As delivered

Distinguished President of the Human Rights Council. 

Mr. High Commissioner,

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, 

It is an honour to address this Council on behalf of the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). 

It comes at a moment when the promise of human rights is being tested across the world. 

Development has lifted millions from poverty and expanded opportunity. 

Yet conflict, inequality, climate disruption, and shrinking civic space are weakening the social contract.

Billions lack meaningful social protection. 

Violence against women and girls continues at alarming levels. 

These are structural fractures in systems, in governance and in trust. 

As a part of the United Nations (UN) family, UNDP is working with governments and other partners and is helping to address the root causes of instability before they solidify into more permanent fragility.

Allow me to highlight three priorities. 

First, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a compass for all our work. 

We internalize human rights in our strategic plans. 

UNDP supports climate action in over 140 countries that protects the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment. 

We advance digital innovation that expands freedom and participation. 

In our engagement with the private sector, over 5,000 companies were supported in 2025 to improve human rights compliance in their operations and supply chains.

Secondly, human rights defenders, independent media, civil society and community justice leaders are the infrastructure of resilient societies. 

UNDP works with national institutions including National Human Rights Institutions and justice actors to expand access to justice, protect civic space, and promote and protect human rights, particularly in fragile and crisis-affected contexts. 

This engagement by UNDP has led to the resolution of hundreds of human rights cases in Nigeria, support for the right to water in Georgia, and the protection of detainees' rights in Malawi.

Finally, UNDP engages with governments and rights holders to embed human rights

in the architecture of governance itself. 

This matters because stability built on exclusion is fragility waiting to surface. 

Last year alone, UNDP directly supported 60 countries worldwide in integrating rights-based approaches into their unique development pathways. 

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Development powered by human rights is one of the strongest tools we have to advance peace, trust, and shared prosperity for all. 

Alongside the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and partners across the UN system, UNDP will continue to translate principles into life-changing results. 

Thank you very much.