This statement was delivered by Human Rights Watch at the 62nd regular session of the UN Human Rights Council during an interactive dialogue on the High Commissioner annual report held on June 16, 2026.
High Commissioner, we congratulate you on the launch of the Global Alliance for Human Rights and confirm our strong support. At a time when rights and international law principles and institutions are under assault, global mobilization to protect and reinvest in human rights is much needed.
We repeat our call to states to reverse the chronic long-term underinvestment in the human rights pillar and support the High Commissioner’s appeal for support. As he has highlighted, while the cost of the work is relatively low, the human cost of underinvestment is immeasurable.
We share your concerns over the lack of progress by the Chinese government on implementation of recommendations – including your Office’s 2022 assessment report, which concluded that ongoing abuses against Uyghurs in Xinjiang “may constitute … crimes against humanity.” Repression has only deepened since that report – in Xinjiang, Tibet, Hong Kong, across the country and even beyond its borders. We repeat our appeal to you to step up your efforts, and to ensure robust reporting on the litany of abuses, particularly those that may amount to international crimes.
In Ethiopia serious human rights abuses and violations by Ethiopian security forces and armed groups continue, particularly in Amhara and Oromia regions. There are risks of renewed atrocities in Tigray and continued violations against Tigrayans by Eritrean forces in areas they control, and by local authorities and the armed forces in Western Tigray Zone. The authorities have seriously eroded the environment for independent media, civil society, and the political opposition, including around the June elections. Impunity is rife and the promised transitional justice process has completely stalled.
High Commissioner, what is your assessment of these two crises, and when can we expect public updates on the basis of the Office’s monitoring work?
