ORAL STATEMENT
Humanists International
63rd Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (7 September to 9 October 2026)
Item 5: Interactive dialogue on the Secretary General’s report on cooperation with the United Nations, its representatives and mechanisms in the field of human rights
Speaker: Mythili Mishra
Thank you, Mr. President, and we thank the Assistant Secretary-General for this important report. We share the report’s concern for shrinking space for civil society to safely engage with the United Nations.
The documented trend of the repression of civil society, including disinformation campaigns, and discrediting in UN meetings shows that we are living in an era of significant backlash against human rights, and we know that human rights defenders (HRDs) working on gender equality, sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and LGBTI+ rights are some of the most targeted for their advocacy.
These defenders often face opposition from organized transnational movements, made up of States and non-state actors, using a variety of justifications to repress HRDs. Legal arguments prioritizing the traditional heteropatriarchal family, exclusionary interpretations of culture and tradition, parental or family rights, as well as demographic preservation, foreign agent laws, and the misuse of counterterrorism laws are some examples.
We increasingly see the right to freedom of religion or belief instrumentalized and weaponized to undermine the rights of gender and sexual minorities. This is distinct from the careful balancing of competing rights and interests inherent in international human rights law, and we specifically bring the Council’s attention to the use of religious freedom and traditional values to undermine gender equality, SRHR, bodily autonomy, access to comprehensive sexuality education (CSE), and freedom of expression, amongst other rights.
To conclude, resolution 12/2 recognizes that reprisals come from non-State actors as well as States. Assistant Secretary-General, how can the UN’s response better address intimidation that is coordinated across borders by both, in the specific context of well-funded anti-rights movements?
Thank you.
'Cooperation with the United Nations in the field of human rights', Humanists International