Thank you High Commissioner for your report, and for your work your Office’s work defending human rights around the world.

As the international community continues to respond to the illegal and unprovoked Russian aggression in Ukraine, we must redouble our commitment to the protection, promotion, and respect for human rights globally. The work of your Office is vital to this. Australia strongly supports and values the independence of the Office, and calls on all member states to support its financial and institutional sustainability.

Australia will continue to advocate for, and work to advance, gender equality and the human rights of all women and girls, including their sexual and reproductive health and rights. We also call for the full implementation of the Women, Peace and Security agenda, including in Ukraine.

We stand with our Pacific partners in responding to the climate crisis. Climate change exacerbates existing vulnerabilities and is a threat to the fulfilment of human rights.

States should be accountable for their human rights records on indigenous issues. Australia is committed to transparency about our own domestic human rights record, including with First Nations Australians. We will appoint an Ambassador for First Nations Peoples to deepen our support for indigenous peoples and their efforts to participate in the UN to speak truth to their experiences.

We await the report of the High Commissioner on the human rights situation in Xinjiang. Australia remains deeply concerned about the large number of credible reports of severe human rights violations against Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic minorities.