Statement by Uzra Zeya, President and CEO, Human Rights First, at Global Alliance for Human Rights High-Level UNGA Side Event: "Human Rights for All – From Commitment to Collective Action," September 23, 2026

This Global Alliance could not come at a more critical time, for a multilateral human rights system under siege. The U.S. government campaign to dismantle the International Criminal Court and bully States Parties to withdraw from the Rome Statute jeopardizes decades of progress to ensure accountability for atrocities. U.S. retreat from other key multilateral human rights norms and institutions — including the Human Rights Council and its Universal Periodic Review —undercuts the spirit of collective problem solving that animates this grouping, and the UN itself.

Human Rights First is laser-focused on the human toll of this U.S. retreat, documenting serious abuses against refugees and migrants in U.S. detention, denial of due process to noncitizens seeking protection, and the forced transfer of people to third countries with well-documented records of systemic human rights abuses. We urge all countries party to or contemplating such agreements to re-examine them and refrain from any actions that violate refoulement, their treaty obligations, and human rights commitments to regional bodies.

Against such headwinds, we urge Global Alliance governments to reaffirm and uphold commitments to international human rights treaties — including the Refugee Convention— as well as to institutions like the ICC, OHCHR, UNHCR, and the UPR. For our part, Human Rights First co-leads a cross-regional coalition of organizations helping to strengthen treaty adherence and implementation.

Finally, given devastating global foreign assistance cuts, we must bolster diplomatic and development support for Human Rights Defenders, and better heed their advice. Together, we can make a decisive difference.

Thank you.