EU Statement – UN General Assembly 3rd Committee: Interactive Dialogue with the Human Rights Committee

Ms. Chairperson,

On behalf of the EU and its Member States, I would like to welcome you to the Third Committee and thank you for your presentation. We continue to support the work of the Human Rights Committee in protecting human rights worldwide and we value your input in the ongoing efforts to improve coordination between the human rights treaty bodies.Your work is relevant more than ever in a time of unprecedented pushback against international law and the realization of human rights as, along with other treaty bodies, the Human Rights Committee isthe backbone of the international human rights architecture.

We welcome one new accession to the ICCPR and one to the Second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR[1] and we join you in encouraging States that have not done so to become parties to the Covenant and Optional Protocols.

Ms. Chairperson,

The EU believes that the challenges of today's world cannot put on hold the full realization of human rights. We stand firm that measures applied to address these challenges have to be human-rights based, non-discriminatory, proportionate, necessary, and cannot be used to limit the civic space. We express our appreciation for the Committee's continuing work in reviewing States parties to the ICCPR despite the liquidity crisis of the United Nations and the insufficient level of resources available to treaty bodies.

The EU notes the considerable potential of digitalization of the work of the treaty bodies and encourages further use of digital technologies in their work, including as regards individual communications. Therefore, having in mind the increasing backlog in State parties' reviews, as well as the growing number of the individual applications pending consideration and adoption of views, we would like to know how, in your view; the use of digital technologies in the work of the Committee could substantially reduce the said backlog.

Lastly, Ms. Chairperson, we commend the work of the Chairpersons of the human rights treaty bodies aimed at improving the harmonization and efficiency of their working methods and encourage further efforts for greater cross-committee coordination to reduce overlap in concluding observations.. Therefore, we would like to know what your expectations are with regard to the required next steps in the context of the ongoing treaty body strengthening process following UNGA Resolution 68/268 and in the light of the request to the Secretary-General in the Pact for the future to assess the need for adequate, predictable, increased and sustainable financing of the United Nations human rights mechanisms.

Thank you.

[1]South Sudan - 5 February 2024 to the ICCPR; Cote d'Ivoire - 3 May 2024 to the Second Protocol to the ICCPR