28th Meeting - 62nd Session of Human Rights Council

Colleagues, I was reminded today that there is a tagline called a cool UN that is basically our attire should adjust to the weather.
In my case, I wear our national attire, which is the batik.
But I hope it will also make you encourage you to also Do it however your national way is.
Now let's get into business.
Excellency, distinguished representatives, colleagues, I hereby declare open the 28th meeting of the 62nd session of the Human Rights Council.
We will now begin the annual thematic panel discussion on technical cooperation and capacity building, held pursuant to council resolution 60 slash 30.
The theme of this year panel is technical cooperation and capacity building in supporting states in the full and effective realization of the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.
This debate is accessible to persons with disabilities through the provision of international sign interpretation and real time captioning together with the other accessibility measures.
This you can see on screen.
I encourage those who may need reasonable accommodation to inform the Secretariat if they haven't done so already.
It is my honor to welcome miss Abadabo, the UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, who will deliver the opening statement.
Let me also welcome our distinguished panelists.
His Excellency, Mr.
Lansana Berri, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentier of Sierra Leone to Switzerland and permanent representative of Sierra Leone to the United Nations and other international organizations in Geneva.
Welcome.
Michelle Rim, Manager of the Human Rights, Gender and Equity Cluster, the Global Fund to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.
Mr.
Sam Zarifi, Executive Director of Physicians for Human Rights, who will deliver a video message.
And miss Maria Malo Mao, Senior International Research Manager at Restless Development and chair of the Digital Health Rights Project Steering Committee, also in a video message.
Excellency's distinguished representatives.
The list of speakers will close in 15 minutes.
I encourage all speakers to intervene in an interactive way, present comments, and ask questions that reflect the panelists' interventions and the discussion.
The speaking time limit is 1 minute and 30 seconds for all and a maximum of 40 speakers will be accommodated.
Delegates inscribed on the list of speakers who cannot take the floor because of time constraints can upload their statements to the online system to be posted on the extranet.
And I now give the floor to miss Awad.
Madam, you have the floor.
Mr.
President, Excellency, distinguished participants, good afternoon.
It is my pleasure to join you for this important discussion on how together we can make quality health care a reality for more people around the world.
Healthcare is a fundamental human right closely linked to the rights to life, food, water, and many others.
Fulfilling this right is more than a policy option.
It is a legal obligation for every government.
Health is a public good.
In a world where diseases can spread like wildfire, the strength of healthcare systems beyond our own borders is one of our greatest protections.
Physical and mental health are also prerequisites for social cohesion and economic prosperity.
WHO finds that depression and anxiety alone cost the global economy around $1 trillion every year in lost productivity.
It is therefore baffling that too often health struggles for political attention and is among the first budget lines to be cut.
According to WHO and the World Bank, more than half of humanity still lacks basic access to medical services.
Progress towards universal health coverage has slowed well below the pace needed to be achieved by 2030, the commitment of the sustainable development goals.
Poverty and inequalities within and between countries are the primary cause of this slowdown.
The result is that millions of families have to make an impossible choice between seeking treatment and making ends meet.
More than 2 billion people are facing financial hardship due to out of pocket health expenses not covered by insurance.
Those already pushed to the margins, minorities, migrants, people with disabilities, and people living in poverty often face the greatest health risks and are least able to afford health care.
Globally surging debt, plummeting aid flows, and armed conflict are placing health care systems under immense strain.
In conflicts around the world, attacks on civilians on hospitals, healthcare, health workers, critical infrastructure are now more frequent and more difficult to attribute, the risk becoming disturbingly normalized.
Attacks, sieges, and blockades are holding global health hostage to geopolitics.
In Cuba, for example, children are dying without medicines and equipment.
The blockade of the strait of Ramuz triggered electricity shortages and transport chaos that disrupted healthcare supplies far beyond the region.
The climate crisis is also affecting health services around the world.
Extreme weather is causing rising illness and death.
All diseases are reemerging in new places and overheated hospitals grind to a standstill as their infrastructure fails.
At the same time, there are limits of hope.
We are living through a period of phenomenal medical innovation.
Cancer survival rates are improving, AI is accelerating diagnosis, and the development of new drugs and telemedicine is bringing advice and medication to many more people and yet access to these advances is still deeply unequal.
The issue is not a lack of global resources, but a failure of priorities.
Providing basic health care for everyone in low and middle income countries for one year would cost less than the world spends on the military in just two months.
Mr.
President, I have two messages for you today.
Invest in health and invest in solidarity.
First, we need to strengthen public financing and to ensure free access to essential care for poorer people.
The participation of local communities can make health systems more trusted, more equitable, and culturally appropriate.
We need to establish open, inclusive and robust information flows to combat health related disinformation and lies.
OCHR is supporting states in achieving these goals through technical cooperation and capacity building.
In Nepal, for example, we work with the government and civil society to advance access to sexual and reproductive health care for marginalized women.
Ensuring the process reflected their voices and their broader human rights.
To support Montenegro in strengthening its mental health systems, we partnered with WHO to identify systemic gaps and develop sustainable responses.
In Moldova, our office supported the integration of the rights of older people into health care systems and to promote both inclusion and greater autonomy.
Last year, we worked with more than 35 governments on a human rights economy, which places people's rights, including the right to health, at the heart of all laws and policies.
In the face of drastic aid cuts, the human rights economy can strengthen domestic revenue, mobilization and can channel limited resources towards healthcare and other essential services.
In Dibbouti, we helped conduct a human rights analysis of the health budget with a focus on people with disabilities.
In Bangladesh, we apply the human rights lens to ongoing tax reforms.
And in Sri Lanka, we conducted an analysis of the human rights impact of international financial assistance and related austerity measures.
During the next session of this council, we'll present a comprehensive study of the existing protection gaps for accessing medicines, vaccines, and other medical products.
Secondly, global health demands leadership, cooperation, and solidarity.
We need maximum diplomatic pressure to ensure that all parties to conflict fulfill their obligations to protect health care.
Where they don't, we must denounce such attacks and push for accountability.
Our investigative and human rights work in one way is one way to advance justice for these violations.
To improve the monitoring and documentation of attacks on health care, our office works to enhance cooperation and data sharing amongst humanitarian, health and human rights actors.
We also need to double down on closing the vast digital divide and digital literacy gaps, which are restricting people's access to vital information on their health.
As health systems digitize, our office helps to ensure that these transformations advance human rights and leave no one behind.
COVID 19 pandemic underscored the value of international cooperation based on human rights to track and contain disease, to advance research and procurement, and to respond to global crises.
Successful responses to current and future attacks, including Ebola, will require more solidarity, not less.
This also calls for increased technology transfer and for knowledge sharing.
We need to reform the international financial architecture, to ease debt burdens, and to free up fiscal space for governments to invest in the rights to health, to education, and more.
And we need even more ambitious technical cooperation and capacity building programs to close health financing gaps, to strengthen institutions and respond to new and emerging challenges.
Mr.
President, no country or economy can perform at its best without a healthy population, and no country on its own can secure a safe, healthy future for its people.
So let's use today's discussions to chart solutions to recognize health for what it is, the foundation of sustainable development and a more just resilient world.
Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Deputy High Commissioner.
I will now give the floor to the panelists for their initial presentations, and we will allocate 7 minutes for each.
I have the honor now to give the floor to His Excellency, Mr.
Lanana Hubei.
You have the floor, sir.
Thank you, Mr.
President.
Thank you very much.
Madam Deputy High Commissioner, distinguished fellow panelists, Excellency's, delegates.
Leon thanks to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights for convening this timely discussion and appreciates the continued efforts of the BHO and other partners in advancing technical cooperation and capacity building in support of the realization of the right to health.
We welcome this opportunity to share our experience of how technical cooperation and capacity building undertaken at the request of and in partnership with the government has supported national efforts to progressively realize their right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, particularly in a period of significant fiscal constraints.
For us in CR Leon, technical cooperation has proven most effective where it strengthens national ownership, builds institutional capacity, and supported nationally led efforts to tailor to our country's needs and circumstances.
Cilia affirms that the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health is fundamental, indivisible and firmly embedded in the national medium term development plan, the National Health Sector Strategic Plan, and the government's universal health coverage agenda.
Our approach is guided by principles of equity, non discrimination, and leaving no one behind, ensuring that the progressive realization of the right to health remains centered on the needs of women, children, and other vulnerable people.
While significant challenges remain, CierR L's experience demonstrates that sustained political commitment supported by strong partnerships can deliver meaningful progress.
Over the years, CRN has made deliberate efforts to protect vulnerable populations by expanding access to essential health services.
This has been achieved through the accelerated scale of primary and secondary health facilities.
With a number of health facilities increasing by over 200 in the past four years, CierR Leon has expanded the training and deployment of health workers.
We there has been a 300% increase in the number of doctors, and the number of midwives and other health workers graduating from health training institutions.
Socialized training of doctors, nurses, and other health workers has expanded over the past decade, contributing to a health force of density of 44 per 10,000.
8,500 community health workers have also been recruited and deployed in communities, remote communities to bring essential health services as close to communities as possible.
The introduction of the free health care services for pregnant women, N number five and lactating models has also helped increase access to health services.
These efforts have yielded significant results.
Over the past two decades, CRN has reduced its maternal mortality ratio by more than 79%.
Reaching 354 per 100,000 live births in 2023 and remains on track to achieve the sustainable development goal target of 70 per 100,000 by 2030.
Under five mortality has also declined by over 30%, reaching 95 per 1,000 live bras.
These achievements have been made possible not only through national commitment, but also through sustained technical cooperation with bilateral and multilateral partners, some of whom are sitting right around the table.
Building on these achievements and in response to increasing fiscal constraints and declining external health assistance, CLN is implementing an ambitious program of health financing and primary health care reforms with technical support from WHO, the World Bank, UNICEF, UNFPA, CHAI, and other partners.
These reforms seek to strengthen domestic resource mobilization, improve efficiency and equity of health financing, and reinforce BHC as a foundation for universal health coverage.
These reforms are centered on strengthening the health system with particular emphasis on health financing and primary health care.
They are also designed to address persistent inequities and access, improve financial protection, and enhance the efficiency and sustainability of health services delivery.
They have developed true and inclusive government led process involving the Ministry of Health and Sanitation, the Minister of Finance, and other sector ministries, development partners, professional associations, and civil society under the guidance and oversight of the highest levels of government.
This collaborative approach has ensured that the reform agenda is nationally owned while benefiting from international technical cooperation and strategic partnerships.
Like many developing, least developed countries, CRN is implementing these reforms against the backdrop of declining external health assistance, increasing debt pressures and constrained fiscal space on scoring the importance of sustained technical cooperation and international solidarity.
Allow me to highlight some of the key elements of these ongoing reforms.
Health financing.
Government is advancing reforms to increase domestic resource mobilization, improve the pooling and efficient use of both domestic and external funds, and prioritize allocations to frontline service delivery, especially at the PhD level.
Efforts are also underway to strengthen institution arrangement to support universal health coverage.
There's a renewed focus on defining and regularly updating unified health benefit packages to ensure they are affordable, coherent, and responsive to populations in need.
Also, there are efforts aimed at strengthening domestic resource mobilization to progressively increase public spending on health.
Sustained investment is essential to reducing reliance on out of pocket payments, which disproportionately affect the poorest and most vulnerable people as well as external donors, which is unsustainable.
Efforts are underway to better coordinate domestic and external financing to harmonize pooling mechanisms.
This reduces fragmentation, enhances efficiency, and strengthens financial protection.
These are key to fulfilling their right to health.
The government plans to undertake a deliberate shift towards prioritizing PHC facilities that ensures resources reach frontline delivery points.
CLN is strengthening systems for universal health coverage through institutional arrangements for strategic purchasing.
We are advancing institutional reforms to improve governance, transparency, accountability, including the adoption of an autonomous strategic purchasing agency that will manage the pool resources for health services delivery.
At the heart of our reform is a renewed commitment to stronger PHC as a foundation of health systems.
Reform is ongoing to define norms and standards for primary health care, deliberate commitments to upgrade the infrastructure and services and health facilities to enable delivery of essential health services through a multidisciplinary approach.
In conclusion, excellences.
CLU's journey illustrates that health financing reform and primary health care strengthening are mutually reinforcing pathways towards realizing the right to health.
We hope that CLN experience will contribute to peer learning among countries, similarly, Paul or Isabela undertaking similar reforms and reaffirm our shared commitment to continue partnership, technical cooperation, and solidarity in building equitable, resilient, and people centered health systems for all.
We remain committed to working with all our partners to advance universal health coverage and ensure that the right to health becomes a lived reality of every citizen.
And we thank our partners again, once again.
Thank you, Excellency.
Thank you, Chairman.
Thank you.
I now have the honor to give the floor to miss Michelle Rem.
Thank you, Mr.
President.
Madam Deputy High Commissioner, distinguished panelists, Excellencies, and distinguished delegates, thank you for the opportunity to contribute to this important discussion.
I'm pleased to be here today to share the global funds perspective, and I want to highlight from our experience how technical cooperation and capacity building help turn the right to health into reality.
As this council has consistently affirmed and as reflected international human rights instruments, non discrimination is an immediate legal obligation and is essential for advancing the right to health.
Today, this obligation is being tested in multiple and compounding ways, including a worrying resurgence of stigma, discrimination, and anti rights narratives that actively obstruct access to services for those most marginalized, including those requiring lifelong chronic disease management.
While challenges multiply, declining international funding for health, rising debt burdens, and tightening domestic budgets are narrowing room for governments to respond equitably and sustainably.
In this context, technical cooperation and capacity building are not peripheral to the realization of the right to health.
They are among its most important operational tools.
The Global Fund Partnership has made addressing human rights related barriers to health an essential component of effective HIV tuberculosis and malaria responses.
We are one of the largest funders of programs designed to remove these barriers that prevent people from accessing health services because we know that medicines do not save lives if people cannot safely access them.
Diagnostics do not control epidemics if people are afraid to be tested and treatment programs cannot succeed if people face discrimination in health facilities or fear arrest, violence, or exclusion when seeking care.
Through our breaking down barriers Initiative launched in 2017, we have invested over $300 million in identifying and addressing these structural barriers.
These investments focus on programs to reduce stigma and discrimination in health care settings, expand health related legal literacy and access to justice, strengthen community accountability mechanisms, address gender based violence and discrimination, and support reforms that help create enabling legal and policy environments for health.
But financing these programs alone is not enough.
If everyone is to have access to quality health services, we must also invest in building capacity of the people and systems that make this possible.
For us, capacity building does not mean a one off training or a workshop.
It means sustained accompaniment throughout implementation.
It means working with health workers, policymakers, community led organizations, and technical partners to use evidence, strengthen coordination, improve program quality, and adapt health services so they are respectful, free from stigma, and people centered.
It also means empowering those most affected to meaningfully participate in program design, monitor whether services are accessible, document what is not working, and bring that evidence back to decision makers.
I'm pleased to be sitting beside His Excellency Barry.
Sierra Leone is part of our breaking down barriers initiative and has been receiving funding to catalyze investments and activities to reduce barriers to health services.
Sierra Leone has demonstrated that technical support, partnership, and national leadership were critical to strengthen the conditions for those activities to actually have impact.
We see similar lessons elsewhere.
In Thailand, the recent expansion of breaking down barriers has been part of stronger donor cooperation, contributing to Thailand's ambitious national framework to achieve zero HIV related stigma and discrimination, which includes institutionalizing human rights training for health workers in the public and private sector.
In Ukraine, community organizations supported through global fund grants have played an essential role in maintaining access to HIV and TB services despite conflict displacement and disruption.
Their experience underscores the importance of investing in and building local capacity and community leadership as part of resilient health systems.
In Honduras, local human rights networks worked closely with health workers and law enforcement in 46 municipalities to reduce stigma and discrimination in healthcare and justice settings, resulting in more respectful and inclusive services for people living with HIV and key populations.
In Côte D'ivoire, 176 health facilities will be certified as stigma free by the end of the next grand cycle, and that effort really helps build a sustainable approach to strengthening capacity to reduce stigma and discrimination.
In Indonesia, we've seen human rights move from the margins to the mainstream of HIV TB and malaria responses.
Indonesia has shown that lasting change comes from embedding the agenda within institutions, professional systems, and governance structures that can continue functioning long after a specific grant has ended.
Across these different contexts, the point is consistent.
Partnership matters, but it needs capacity to deliver results.
Communities need the capacity and space to identify barriers and hold systems accountable.
Health workers need practical tools and institutional backing to provide discrimination free care and institutions beyond the health sector, including those working on gender, social protection, justice, and human rights, need to be engaged so that barriers are addressed where they arise.
As external assistance declines and domestic budgets tighten, essential wraparound interventions risk being treated as optional, but that would be a mistake.
An intentional focus on reducing stigma and discrimination, supporting survivors of violence, building capacities of health workers, and improving access to justice will protect the effectiveness and sustainability of investments in medicines, diagnostics, and service delivery.
Technical cooperation must therefore enable countries to plan for sustainability of this work.
That means supporting the integration of priority human rights and gender interventions in national health strategies, transition plans, and domestic budgets.
It also means protecting and gradually sustaining high performing community led programs so that gains are not lost when external support and funding changes or ends.
So my message today is simple.
If we are serious about ensuring non discriminatory access to health services, technical cooperation and capacity building must be treated as practical tools for realizing the right to health.
They turn commitments into services people can access, enable a more equitable allocation of scarce resources, and make health systems more trusted, more accountable, and more resilient.
We must double down on these two areas to accelerate the fight against the world's deadliest infectious diseases and shape a healthier, more equitable world for all.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I now have the honor to give the floor to Mr.
Sam Zarifi for a video message.
Hi, this is Sam Zarifi.
I'm Executive Director of Physicians for Human Rights.
I wanted to thank the Office of the High Commissioner for convening this important discussion and for highlighting the importance of capacity building and technical cooperation in responding to a global health poly crisis that combines serious risks to human rights and public health.
Yet current responses to this poly crisis remain fragmented, only through improving the technical capacity of member states to respond and strengthening global cooperation, can we protect the right to life and the right to health of people around the world.
Physicians for Human Rights has warned about how the intersection of conflict, displacement, global health assistance cuts, and the erosion of legal norms protecting health care would cause predictable outbreaks of communicable diseases.
As we are now seeing most glaringly with the recent Ebola outbreak in the conflict plague, Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and neighboring areas.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, as elsewhere, the situation is made significantly worse by escalating attacks on healthcare providers with near total impunity.
Ten years after the adoption of Security Council resolution 22 86, which condemned attacks on health care during conflict, the Safeguarding Health and Conflict Coalition, of which PHR is a founding member has documented more than 18,000 incidents of violence against or obstruction of healthcare since 2016.
In that last decade, almost 5,000 attacks have damaged or destroyed hospitals and clinics, and approximately 4,000 healthcare workers have been killed.
This discussion is especially timely because several processes are converging.
The tenth anniversary of Security Council Resolution 22 86 has renewed attention to attacks on healthcare.
This issue was also prominent during protection of Civilians Week and the Ecos Humanitarian Affairs segments here in New York.
And there are new efforts in Geneva to bring the protection of health care more fully into the work of the Human Rights Council through a proposed draft resolution on protection of healthcare and conflict.
The Human Rights Council has an important role to play in ensuring that member states have the technical ability to prepare for and prevent such attacks and can cooperate effectively in addressing the human rights and public health harms caused by such attacks during this poly crisis.
Because attacks on health care are system level shocks undermining healthcare, as well as the underlying determinants of health.
These attacks disproportionately affect groups already facing heightened risk, including children, pregnant and postpartum women, newborns, older persons, people with disabilities, and people with chronic illnesses.
Health workers also bear the brunt facing heightened security risks and increased workloads amid personnel shortages.
The obligation to respect, protect, and fulfill the right to health therefore operates alongside and is reinforced by international humanitarian law.
It requires states to assess and prevent not only immediate civilian harm, but also foreseeable downstream health consequences, including interrupted treatment, maternal and neonatal harms, chronic disease impacts, disability related harms, mental health consequences, and barriers to care caused by displacement or insecurity.
PHR has documented these patterns in different contexts.
In Ukraine, where we and our partners have documented more than 3,000 attacks on health, attacks on energy infrastructure have disrupted medical procedures and essential hospital functions and caused health harms beyond clinical settings, particularly for vulnerable populations.
In Syria, attacks on health care facilities affected whether and how women sought reproductive and maternal care.
In Gaza, attacks on healthcare, restrictions on supplies, destruction of infrastructure, and deprivation of basic necessities have combined to produce severe harms for pregnant women, newborns, and other groups with urgent health needs.
This is where capacity building and technical cooperation play a critical role.
First, states need technical expertise to translate legal protections into operational prevention.
Technical assistance should help integrate the protection of health care into military doctrine, weapons reviews, and arms transfers.
This should include attention to the foreseeable reverberating effects of attacks on civilians.
It should also address recurrent misunderstandings of the law that are contributing to regression and protection, including the mistaken view that any military presence in or near a medical facility permits attacks on the entire facility or that medical supplies can be prevented from entry into conflict zones under dual use restrictions.
Protection is not lost lightly, and distinction, proportionality and precaution continue to apply.
If an operation is likely to disrupt health care or produce significant health harms, that harm must be part of the assessment.
Technical cooperation should also strengthen accountability pathways, including support to domestic prosecutorial authorities and transitional justice processes seeking justice for attacks on health care.
Second, technical cooperation should strengthen preventive measures at the national and regional levels to respond to the wider poly crisis.
Technical cooperation can help ministries of health, defense authorities, emergency services, humanitarian actors, and other government sectors to coordinate prevention, preparedness, response and recovery efforts to reduce health insecurity and strengthen rights based protection.
Third, capacity building should support healthcare workers themselves.
Health workers are protected under international law.
Technical assistance should help protect them from violence, threats, coercion, and forced displacement.
It should also support mental health care, occupational safety, and safeguards against dual loyalty pressures, particularly in occupation or militarized health settings.
The burden should never lift onto health workers or patients to protect themselves from unlawful attacks.
Fourth, documentation must be strengthened.
OHCHR is mandated to help member states, national human rights institutions, UN mechanisms, and civil society document not only incidents themselves, but also their longer term health impacts.
Attacks on health care are now more visible in international reporting than they were a decade ago.
Commissions of inquiry, fact finding missions, UN agencies, civil society organizations, and investigative bodies increasingly document attacks on health care and their impacts, which reflects both the attention paid to this issue and the increasing conflicts and attacks around the world.
But these mechanisms need global cooperation, along with political backing, resources, access, and follow through.
As a practical next step, PHR would encourage closer coordination between the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the World Health Organization on the human rights dimensions of the current health policy crisis to bring together public health, human rights, humanitarian and accountability actors who too often operate in parallel.
By combining WHO's technical and normative role in health systems with OHCHR's mandate to assess rights impacts and advance accountability, we could help move the international response toward a more coherent rights based approach.
Thank you for your time.
I have the honor now to give the floor to miss Maria Malo Mao for a video message.
Honorable colleagues, thank you for inviting us to share our work.
My name is Maria Malo Mao, chair of the Steering Committee for the Digital Health and Rights Project.
We were established in 2019 as a consortium of social scientists, human rights lawyers, health and rights advocates, and global national networks of people living with HIV, a total of ten organizations across four continents.
Our work takes a transnational participatory action research approach, grounded in community advisory teams established in Colombia, Ghana, Kenya, and Vietnam.
The digital transformation is occurring rapidly, and many communities are already seeing their digital rights at risk, including through privacy violations, technology facilitated abuse, and digital exclusion.
However, as the world adopts new digital tools, this rapid pace of development also leaves a significant gap in technical capacity to support human rights.
Technical capacity building should go beyond digital skills alone.
It must equip institutions and practitioners to develop, deploy, and govern digital technologies in ways that advance equality, privacy, accountability, and meaningful participation while protecting human rights.
In response to this, we have been working on building institutional and local capacity to contribute toward our vision of a world in which everyone can access their digital rights.
We conducted research with the World Health Organization that demonstrated the lack of attention to digital rights from member states.
None of the 20 national digital health strategies reviewed had reference to gender, equity, or human rights.
We are continuing work with the WHO to build rights into the new global strategy on digital health, better equip member states with normative guidance on digital rights, and ensure this capacity to meaningfully bring those affected into the conversation.
We have also championed digital literacy and what we term digital empowerment, the knowledge, skills, and competences people develop to advocate for their rights in the digital age within institutions and communities.
This work includes developing a digital literacy hub and a massive open online course on digital rights that has already seen over 1,000 people enrolled.
We've also focused on building capacity with young people by providing training, mentorship, and opportunities with our four community advisory teams.
Young people are digital natives, the generation most affected by the digital transformation.
They need to be equipped with the skills and capacity to engage in a digital world, including entering digital policy spaces that respond to their needs.
The Digital Health and Rights Project puts young people at the heart of the project.
Giving them opportunities to engage in capacity building at a local level and share their learnings to global institutions.
For example, in Vietnam, our community advisory team evolved into a rapid response network to protect young people from digital harm.
In 2024, they collaborated with Samsung and local authorities to remove harmful HIV misinformation that had been shared about one of the company's members of staff.
This community action prevented stigma and demonstrated concrete actions that can be adopted to mitigate the spread of misinformation in the workplace.
The team also fostered interdisciplinary coordination through projects funded by youth micro grants, such as the Run for Life Marathon, which reached 1,000 people.
They integrated digital capacity building into this event to educate participants on privacy and safe health seeking behaviors.
This work is important because in Vietnam, stigma interacts with digital barriers, including surveillance and data protection gaps to deepen inequality.
Many marginalized young people avoid accessing health services due to fears of doxing or identity disclosure.
Our Vietnam community advisory team is continuing this work, conducting outreach and digital literacy interventions to address these issues.
They say that by enhancing digital health literacy, we are not just teaching technical skills.
We are building the digital trust necessary for young people to claim their right to health in an increasingly modernized world.
A second example comes from Ghana, where our research revealed a deeply troubling reality.
Young people, particularly those living with HIV and sexual minorities are experiencing technology facilitated abuse at alarming rates.
Surveillance, blackmail, harassment, and the weaponization of health information online are not isolated incidents.
They are systemic patterns that erode trust, silence people, and deny them access to the health services they need and deserve.
Built in technical capacity in Ghana meant responding to this reality, not from the top down, but from within affected communities themselves.
Our community advisory team produced a community podcast series where young people spoke in their own voices about digital rights, online harm, and what safety in digital spaces should look like.
They also conducted peer outreach and community training, equipping young people with the knowledge to recognize, report, and resist technology facilitated abuse and engaged media journalists from national television and print to amplify these issues to broader Ghanaian society.
Finally, they connected research findings directly to national advocacy, engaging policymakers on Ghana's AI strategy and data protection frameworks to ensure marginalized voices shape the rules that govern digital spaces.
Describing this work, they said, what we built is not just awareness, it is agency, the capacity of young people to advocate for their own digital rights, to hold institutions accountable, and to participate meaningfully in the governance of the technologies that affect their lives.
That is what technical capacity building must look like in practice.
We are committed to continuing this work, and we are grateful for your support in doing this.
To finish, I would like to share my gratitude for inputs into this statement from two young people, Mian and Solomon and thank you for the opportunity to share the work of the Digital Health and Rights Project today.
Okay.
Thank you.
Excellencies, Distinguished representatives, we will now proceed with the first segment of the list of speakers.
All intervention from the floor are limited for 1 minute and 30 seconds.
The list of speakers is now closed.
I now give the floor to the distinguished representatives of the European Union.
Thank you, Mr.
President.
The EU thanks the OHCHR for organizing this panel discussion.
The highest attainable standard of physical and mental health is a human right and health is a prerequisite for sustainable development.
EU is committed to policy coherence and a human rights based approach and together with its partners plays the leading role in advancing global health.
Our contributions go beyond the health sector itself and include among other areas such as climate and environment, wash, education, research and innovation, food security, as well as social protection.
Team Europe initiatives under the global gateway help to improve health security and increase the resilience of health systems around the world.
EU global health strategy is a key component of global gateway.
We collaborate with global, regional and bilateral partners to build sustainable health systems to advance universal health coverage, apply the one health approach, fight diseases, and advance equitable access to health care by funding localized vaccine and medicine manufacturing infrastructure development and pandemic preparedness.
Distinguished panelists, how can non discriminatory access to essential health services be best ensured and what are the most efficient ways to use technical assistance to guarantee access to these services to those in vulnerable situations? I thank you.
Thank you.
I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of Portugal on behalf of the community of Portuguese language countries.
President, it's an honor for me to make this statement on behalf of the community of Portuguese speaking countries.
Given the current international context, no country can address alone the challenges facing achieving the right to health.
International cooperation is still important to provide effective, equitable responses showing solidarity.
Resilient and accessible health systems and non discrimination access to services are essential also for accessing care in order to achieve the right to health, social cohesion, stability, and sustainable development.
We'd like to highlight the CPLPs Strategic Plan for Health Cooperation 2023 to 2027.
It is a commitment in terms of horizontal cooperation to consolidate sustainable development, good governance of our respective national health systems, and global health.
A human rights approach is essential in this context, and that is why we'd like to recall the resolution on technical assistance and training that the CPOP countries are submitting in this session of the HRC.
This initiative recognizes that international cooperation is important to strengthen the capacity of states to protect human rights, prevent violations, and also to implement Agenda 2030.
It also expresses the commitment of the CPLP in cooperating with the Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights and with Human Rights mechanisms, whose recommendations and support we greatly appreciate.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I give the floor to a distinguished representative of Sudan on behalf of the Group of Arab States.
Thank you, Mr.
President.
I have the honor to make this statement on behalf of the Arab Group.
The Arab Group appreciates the organization of this panel discussion and we thank the panelists for their valuable interventions.
Arab group retits that enjoying highest attainable standard of physical and mental health is one fundamental human rights and also technical cooperation based on requests of states and respecting the national priorities are pillars to promote this right.
The Arab Group retits that it is interested in integrating a physical and mental health in primary health care through programs and through promotion of national policies, including within the framework of the League of Arab States.
The Arab Groub expresses its concern as to the catastrophic deterioration of their right to health in the OPT, as well as Lebanon because of the systematic practices of the Israeli occupation that targets health facilities and health workers.
They undermine access to assistance and services.
This exacerbates the suffering of civilians, notably women and children and also impedes their right to attain high standards of physical and mental health.
We call for effective measures, including providing all support and technical assistance to protect health infrastructure in the OPT and building resilient health systems and ensure the right of the purs of people to life, as well as to health in line with the International Human Rights law and the International Maital law.
I thank you, Mr.
Chair.
Thank you.
I now give the floor to the Distinguished Representative of Kenya on behalf of Group of African States.
Thank you, Mr.
President.
I have the honor to speak on behalf of the African group.
We thank the United Nations Deputy Health Commissioner for the Human Rights and the Fed speakers for their briefing on this crucial topic.
The African group reaffirms that the enjoyment of the highest attainable standards of physical and mental health is a fundamental right of every human being.
We are deeply concerned about the persistent and growing disparities between developed and developing countries in access to health, essential treatments and medical technologies.
For African countries, the effective realization of these rights requires technical cooperation and tangible capacity building.
Africa faces major structural changes, including lack of infrastructure, brain drain, and over reliance on imports for essential medical products.
In this context, the African group calls for concrete and coordinated actions by the international community, namely the transfer of technology and know how, support for local health systems, and predictable and sustainable financing.
We also stressed the importance of adopting human rights sensitive approaches in preparing for and responding to future global health emergencies, placing the national solidarity at the heart of public policies.
The African Group reaffirms its commitment to work with OCHR, the World Health Organization, and all partners to overcome these obstacles.
The full realization of the right to health requires effective and inclusive multilateralism.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I give the floor to distinguished representative of Bahrain on behalf of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf.
Thank you, Mr.
Chair.
The GCC countries welcomes the organization of this panel on the role of capacity building and technical cooperation supporting countries for the implementation of the right of every person to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.
Wet that the right to health is pillar for the enjoyment of all human rights and promoting health systems.
This requires a comprehensive approach that takes into account determinants of health and provides universal health coverage and preparedness for emergencies and ensure access to primary health services.
This discussion comes at a time countries are facing increasing challenges and and health and physical needs in cases of displacement and conflict.
We are concerned about the increasing attacks against facilities and health workers and ret trait the need to respect and protect medical facilities and health workforce in line with international law and international human rights law.
The GCC states retrace the need to invest in innovation and digital transformation at the level of health care to improve services and expand access to such services while protecting data and privacy and not to leave anyone behind.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I give the floor to distinguished representatives of the Maldives on behalf of a group of countries.
President, I have the honor to speak on behalf of an informal group of CDs as listed on the Eternet.
In SDS, the enjoyment of the right to health continues to be affected by a range of challenges, including the impact of climate change and natural disasters on health systems, a high burden of non communicable diseases and increasing exposure to public health emergencies and other external shocks.
Addressing these challenges require resilient, equitable and people centered health systems strengthened through primary health care and universal health coverage, including financial instruments built within regulatory frameworks.
It also requires integrated approaches that incorporate mental health and psychosocial support across health policies and programs, including through community based services and emergency preparedness and response.
At the same time, our efforts are shaped by structural constraints, including geographic dispersion, small populations, and limited economies of scale.
These factors place significant pressure on health workforces, health information systems, and medical supply chains, increasing vulnerability to external shocks, while also limiting fiscal space available to strengthen health system.
In this context, we call for demand driven and country owned technical cooperation and capacity building tailored to the specific circumstances of SIDS, including support to strengthen health systems through workforce development, digital technologies, and sustainable financing.
I thank you.
Thank you.
I give the floor to the distinguished representative of Trinidad and Tobago on behalf of the Group of countries.
Thank you, Mr.
President.
I'm pleased to deliver this statement on behalf of the Car Com Group in Geneva.
We thank the Deputy High Commissioner and the panelists for their insightful contributions.
As the Caribbean region continues to grapple with the cascading effects of climate change, disasters, exogenous shocks, NCDs and other public health challenges and emergencies.
We highlight the critical role of technical cooperation and capacity building, particularly for SIDS such as ours.
The graduation of countries within the region, notwithstanding inherent and persistent vulnerabilities, and the attendant limited access to ODA also amplify the need for innovative and targeted approaches to technical cooperation and capacity building across the health spectrum.
In this vein, the region values its ongoing cooperation with agencies such as H Pahu and UNDP.
For example, the Carm Pahu Initiative entitled the Caricom Youth Mental Health First Aid Program empowers young people and youth workers to offer meaningful support during mentally challenging circumstances.
Notably, some participants in the program were among those providing mental health support to persons in the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa, which ravaged Jamaica in October 2025.
We accordingly highlight the importance of enhancing indigenous youth oriented approaches and technical cooperation and capacity building efforts and the need for sustained financing to enable such assistance.
I thank you.
Thank you.
I give the floor to distinguished representative of China on behalf of a group of countries.
Mr.
President, it is my honor to speak on behalf of 65 countries on accessibility through AI.
Accessibility is a vital importance for the enjoyment of all human rights by all.
We should harness the potential of AI to improve accessibility and implement the resolution on accessibility for all to the full enjoyment of all human rights.
First, we should adhere to a development oriented approach.
By promoting accessibility through AI, we inject vitality into high quality development.
Second, we should promote AI for good and for all.
In promoting accessibility, AI should be people centered, enable all to jointly build and share the fruits of social development.
Third, we should uphold fairness and impartiality to ensure equal accessibility for diverse groups and all countries.
Fourth, we should advocate universal benefits and inclusiveness, bridge the digital divide and development imbalances, and promote the exchange on good practices of accessibility for all at the regional and international levels in the context of AI.
Thank you, Mr.
President.
Thank you.
I give the floor to distinguished representative of the Federed States of Micronesia on behalf of a group of countries.
Thank you, Mr.
President.
I have the honor of delivering this statement on behalf of a beneficiary countries of the LDCCs trust fund participating in this session.
Across many of our countries, the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health is challenged by limited resources, fragile economies, and growing pressures that stretch our capacities.
Simultaneously, we are confronting increasing public health challenges ranging from the rise of non communicable diseases to recurring outbreaks that can quickly overwhelm small and under resourced health systems.
Our countries also experience environmental and climate related disruptions and disasters that damage critical health care infrastructure and disrupt the delivery of medical services.
These realities make it difficult to sustain essential health services and to expand coverage to ensure that no one is left behind.
In this context, technical cooperation and capacity building are vital.
They strengthen national institutions, support responsible digital transformation, support the promotion of health and well being while fully respecting human rights.
In this regard, we underscore the fundamental role played by international cooperation, including north, south, south south and triangular cooperation modalities in strengthening national health systems.
We therefore call for technical cooperation that is steady, responsive to national priorities and contexts, and accessible to all countries facing structural vulnerabilities.
I thank you.
Thank you.
I give the floor to distinguished representative of Cuba on behalf of a group of countries.
You may proceed.
President Cuba is honored to deliver this joint statement on behalf of 50 countries.
All human beings have a right to health assistance, cooperation, and international solidarity are fundamental components in efforts to make effective the right to health in all countries.
They have helped save millions of lives, strengthened national healthcare systems, trained millions of healthcare professionals, and facilitated access to high quality medical services in many countries.
We express our profound concern at the adverse repercussions of UCMs including blockades, economic embargoes to the right to health.
We call for the elimination of such measures which are counter to the UN charter and international law.
Essential goods include medications, fuel, key medical equipment for the functioning of healthcare systems.
These should never be exploited as instruments of political or economic coercion.
We will continue to support efforts to expand technical cooperation and contribute to capacity building of states in full effective exercise of the right of all persons to health.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I give the floor to your distinguished representative of Ecuador.
You may proceed.
Thank you, President.
My delegation is grateful to the panelists for their valuable presentations and reaffirms that the right of all persons to the enjoyment of the highest level possible of physical and mental health demands effective, dynamic, timely international cooperation to bolster the capacities of states and in line with their national priorities.
Ecuador has promoted a model of inclusive, decentralized intercultural health which faces a growing demand on its public health system.
This requires greater cooperation based on shared responsibilities among the states concerned and international cooperation agencies.
In that regard, my delegation highlights among its priorities to orient cooperation, its cooperation with OHCHR and WHO, among others.
We highlight the importance of technology transfer, including medical technology, telemedicine, and access to knowledge for local production of essential medications.
Similarly, this cooperation should take into account the need to integrate mental health into primary medical care with services accessible at all levels of government and at community level, while bolstering ancestral knowledge of indigenous peoples and people of African descent.
Finally, we urge all state all countries and relevant bodies to channel financial non reimbursable financial resources to guarantee the right to health care for all people without leaving anyone behind.
Thank you.
Or to the distinguished representative of Luxembourg.
Okay.
Thank you, President.
Technical cooperation and capacity building of states are a key lever in advancing the right of every person to enjoy the best level of physical and mental health possible.
Partnerships responding to national priorities bolster health care systems and improve accessibility, financing, and quality of services for all populations with a goal of universal health care coverage.
Luxembourg actively bolsters institutional, organizational, and individual capacities of the health sectors of its state partners, including Laos, Mongolia, Senegal, and Cabo verde.
In Mongolia, for example, Luxembourg has supported the government in sustainably bolstering its cardiovascular health care services with particular emphasis on telemedicine, which is crucial in such a vast and country with low population density.
This has allowed the establishment of a national telemedicine network covering the whole country as well as the development of local capacities in cardiac surgery and intravascular interventions and treatments that are exclusively available abroad.
Technical partnerships continue to support these capacities to guarantee safe autonomous functioning of these services.
We are convinced that technical cooperation and capacity building can only be fully effective when they are part of a long term perspective of systems of organizations and of stakeholders within the countries involved.
Thank you.
To distinguished representative of Thailand.
Thank you, Mr.
President.
Talent attaches great importance to technical cooperation and capacity building to advance the right to health.
We are actively engaged in South South and triangular cooperation with neighboring countries to strengthen cross border public health.
Our partnership focused on strengthening local coordination, building the capacity of health professionals and frontline workers, improving access to health services and referral systems, and exchanging good practices.
Through more than two decades of sustaining universal health coverage, Thailand has shown that quality health services can be delivered without financial hardship.
One example is the integration of comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services including HIV prevention into our UHC framework, contributing to a significant decline in maternal mortality.
The decentralization of mental health care through primary health systems and village health volunteers also help narrow the treatments gaps through early screening and psychosocial support in rural areas.
These experiences show that rights based health policy can save lives.
Thailand stands ready to deepen technical cooperation with partners in building resilient and inclusive health system.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I give the floor to distinguished representative of Zambia.
Okay.
Thank you, Mr.
President.
Zambia thanks the panelists for the available insights.
Zambia associates itself with the joint statements to which it is a party.
The progressive realization of the right of everyone to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health requires strong national institutions, empowered communities, and sustained partnerships.
Tech Technical cooperation makes an important contribution by strengthening national capacities in a manner that responds to each country's priorities and circumstances.
In Zambia, cooperation with the United Nations agencies and development partners has supported the expansion of primary health care, strengthen the health workforce, improved maternal and child health services, enhanced disease surveillance, advanced digital health systems, and accelerated implementation of the National Health Insurance scheme.
These achievements demonstrate the value of partnerships founded on national ownership and shared commitment.
At the same time, technical cooperation should increasingly be viewed as a two way exchange of knowledge rather than a one way transfer of expertise.
It should create opportunities for states not only to receive support, but also to share the knowledge, innovations, and community based health practices that have sustained their peoples for generations.
In this regard, helping states identify, preserve and further develop indigenous knowledge systems can unlock existing national capacities, enrich our collective understanding, and contribute to more resilient, culturally responsive health systems.
I thank you Chair.
Thank you.
I give the floor to the distinguished.
I will now turn to the list of speakers for National Human Rights institutions and non governmental organizations.
And I give the floor to the representative of International Planned Parenthood Federation.
Thank you, Mr.
President.
The right to health can't be realized without resources.
In the past year, there have been denied on a vast scale.
At least 9 million people lost access to essential care due to the collapse of funding for sexual reprodutive health.
Technical cooperation must answer that reality.
We call on states and partners to direct capacity building for rights based and gender responsive health budgeting that protects essential services, including sexual and reproductive health.
Continue ODA commitments as well as help countries to build sustainable domestic financing and recognizing health and care workers as human rights defenders of their right to health, especially in conflict situations.
The right to health cannot be realized without sexual reproductive health rights and justice for all and without civil society participation in health policies and systems.
In this critical moment, we call member states and stakeholders to center the voices of women, girls, and marginalized communities in all discussions on the right to health, including the UN 80 reform and the global health architecture reform.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I give the floor to the representative of Center for Global Non Killing.
Beloved human beings, Mr.
President, distinguished panelists, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, everyone everywhere.
Greetings of healthy human rights.
The broad picture, physical health of human beings is improving, maybe not equally enough, but mostly improving.
More work is needed for mental health.
The mental health of humanity itself altogether, could be better.
Living in fear of war conflict of climate disaster or indiscrimination is neither healthy nor coherent for individual and common future.
Humanity is immensely rich, rich in knowledge, and profound feelings and ethics in huge infrastructures, sustaining life, and of course, rich in assets.
How this fortune is used for the health and well being of everyone, for the happy future of our humanity is a question at stake today.
Here are suggestions.
For countries concerned, please decriminalize suicides.
Humanity should not be a suicidal species, nor punish itself or its members for it.
Cooperation to that end is useful, helpful, and needed.
Minimum standards of living are a strong driver for good health.
Economic and social rights are meant to help us pass from being equal at birth to being equal in living.
Please be generous.
I have spoken.
Thank you, Mr.
President.
Thank you.
I give the floor to the representative of to International Maria Asiltris del Salesian Di Don Bosco.
For a joint statement.
Thank you, Mr.
President.
IIMA invades welcome this panel and its great relevance for youth.
Physical and mental health are both fundamental components of the right to health.
The online survey we launched in February of this year, which received 1,778 responses, 80% of which were from adolescents and youth across 46 countries on five continents, shows that mental health challenges have a detrimental impact on the enjoyment of human rights by young people.
Sufficient investment in health care reduced by 19 to 33% in 2025 is further aggravating the situation.
Although states have made progress, youth continue to have limited access to support systems also because of financial barriers.
Our voices matter, our experiences matter, our future matters.
We therefore call on state two.
One, ensure that youth are partners in drafting and implementing physical and mental health policies.
Two, increase domestic investment in youth mental health through integration of health coverage.
Three, guarantee qualified mental health professionals, especially in rural and marginalized communities.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I give the floor to the representative of Harm Reduction International for video intervention.
Thank you, President.
Harm reduction International and the co signatories of this statement welcome the panel discussion on technical cooperation and capacity building to advance the right to health.
As health budgets come under increasing pressures and international funding for HIV and harm reduction continues to decline, technical cooperation must support states to prioritize investment that deliver the greatest health and human rights outcomes.
This is particularly important for people who use drugs who continue to face significant barriers to health care due to stigma, discrimination, and punitive drug policies.
Harm reduction is not optional or peripheral.
It is an essential component of the right to health.
Evidence is clear that surfaces such as needle and syringe programs, opioid agonist therapy, and overdose prevented are cost effective, lifesaving and indispensable to public health.
Yet in many countries, they remain severely underfunded while vast resources continue to be allocated to punitive drug control measures, which often have harmful consequences for public health and human rights.
Urge states to realign drug policy with public health and human rights by integrating harm reduction into universal health coverage and national health systems, strengthening domestic financing mechanisms and ensure the sustainability of services.
We further call for states and international development partners to ensure the meaningful participation of people who use drugs and community led organizations in the design, implementation, and evaluation of health policies and programs.
Prioritizing health and harm reduction over punitive drug policies is not only good policy.
It is a necessary step fulfilling the right to health for all.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I give the floor to the representative of Christian Council International.
Thank you, Mr.
President.
Distinguished delegates, panelists, on behalf of Christian Council International, I wish to pose two questions to the panel.
First, how can we ensure that local capacity building is not compromised by the proliferation of financing mechanisms for pandemic prevention preparedness and response? While pandemic preparedness is crucial, the current narrative surrounding pandemic risks should not compromise financing for the world's deadliest diseases.
An excessive focus on international vaccine strategies risks overlooking the importance of local capacity building and technical cooperation related to hygiene, nutrition support, and high burden diseases.
Second, what measures can countries take to ensure that cooperation remains in accordance with the legal frameworks? HRC resolution 60 30 affirms the technical cooperation should be in accordance with international human rights law and national legal frameworks.
Unfortunately, cooperation in the field of health often includes the promotion of services that contradict these frameworks.
Especially in relation to abortion and sexual and reproductive health and rights, we wish to reaffirm that there is no international agreed upon definition of these rights and that to uphold inclusive cooperation, the religious and cultural values of concerned countries need to be respected and promoted.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I give the floor to the representative of Geneve Pedram for international.
Thank you.
The WHO reveals that a woman dies every 2 minutes from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth.
Within low and middle income countries, women living in poverty in rural areas and women facing discrimination based on race, ethnicity, disability, or geographic location die from entirely preventable causes.
Approximately 500,000 women and girls live with obstetric fistula worldwide.
A devastating childbirth injury, a victim woman experiencing intersecting discrimination.
Untreated obstetic fistula coupled with deep rooted social stigma leads to cascading violation of human rights, social isolation, family abandonment, and exclusion from community.
This violation reflects the absence of human rights based approach to maternal health.
Resolution 60 slash 18 of October 2025 explicitly recognized that preventable maternal mortality and morbidity are human violations stemming from intersecting discrimination.
Technical cooperation and capacity building assume critical importance.
States must develop comprehensive national prevention plan, establish maternal mortality surveillance systems, provide mandatory training of all health workers in dignity and non discrimination, and establish accessible complaint and remedy mechanism at health facility level.
We thank you.
Thank you.
We will now proceed with the second segment of the list of speakers, and I give the floor to the distinguished representative of Paraguay.
I'd like to thank you for organizing this important event and thank the panelists for their contribution.
The Paraguay healthcare is an essential component of sustainable development and human dignity in a global context marked by growing inequalities, fiscal restrictions, and complex sanitary challenges, reaffirmed the importance of international cooperation based on dialogue, respecting national priorities, and sustainable capacity building Paraguay attributes fundamental value to human life, which deserves to be protected and respected at all times.
Therefore, the right to life is guaranteed under the Constitution.
And therefore it doesn't recognize termination of pregnancy as a right deriving from personal autonomy or from reproductive rights.
My country has promoted a strategy to expand effective coverage and decentralized health care services by strengthening family health units.
Integrated service networks and new regional hospitals, among the most top priorities has been expanding maternal and infant health care access in rural areas, indigenous communities, and in border areas in the Chaco region, as well as implementation of a mental health law, the adoption of a national policy of mental health, and strengthening action on sexual and reproductive health.
Finally, we believe that technical cooperation when it meets needs identified by states themselves constitutes a crucial instrument for reducing gaps.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I give the floor to the distinguished representative of Eritrea.
Thank you, Mr.
President.
Eritrea has made notable registered strides in improving the health and well being of its population.
Through sustained national efforts, we have expanded primary health care services, improved maternal and child health outcomes.
And strengthen disease prevention and control mechanisms.
These achievements have been realized through strong national ownership, community based approaches, and policies tailored to our specific context and priorities.
These successes demonstrate that durable progress is best achieved when capacity building efforts are aligned with national systems and grounded in local realities.
Technical cooperation should serve to reinforce existing national capacities, build on proven approaches, and support long term institutional resilience rather than introduce one size fits all models.
For developing countries, particularly in the African context, ensuring accessible, equitable and quality health services remain a fundamental priority, especially in the face of historical challenges and ongoing socioeconomic pressures.
Strengthening health systems is not only a matter of policy, but a necessity for resilience and stability.
Technical cooperation must therefore be responsive to these realities and support states in delivering essential health services to their populations in a sustainable and nationally driven manner.
I thank you, Mr.
President.
Thank you.
I give the floor to the distinguished representative of Cuba.
President, enjoyment of the human right to health care must always be respected.
No one can jeopardize the capacities of states to guarantee this right to the population.
Nevertheless, the world has witnessed an aceptable case of violation of those basic principles.
The case of Cuba demonstrates this.
The US imposes on our country a complete energy siege in addition to the 60 year economic blockade, which has led to a substantial deterioration of the excellent indicators reached by Cuba.
As the Deputy Human Rights Commissioner said a few minutes ago, as a result of the blockade in Cuba, children are dying for lack of medicine and medical equipment.
The mortality rate for children has doubled.
100,000 operations have been delayed, including 2000 pediatric operations.
We continue to condemn these harmful acts which undermine the right to health of the Cuban people we call in the Human Rights Council to express also its condemnation and repudiation and to properly defend the human right to health care.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I give the floor to a distinguished representative of Nigeria.
Thank you, Mr.
President.
NGA welcomes this panel discussion on technical cooperation and capacity building in advancing the right to the highest attainable standard of fiscal and mental health and thanks to the panelists for their insights.
NAIA views technical cooperation as essential to strengthening national institutions, supporting sustainable development, and improving health care delivery.
In this regard, we reaffirm that such cooperation must be state id, demand driven, and aligned with the national priorities and ownership.
Consequently, it is imperative to strengthen health systems, build resilient health workforce, and promote sustainable health financing.
In recognition of this, Nigeria is implementing comprehensive health sector reforms through the health sector renewal investment initiatives and the sector wide approach.
These reforms are supported by over $2.2 billion in commitments and seek to expand access to quality primary health care, train frontline health workers and expand national health insurance to provide affordable and equitable care.
These extensive domestic investments underscore our conviction that states bear the primary responsibility for the right to health.
Accordingly, national cooperation should therefore complement rather than replace national effort and domestic resource mobilization.
Finally, we would like to ask the panelists how technical cooperation can better support developing countries in retaining skilled health professionals and addressing the growing challenge of health workforce migration.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I give the floor to the distinguished representative of Bahrain.
Thank you, President.
Thank you for organizing this very important session, the right to health is inextricably linked to progress of nations, their development and the need to grant individuals free access to health care services.
My country, moreover, has adopted a national strategy based on development under the aegis of the Health Ministry.
We are determined to update and infrastructure in a regular manner.
We provide financial material support to all venues to be better equipped to provide proper health care to all individuals and to enable that infrastructure to remain commensurate to current challenges.
The world today faces major challenges and risk of humanitarian disasters.
This means we must all redouble our efforts to ensure cooperation, to provide best conditions for development for all nations at all levels.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I give the floor to distinguished representative of Cambodia.
Thank you, Mr.
President.
Co welcome this timely discussion on technical cooperation and capacity building in support of the right to health, particularly in the context of persistent global health inequality, emerging health threat and constrained financing.
We believe that ensuring the right to health requires a strong focus on prevention, resilience, and local capacity development.
The One Health approach provides an important framework for technical cooperation by recognizing the interdependent of human animals and environmental health.
Strengthening civilian preparedness and early warning system is vital for anti participating and responding to emerging threat, while ensuring equitable access to the tool needed to protect public health.
Meanwhile, certain conditions that undermine the right to health must not be overlooked, conflict, crisis, a natural disaster, destroy infrastructure and disrupt essential services.
Why disaster cannot always be prevented, many conflict can and should be resolved peacefully in accordance with international law to prevent the reversal of hardworn development and public health gains.
A comprehensive approach that combined technical cooperation, capacity building, peace, resilience, and solidarity is essential to fully realize the right to health for all.
I thank you, Mr.
President.
Thank you.
I give the floor to the representative of UNDP.
Thank you, Mr.
President.
Decades after the WHO Constitution affirmed the highest attainable standard of health as a fundamental right, the world has more ways to fulfill it than ever before.
Lifesaving health technologies, digital tools, and AI, and decades of evidence on prevention and community led responses.
Yet these advances have not reached everyone and progress remains fragile as human rights are rolled back to big space narrows and countries face overlapping crises.
At a time of significant financial pressure and transition, technical cooperation is even more important.
It works best when it brings together elements too often treated separately, laws, policies, budgets, institutions, and delivery.
This is central This is central to UNDP's work with governments, communities, and partners in more than 132 countries to strengthen inclusive governance and build resilient health systems.
We are scaling technical support to ensure that the right to health recognized in law is reflected in budgets backed by capable institutions, community engagement and services.
This means working with countries to align public and private resources with health development priorities, use digital technologies to extend service delivery to the last mile.
Strengthen climate resilient health systems.
It also means supporting the policies, finance, financing, and delivery arrangements needed for medicine, vaccines, and diagnostics to reach all people who need them while removing social and legal barriers, including stigma and discrimination that deepen health inequalities.
I thank you.
Thank you.
I give the floor to distinguished representative of the State of Palestine.
Thank you, Mr.
President and many thanks to the panelists for their insightful interventions.
As the Deputy High Commissioner rightly said, attacks against healthcare must be denounced.
In this regard, we would have welcomed explicit reference in her remarks to one of the most illustrative and devastating examples of this pattern, namely the situation in Gaza, given its scale and severity.
Since October 2023, Israel has launched over 1,000 attacks on healthcare workers, patients, hospitals, ambulances, and other medical infrastructure in occupied Palestine, particularly in Gaza and more than 1,700 Palestinian health care workers have been killed.
Maternity and neonatal facilities have been directly struck and medical personnel have faced detention and been subjected to torture and ill treatment.
Israel's illegal siege has severely restricted the entry of lifesaving medicine, fuel, and equipment, devastating and already fragile system in flagrant violation of international law.
Mr.
President, technical cooperation and capacity building, however well designed, cannot substitute for ending this pattern of impunity and the removal of the underlying causes of the healthcare system collapse, namely genocide, occupation, and siege.
We call on states to support accountability for violations and to ensure that rebuilding Palestine's health system restores not just buildings, but the conditions for Palestinians to fully realize their right to health.
I thank you.
Thank you.
I give the floor to the distinguished representative of Peru.
Presidente.
President, thank you.
Peru appreciates the fact that you are dealing with this topic on technical building as a tool to make progress in achieving the effective attainment of the right to health.
There are tax restrictions, increasing governance, digital transformation.
There needs to be a strengthening of national capacities and supporting states in their tasks.
For Peru, this includes universal coverage, primary attention, digital health, and protection of vulnerable populations with an intercultural approach.
The geographical complexity of Peru, where we have Amazon areas, rural areas, Andean areas mean that we need to have proper trained staff who can provide culturally relevant services.
These aims are linked to our multi sectoral health policy, the comprehensive South Wall, including mental health.
E, we welcome the cooperation that we have for the 2025, 2030, as well as working against HIV AD, and tuberculosis in order to strengthen the competencies of our staff.
Technical assistance needs to be predictable and sustainable, aimed at mobilizing resources, strengthening institutions, ensuring that all this translates into equity, dignity, and inclusion.
Many thanks.
Thank you.
I give the floor to the distinguished representative of Egypt.
Miss.
Thank you, Mr.
Chair.
We welcome the convening of this very timely session in light of the pressure on the health sectors such as decreased funding, recurrent health emergencies, impact of conflicts, climate change, and others.
Support in the field of health sector should go beyond the temporary support or limited transfer of expertise.
We need to be able to mobilize resources, manage health system efficiency, and respond to health crisis.
Technical cooperation and building capacity should be based on the request of the countries, their national priorities, respecting their national ownership and respecting the various levels of development capacities and resources.
We need to benefit from the digital transformation to be able to counter communicable and non communicable diseases and others.
Recently, we have expanded our early detection systems, treatment, primary health centers, and we have gradually endorsed the inclusive health insurance as well as other developments.
We would like to say that the standard to measure technical cooperation success is not the size of the resources, but the capacities but the capacity to leave a long term institutional impact inside the country.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I give the floor to the distinguished representative of Malaysia.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr.
President.
Maysia thanks the panelists for their valuable insights.
Malaysia Firm believes that the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is a fundamental human right and an essential component of human dignity.
Our healthcare system is founded on the principles of universal access, social equity, and community participation and is underpinned by a strong primary health care approach that strives to ensure quality health care services are accessible to all.
Melissa also shares the deputy High commissioners and the panelists observations that the enjoyment of the health is increasingly shaped by broader geopolitical developments.
Conflicts in particular continue to have devastating consequences on health systems, including through attacks on healthcare facilities and personnel.
In this context, technical cooperation and capacity building are more important than ever.
Technical assistance must respond to these realities and support states in strengthening resilient health systems, enhancing preparedness and early warning capacities, and ensuring the continuity of essential health services in times of crisis and emergencies.
As health system face increasingly complex and interconnected crises, how can technical cooperation and capacity building be effectively delivered in this context and what more can be done to ensure the continuity of essential health services under such circumstances? Thank you, Mr.
President.
Thank you.
I give the floor to the representative of UNFPA.
Thank you, President.
UNFPA welcomes this panel on International Cooperation and the right to Health.
As we mark 80 years of the United Nations, the right to highest attainable standard of physical and mental health remains unfulfilled for millions, particularly women, girls, and marginalized populations.
The realization of the right to health is inextricably linked to bodily integrity, autonomy, and dignity.
Currently, progress is stalling.
Every 2 minutes a mother dies from preventable causes and 40% of women lack the agency to make decisions about their own bodies.
These a violation of the fundamental principle of equity and the denial of basic human rights.
UNFPA maintains that the right to health is universal and non negotiable.
Access to comprehensive HRHR services is not a political option.
It's a core constituent of human dnity and sustainable development.
Multilateral cooperation is our most effective mechanism for action.
Coordinated global efforts have reduced unintended pregnancy rates by nearly 20% since 1990 and lower maternal mortality by 34% since the launch of the millennium development goals.
Together, the international community has also cut the new HIV infection by 43% since 2010.
These gains prove that a right based framework delivers profound progress.
UNFPA remains steadfast in its mandate to ensure HRHR for all.
We call upon all partners to renew their commitment to global solidarity, safeguard these hard won gains, and accelerate the realization of health and rights for everyone, leaving no one behind.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I give the floor to a distinguished representative of Cameron.
Then I give the floor to the distinguished representative of Costa Rica.
Thank you, President.
Costa Rica welcomes the holding of this meeting.
I'd like to flag the importance of technical cooperation and capacity building as key tools to achieve the effective human right to health.
Enjoying physical and mental health is a key right.
However, millions of people are still facing obstacles in terms of accessing available health services.
Acceptable and quality services, economic and social inequalities, the effects of climate change, human displacement, and health emergencies are increasing gaps affecting in a disproportionate fashion, those who are in situations of vulnerability.
In this context, international cooperation plays a crucial role to support states in complying with their human rights obligations.
Technical assistance needs to contribute to strengthening solid, resilient and inclusive public institutions that can guarantee Healthcare, which is based on the principles of equality, universality and non discrimination, Costa Rica, particularly thinks that the initiatives aimed at strengthening primary care are very valuable, particularly in terms of training, health staff, mental health, and emergency preparedness, as well as responsible use of digital tools amplifying access to services with a human rights based approach.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I give the floor to the distinguished representative of Malawi.
All right.
I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of Samoa.
Thank you, Mr.
President.
We thank the Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights and the panelists for their insightful remarks.
Samoa aligns itself with the statement delivered by Federated States of Macrnesia on behalf of the beneficiary of the LDC SDS Trust Fund, participating in this session.
For small island developing states such as Samoa, technical cooperation and capacity building are essential to advancing human rights.
Especially as our development challenges are compounded by the impacts of climate change.
The trust fund is proof that targeted capacity building works.
It has enabled countries like Symool to have a voice in this council while equipping our officials with knowledge and skills needed to serve our people back home, including in the health sector.
While Siamo has made important progress in the health sector, our health system continues to face challenges.
Non communicable diseases remain the leading cause of mortality and many of our people must travel overseas to access lifesaving treatment unavailable at home.
We also face a shortage of mental health specialists while gaps in health data collection and reporting continue to hinder effective planning and service delivery.
For Sao, technical cooperation is not just about capacity building.
It's about saving lives and ensuring that no one is left behind.
We therefore call for stronger partnerships with OHCHR and relevant UN agencies to support the efforts of Sao and other cities in realizing the right to health.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I will now turn to the list of speakers for national Human Rights institutions and non governmental organizations, and I give the floor to the representative of APG 23.
Mr.
President, the reduction of ODA undermines health equity, disproportionately impacting vulnerable populations.
We are already witnessing the straining of fragile health systems, critical shortages of essential medicines, and disruption to life saving immunization programs.
Crucial initiatives targeting infectious diseases such as HIV, tuberculosis and malaria are facing severe funding gaps.
Health is a fundamental human right and the bedrock of socio economic stability.
When we underfund global health, we compromise the right to life, dignity, and security for millions.
We emphasize the critical importance of the implementation of the right to development as a structural framework to address the underlying social determinant of health.
Realizing the right to health is impossible without tackling inequities, environmental degradation, and resource gaps.
Moreover, in an era where many states are grappling with debt burden and shrinkling fiscal spaces, achieving universal health coverage demands robust international solidarity.
Technical assistance must be grounded in genuine partnership, aiding states to implement human rights based budgeting and secure sustainable domestic funding.
We call on the international community to revitalize technical cooperation, not as a charitable gesture, but as a shared human rights obligations.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I give the floor to the representative of MAT Peace Development and Human Rights Association.
Thank you, Mr.
President.
Matt welcomes this discussion and reaffirms that technical cooperation and capacity building are essential for realizing the right to highest attainable standard of house.
However, technical cooperation can only be effective if it's supported by sustainable funding and fully respects national priorities and sovereignty.
Matt remains concerned about the growing decline in international health aid as aid cuts by the UK, France, and Germany could contribute to more than 11.5 million preventable deaths in low and middle income countries by 2030.
At the same time, cooperation mustn't undermine the sovereignty of developing countries.
In April 2026, Ghana rejected a proposed He agreement with the United States due to concerns that sensitive health data could be shared with multiple US entities without sufficient safeguards or superior consent.
In contrast, among many positive examples, Morocca's experience in expanding SSA protection, modernizing health services, and investing in regional development demonstrates how nationally led policies supported by constructive international cooperation can promote equitable access to health care while respecting national ownership.
Therefore, Matt calls for technical cooperation based on sustainable financing and technology transfer.
I thank you.
Thank you.
I give the floor to the representative of Peaceland Foundation.
Then I give the floor to Association P.
I give the floor to the Beijing Guang Min Charity Foundation for video intervention.
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Huang Jin, in, in, two times.
What hearing Qiang Xi Huan? As well as sustainable development and safeguards the interests of countries.
They will the platform is like a bridge between the market and the peasants to contribute to global food security and to the realization of sustainable development at a global level.
Thank you, President.
Or to the representative of somebody Trust.
All right.
Excellency's distinguished representative.
That was the last speaker that we could accommodate.
I wish to remind you that delegates inscribed on the list of speakers who could not take the floor due to time constraints can upload their statements to be posted on the extranet.
I will now give the floor back to the panelists for their concluding remarks.
I begin with I give the floor to miss Michelle Rem.
You have the floor, madam.
Thank you very much.
Thank you, Mr.
President and thank you, distinguished delegates.
The interactive dialogue has reaffirmed that realizing the right to health requires partnership, inclusion, and sustained action, and that there's valuable expertise and experience to be leveraged in state health systems that we can continue to learn from.
We have heard the importance of country leadership of responding to country and national priorities, including community priorities, the importance of tailoring technical cooperation and South South learning and designing more effective, equitable and people centered health responses.
Communities most affected by diseases, including key populations and women and girls, must remain at the center of these efforts, helping to shape policies and services that respond to their realities and uphold their rights.
As health systems undergo rapid digital transformation, we must also ensure that digital innovations and AI do not undermine the right to health.
The Global Fund's recently revised digital framework, which has received input and validation from partners in this room, aims to guide the Global Fund Secretariat to leverage technical resources, partners, and support to strengthen our grants.
As we continue to navigate this changing financial environment and increasing pushback against fundamental human rights, sustained financing for innovative and targeted approaches to technical cooperation remains essential and such support must be tailored responsive to particularly community identified needs and national priorities and country contexts.
Um, we also highlight and noted the importance of South South cooperation and peer learning, which we have also found has proven instrumental in sharing practical solutions to remove human rights related barriers to health services, including through our exchanges between health ministries, national human rights institutions, and other partners.
We must also strengthen collaboration beyond the health sector, engaging partners in justice, social protection, gender, and human rights to tackle the barriers where they arise.
Um, my last point would be that investment in community led services and programs that address human rights related barriers to health should also remain a priority for donors, for technical partners, and for states.
This is particularly important at a time of constrained resources to ensure that available funding is used strategically and efficiently, delivering maximum impact while reaching those most affected, most at risk, and also sustaining access to essential health services.
Together, these approaches can build more resilient, inclusive health systems and help ensure that everyone, especially those most affected by HIV tuberculosis and malaria, can access quality health services without discrimination, stigma, or exclusion.
Thank you.
Thank you.
This brings us to the end of this panel discussion.
I wish to thank the Deputy High Commissioner, our distinguished panelists, and all the participants who have contributed to our discussion.
Excellency's distinguished representative, this brings us to the end of our public meeting.
We will hold our next public meeting tomorrow morning at 10:00 A.M.
To hold the urgent debate on the human rights situation in and around LOB, North Kordofan in the context of the ongoing conflict in the Sudan.
We will now take a short break before the closed meeting in relation to the complaint procedure of the Human Rights Council.
The closed meeting will be held in person in the assembly hall.
Only members of the council participate in the meeting.
No webcast or recordings will be provided.
And I kindly invite all observers to leave the room.
Thank you.