ORAL STATEMENT
Humanists International
UN Human Rights Council, 60th session (8 September to 8 October 2025)
Item 5: Interactive Dialogue on the report of OHCHR on the right to privacy in the digital age
Speaker: Maggie Ardiente
Thank you Mr President and we thank the Secretary-General for his Report.
Reprisals for cooperation with the United Nations – both those shared in the report and those not – affect those who most need access to this institution and reflect broader attacks on multilateralism. The United States’s plans to withdraw from the Universal Periodic Review process,[1] amid a concerning human rights climate in the US, sends a signal to other states which can undermine the UPR process. The UPR remains a key mechanism for human rights review at the UN, and the US plan to withdraw may embolden authoritarian regimes to evade review.
Moreover, the denial of visas to the Palestinian Delegation for the United Nations General Assembly is a violation of the Headquarters Agreement.[2] Coupled with sweeping threats against civil society, these actions erode the ability of Human Rights Defenders to cooperate with the UN and its human rights mechanisms, unless they are willing to compromise their safety in the myriad ways detailed in the present report.
We call on the US to protect the right to freedom of expression and we call for all states to support multilateralism, including the UN and the UPR process.
Thank you.
[1] https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/us-withdraws-key-un-human-rights-report-draws-criticism-rights-advocates-2025-08-28/
[2] https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/09/un-experts-urge-us-grant-visas-palestinian-officials-uphold-diplomacy-peace
'Reprisals for UN cooperation and the undermining of multilateralism', Humanists International