UN human rights system needs support

Date: 29th September 2026
Category: Other human rights treaties and mechanisms

---

Together has endorsed a joint civil society statement calling on governments to reaffirm their political and financial commitment to the UN human rights treaty body system.

The oral statement, made during a Human Rights Council session on 29^th September 2026, comes at a time when the UN liquidity crisis is having a significant impact on the work of the human rights treaty bodies. This has included the cancellation of several sessions of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, impacting on the extent to which governments are being held to account for their implementation of children’s rights.

The statement calls on governments to:

·       Ensure sustainable funding through the UN regular budget, including to reduce review backlogs and make State reviews predictable well in advance;

·       Provide dedicated resources for hybrid modalities that enable meaningful participation by civil society and other stakeholders; and

·       Invest without delay in accessible digitalisation tools to strengthen the treaty body system and facilitate engagement with its work.

  Watch the Human Rights Session.