Hello everyone. Know that I am with you in spirit as you gather for this incredibly meaningful event.
A few months ago, we celebrated the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This document enshrined the inherent, equal and inalienable rights of every person on Earth: access to education and employment, health care and voting rights, free speech and privacy, religious freedom, and equal protection under the law–no matter who you are, where you’re from, and which God you pray to.
The Biden administration is committed to ensuring these rights truly are universal because unfortunately, around the world, they are under attack. In Iran, where women and girls have been met with harsh crackdowns as they bravely fight for their fundamental freedoms. In Xinjiang, where Uyghurs face cruel and inhuman detainment, simply for displaying pride in their culture or practicing their faith. In North Korea, where the regime has dedicated considerable resources to developing its unlawful weapons program, and repressed human rights to stifle public objection. In Sudan, where over the past year, millions have fled their homes in search of safety–often with nothing but the clothes on their backs. And in Ukraine, which just marked a grim milestone: two years since Russia’s senseless, brutal, full-scale invasion. That’s two years of brave Ukrainians fighting to preserve their democracy, their culture and their right to self-determination.
Over the course of the last three years, I have often raised these issues in the Security Council, a body designed to promote international peace and security, because we know that without human rights, you can’t have peace and security at all. Of course, no country is perfect, and indeed the United States continues to grapple with our own failures of democracy, our own stumbling blocks on the road to truly universal human rights. As an African-American woman who grew up in the segregated south, I have seen these stumbling blocks first-hand.
But it’s not just our wrongs that define us as a nation, but how we address them so as not to repeat them. That charge is part of why visits by special procedures mandate holders are so important. Last year, the United States welcomed the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism for the first-ever visit by a mandate holder to Guantanamo Bay. We were also joined by the Special Rapporteur on racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerances, as well as the Expert Mechanism to Advance Racial Justice and Equality in Law Enforcement. And we look forward to welcoming the Special Rapporteur on the right to education in the coming months.
These visits are not always easy. They force us to confront our failures as a nation. But the alternative is simply accepting those failures as inevitable, and that simply isn’t an option. So, we encourage all member states to extend an open invitation to these critical figures to shore up human rights within their borders as we come together to preserve and expand them around the world.
Friends and colleagues, as the United States nears the end of its term on the Human Rights Council, we remain as committed as ever to this body’s mission. With half of the world’s population headed to the polls this year, let us commit to protecting civilian-led democracy. With so many women and girls subject to conflict-related sexual violence, let us work to protect those most vulnerable. With journalists under attack for what they report, religious minorities under threat for who they pray to, and activists under scrutiny for daring to speak truth to power, let us speak out against repression and retribution. And with all of us here together—and believe me, I am with you in spirit—ready to harness our collective power, let us rededicate ourselves to action in a moment it’s needed most.
Thank you.
消息来源：
1.U.S. MISSION GENEVA， Statement by the Delegation of the United States of America
Human Rights Council – 55th Session，https://geneva.usmission.gov/2024/02/27/statement-by-ambassador-thomas-greenfield-to-the-human-rights-council/ 。
2. UN TV ,5th Meeting – 55th Regular Session of Human Rights Council, https://webtv.un.org/en/asset/k12/k12m49dpyb.
