On 27 March, 2025, Kyrgyzstan delivered a joint statement on strengthening multilateralism, supported by more than 70 states from all regions at the UN Human Rights Council, the world’s top human rights body.
Identifying themselves as “Friends of Multilateralism,” the signatories express their support for the international rules-based order, the need to ensure that the UN human rights pillar is adequately funded, a commitment to cooperate in good faith with human rights bodies, the importance of preventing and addressing intimidation, reprisals or sanctions against rights mechanisms and those cooperating with them, the need to create a safe and enabling environment for civil society, and the importance of prevention and accountability for rights abuses.
As UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk noted in his opening address to the Council, the world is facing growing conflict and division, and this is a critical juncture to uphold the “fundamental global consensus around international norms and institutions.”
The full text of the joint statement, led by a core group consisting of Albania, Chile, Kyrgyzstan and the Netherlands, together with the list of 71 signatories, can be found here.
