm, including Haiti, and to ensure due process
for all removals to third countries.
Four more people
have died in US immigration custody since my last update to
this Council, for a total of 23 deaths in 2026 alone. There
needs to be accountability for these deaths.
I am
concerned that plans to equip immigration agents with
electric shock gloves will increase the violence associated
with their operations.
In China, tightening
restrictions on the rights of the Tibetan people, including
their freedom of religion, are deeply troubling. I appeal
for an urgent U-turn on these policies.
But in some
places where human rights are under serious strain, people
are demonstrating their agency and power by marching,
documenting abuses, lobbying parliamentarians and building
solidarity networks. In South Africa, civil society pressure
contributed to gender-based violence and femicide being
declared a national disaster in November 2025.
These
are acts of humanity, and I commend them.
Mr.
President,
Our action in the years ahead will be
inspired by these movements, which leverage human rights to
navigate between extremes.
At the local and national
level, this means working closely with marginalized
communities. We will stand in solidarity with them, elevate
their voices, and support their efforts.
The Global
Alliance for Human Rights will be our entry point to
increase engagement not only with States, but with civil
society and others.
We will also increase our outreach
to excluded or marginalised groups, including Indigenous
Peoples, people of African descent, LGBTIQ+ people,
religious minorities, stateless and undocumented people, the
unhoused, street children, migrants, and
refugees.
Because standing up for each other is what
human rights are for.
We will strengthen our work with
governments on justice systems, including incarceration
practices. Prisons are too often used as a dumping ground
for people who don’t fit in, and a substitute for
addressing the root causes of social problems. They may also
become hotbeds of radicalization and extremism.
I
remain deeply concerned by the situation in China’s
Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, including in detention
facilities.
I again urge the authorities to review
national security and counter-terrorism legislation,
strengthen the protection of minorities, and investigate
allegations of human rights violations, including torture. I
call on them to follow up on the recommendations made by my
Office and UN human rights mechanisms. I also encourage full
implementation of the national action plan for human rights,
which is welcome.
We will strengthen our efforts
around the world to end use of the death penalty, which
overwhelmingly targets minorities, people living in poverty,
and dissenting voices. We will continue to call out the
sharp rise in executions in a small number of
States.
We will build on our work with governments to
address militarized approaches to security and law
enforcement that are deeply counterproductive. I know many
of you are uncomfortable with what is done in the name of
protecting national security. These outdated practices can
be an albatross around the neck of government.
How do
you tame that beast?
That’s what human rights are
for.
In Bangladesh, we have been calling for a
strengthened and independent national institution that has
oversight of security forces.
We will continue our
work with governments around the world, including in Central
Asia, to advance inclusive social and economic policies that
deliver for everyone.
Mr. President,
At the
global level, we will be relentless in working to strengthen
international law and the human rights ecosystem that
benefits us all.
It’s clear that some powers want to
destroy all efforts at multilateral cooperation and replace
them with transactional deal-making. They are undermining
global cooperation on climate, on health, on women’s
reproductive rights, and beyond.
If you want to know
where this leads, look at the Ebola outbreak in the DRC. The
weakening of global health systems and reduced funding has
made it worse, and it continues to pose a threat across
borders.
Despite all this, global accountability still
exists. Ask Bosnians; ask Filipinos; ask Chileans. This is a
long-term project, and our work documenting abuses is
essential to it.
Universality is a plank of
accountability. Equal standards for all are essential. That
is the basis of our tried and tested methodology to monitor
and report on human rights violations and abuses – and our
engagement with all countries.
Universality is
fundamental to the Treaty Bodies and Special Procedures
mandate holders. The upcoming Secretary-General’s report
on the Treaty Body system will show that this crucial work
is endangered by chronic underfunding and a liquidity
crisis, and I call for your support.
In the next four
years, I intend to bring proposals for greater
rationalization, innovation and creativity to the human
rights ecosystem, through continuous improvement, building
on our own reform efforts and other initiatives as part of
the UN80 process.
Mr. President,
Power dynamics
at the global and national level have changed; and we are
changing in response.
The Global Alliance for Human
Rights – the first of its kind – will be a place where
everyone working for human rights makes common cause and
stands up to the anti-rights onslaught.
Governments,
civil society, philanthropies, the corporate sector,
academia, young people, artists, cities and local
government, and many others, will be able to co-create
solutions to the human rights challenges that we
face.
The Alliance will showcase how human rights
connect people through facts, compassion, and the
law.
In its initial phase, the Global Alliance will
aim to put human rights education into every classroom;
promote digital innovation and business practices with a
human face; and help cities all over the world to deliver
for their residents.
And this is just the
beginning.
I urge you to join and play a full
part.
What drives us is the belief that human rights
will help the people of all our societies to realise their
hopes and aspirations, in the spirit of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, which affirmed that everyone,
everywhere is born free and equal in dignity and
rights.
This means holding up a mirror to those in
power, challenging the status quo, and pushing the
boundaries.
Robust debate, critical thinking,
differences and disagreements are part of the age-old
struggle for human rights. The only way to advance is
through honest discussion, genuine engagement and working
together.
We will always talk to everyone. And we will
never give up on anyone.
Human rights are carriers of
hope. They are a compass in turbulent times, and they offer
concrete solutions to our challenges.
I look forward
to continuing this important work with you.
Thank
you.
