Thank you Chair. I deliver this statement on behalf of Canada, Iceland, Liechtenstein, New Zealand, Norway and my own country Australia.

We take this opportunity to reaffirm our strong support for the Human Rights Council and to thank the President of the Council for his report to the plenary and his interactive engagement with the Third Committee.

While the Committee must consider the decisions taken by the Council, it is the plenary which must take action on the report, its addendum and its recommendations. It is not for the Committee to reopen the decisions of the Council.

The meeting agenda and slate of resolutions considered at the Council’s most recent session in Geneva demonstrates the variety of the human rights challenges with which both the Human Rights Council and wider UN system must grapple.

These include responding to human rights violations and abuses stemming from current events, such as Russia’s, illegal and brutal war on Ukraine, Iran’s denial of freedom of peaceful assembly, through to long-running challenges, such as protecting and promoting the rights of the world’s indigenous peoples.

Former UN Secretary-General Mr Ban Ki-Moon once said that “all victims of human rights abuses should be able to look to the Human Rights Council as a forum and a springboard for action”.

With this in mind, we reiterate the fundamental truth that the Human Rights Council’s duty and mandate is to examine human rights issues wherever they may be. No situation and no country should be considered above the Council’s scrutiny. To consider otherwise is to challenge the United Nations’ bedrock principle of the equality of all states, including in accountability, and to risk undermining our important multilateral system.

Small and medium-sized nations like ourselves and many others play a valuable role in engaging with the multilateral system to create a stable, peaceful and prosperous world.

Mr President, how can the Human Rights Council better engage with smaller and less-resourced countries, including Small Island Developing States, to ensure their voices are heard within the Council?