Human rights
Human rights at UNGA 81
Raised by 136 of 223 speakers. Read verbatim UN transcript quotes and select a time to hear the speech.
Speeches that raised human rights
Iceland · Day 5Thorgerdur Katrín GunnarsdóttirUN peacekeeping and peacebuilding operations have helped prevent and contain conflict around the world.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights transformed our understanding of human dignity.
The Convention on the Law of the Sea became the constitution of the ocean, on which countries like mine depend, now strengthened further by the BBNDJ agreement.
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San Marino · Day 5Luca BeccariStatehood is not a reward for terrorism.
It's a right.
At the same time, nothing can justify the collective punishment of civilians.
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Holy See · Day 5Cardinal Pietro ParolinHe warns against the return of a diplomacy of force and reaffirms the indispensable role of multilateral institutions.
Mr. President, The human person remains the measure of all progress.
At the heart of this conviction, start the acknowledgement of the inviolable, God-given dignity of every human person.
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Philippines · Day 5Ma. Theresa LazaroBut AI also presents profound and systemic risks.
Without robust governance, enforceable ethical standards, and strong legal guardrails, it could deepen inequalities and become an existential challenge.
We echo the growing call across industries that we need robust AI governance with enforceable standards, and we need it now.
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Russian Federation · Day 5Sergey LavrovThus, Chancellor Merz is stating that Germany must once again be a leading military power in Europe.
Does Berlin understand what this could lead to?
Didn't they not learn the lessons of World War II?
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Tunisia · Day 5Mohamed Ali NaftiHow can we restore this trust while the Palestinian people are subjected daily to the most horrific crimes and violations and denied their most basic rights to life, security, freedom, and self-determination, while the international community remains unable to put an end to their ongoing humanitarian suffering or to enforce respect for international law and international humanitarian law?
My country, Tunisia, condemns the continuing settlement policies of the occupying entity in the West Bank and the policies of persecution, starvation, and isolation in the Gaza Strip, and the crimes of genocide that claim more lives each day, in the absence of any accountability or any punishment.
Tunisia calls upon the international community to shoulder its legal, moral and humanitarian responsibilities and to end this long-standing historical injustice.
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Canada · Day 5Anita AnandHere at the United Nations, Canada will again lead the resolution in this very room, in the General Assembly, on human rights in Iran, because we stand firmly with the Iranian people against repression and for human rights, dignity, and aspirations for a better life.
We will continue to speak out against the unacceptable rise in hatred, including anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, which are plagues that our countries must fight together.
We were tragically reminded of the scourge of anti-Semitism again when a gunman carried out an attack on a synagogue in Belleville, Ontario, on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar.
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Sao Tome and Principe · Day 5Ilza Maria dos Santos Amado VazIn a nation of our size, every talent counts, and every young person is an indispensable force for national progress.
Likewise, the Santomean diaspora is an essential part of our human wealth and a strategic partner of the country.
We will continue to strengthen its ties with Santomean Principi and to create the conditions for an even greater contribution to investment, entrepreneurship, knowledge, transfer, and national life.
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Zambia · Day 5Mulambo Hamakuni HaimbeFor Zambia, the answer is clear.
We must restore trust by achieving results, and we must manage transformation by ensuring that no country and no one is left behind.
Zambia's democratic journey and the 2026 elections.
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Gabon · Day 5Marie-Édith Tassyla-Ye-DoumbenenyMr. President.
While it's true that digital transformation offers considerable opportunities, it also entails risk, infringements of privacy, disinformation, cyber crime, and the irresponsible use of emerging technologies.
The absence of an effective international legal framework leaves the way open for all of these abuses to arise, posing a direct threat to the security of our states and the fundamental rights of our citizens.
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Belize · Day 5John BriceñoThis Assembly has rightly and finally declared slavery as the gravest crime against humanity.
But this recognition is only the beginning of an obligation, and the obligation is that we must not build the next chapter of development on the foundation of the last.
If we are to be honest about that foundation, then we would acknowledge that the wealth of the industrial age largely came from the labor of enslaved and colonized peoples, and its rewards flowed almost entirely away from them.
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Germany · Day 5Johann WadephulThe next Secretary-General can count on Germany along this path.
Our history, our geography and our constitution bind us to the UN Charter and to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
This is at the very core of our statehood.
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Belarus · Day 5Maxim RyzhenkovNevertheless, in the West, they are already beginning to ask questions about their many, they're now being held to account for centuries of colonial plunder for the destruction of cultures, traditions and identifies of enslaved peoples and for the slave trade, which claimed millions of lives.
And in line with this, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution in March of this year declaring the trafficking of enslaved Africans and racialized chattel enslavement of Africans as the gravest crime against humanity.
Belarus supported this resolution without hesitation.
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Djibouti · Day 5Abdoulkader Houssein OmarThe Republic of Djibouti further reaffirms its unwavering solidarity with the Palestinian people and its full support for their legitimate rights, in particular their inalienable right to the establishment of an independent and sovereign State.
We reaffirm our commitment to a two-State solution based on the 1967 borders.
with East Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Palestine, as the path towards a just and lasting peace.
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Oman · Day 5Sayyid Badr bin Hamad bin Hamood AlbusaidiWe also express our condemnation of the crimes of the Israeli occupation and its increasing violations against the Palestinian people, which have compounded the suffering of the Palestinian people in its struggle to obtain its legitimate rights and liberate its land within the borders of June 4, 1967, based on the two-state solution and relevant United Nations resolutions.
Honorable Delegates, the Sultanate of Oman launched the Muscat Plan to counter hate speech, genocide, atrocity crimes, and incitement to atrocity crimes through an initiative inaugurated by His Excellency, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, and with broad international participation here at United Nations headquarters in New York on the 11th of June 2026.
Building on this approach, the city of Muscat will host next November, God willing, an event marking the International Day of Tolerance.
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Indonesia · Day 5SugionoIndonesia is one nation.
We also continue to strengthen the promotion and protection of human rights through our national mechanisms and our commitment to international human rights obligations.
This goes hand in hand with building our national resilience, because human rights are not only the absence of violence, They are also about ensuring that people have food, education, and healthcare.
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