Remarks for the Concluding Plenary Panel of the Geneva Human Rights Platform's 2021 Annual Conference, with the theme of "Small Stats in Big Roles: The Importance of Small Island Developing States, Engagement within the United Nations Mechanisms"

H.E. Ms. Nazhat Shameem Khan, President of the Human Rights Council

Excellencies, Dear Colleagues,

Bula Vinaka and Good Day.

By way of introduction, my name is Nazhat Shameem Khan. I am the Ambassador of the Republic of Fiji to the United Nations in Geneva, and this year I have the honour of serving as the President of the Human Rights Council.

It is my great pleasure to join you all today for this concluding plenary panel on the importance of international roles in raising the profile of small States at the United Nations.

At the outset, I would like to extend my thanks to the Geneva Human Rights Platform for organising this concluding plenary panel. It is my great hope that this panel will help build momentum for even greater leadership roles for small States at the United Nations.

In this connection, if I may, I would like to say that it is my great honour to participate in this panel with H.E. the Foreign Minister of the Republic of the Maldives, also the President of the 76th session of the General Assembly, H.E. Ms. Inga Rhonda King of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, currently serving as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, and H.E. Mr. Asim Ahmed, Permanent Representatives of the Republic of the Maldives in Geneva.

Excellencies, your principled leadership is truly a model for all of us from small States who seek to ensure that the United Nations is an inclusive multilateral space where all voices are heard.¹

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I wish to state unequivocally that I am a strong supporter of small States taking greater leadership roles in the United Nations. As you might expect, my own experience coming from a small State and now serving as President of the Human Rights Council has reinforced this belief – and this is for three reasons in particular.

First, I am a firm believer in multilateralism. We, the global community, face problems that cannot be solved unless we all work together. But as we all know, at the multilateral level it is easy to get mired in discussions between and among States that are large or wealthy or powerful – to the detriment of small State participation and to the detriment of the global community’s ability to problem solve. Small States taking on leadership roles at the United Nations will help ensure that our multilateral efforts are more inclusive and thus better positioned to solve common problems we all face.

Second, and closely related to my first point, small States sometimes face acute challenges that are not priorities for larger or wealthier or more powerful States and thus less likely to be addressed as robustly at the multilateral level. Elevating small States to positions of leadership at the United Nations will bring greater attention to the challenges that we all face.

One good example of this at the Human Rights Council is the adverse impact of climate change on human rights. We as small islands developing States are on the frontlines of the climate crisis and we continue to experience the adverse human rights impacts of climate change. We have seen violations of the right to life, the right to adequate housing and the right to safe drinking water and sanitation, among many other violations, as a result of increasingly frequent and intense slow and sudden-onset natural disasters. But the Council never adopted a resolution on the subject until our friends from the Republic of the Maldives introduced and sponsored a resolution on human rights and climate change at the 7th session of the Council in March 2008.²  

This first resolution built momentum the greater recognition of the adverse impacts of climate change on human rights at the Council and I am pleased to note that, at the recently concluded 48th session, the Council adopted a resolution entitled “Mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights in the Context of Climate Change” that created a Special Rapporteur on the negative impacts of climate change on human rights.

This resolution was led by small islands developing States, namely the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Commonwealth of the Bahamas and my own country, the Republic of Fiji, together with the European Union, Panama, Paraguay and Sudan, and ensures that the Council will have an expert specifically dedicated to addressing the impact of climate change on human rights – a key mandate that will ensure that the challenges us smaller States face particularly acutely are on the agenda of the Council.

As shown from the adoption of the resolution in March 2008 to the establishment of a Special Rapporteur at the recently concluded 48th session, small States have had to lead to the way to ensure that climate change and human rights is given the attention it deserves at the Council. This is one key reason that small States assuming leadership at the multilateral level is critical: without the leadership of brother and sister small States, issues of acute importance to us may go unaddressed.

Third, and equally important, small States have much to contribute to the world. We have rich cultural traditions, we have innovative governance structures and policy mechanisms and we bring unique perspectives across a variety of issues to the multilateral arena. Elevating small States to leadership positions offers us a platform we may not otherwise have had to contribute our insights to all States – small and large alike – and, in doing so, help the world better promote and protect human rights, ensure peace and security and achieve sustainable development.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

If I may, I would like to conclude by highlighting the importance of small States supporting one another at the United Nations in their pursuit of leadership positions. I, for one, benefited greatly from the strong support I received from many small islands developing States when submitting my candidature for President of the Human Rights Council. And, to them, I wish to reiterate my thanks for that support.

In this collaborative spirit, I would like to take this opportunity to encourage all of us to work together to elevate the voices of small States at the United Nations and ensure that multilateralism works for all of us.

Vinaka Vakalevu and thank you.