UN appeals for $500 million to address global human rights needs

The UN human rights chief appealed on Thursday for $500 million in funding for 2025 to support its work investigating human rights abuses around the world, from Syria to Sudan, warning that lives hang in the balance.

Speaking in Geneva on Thursday, Volker Turk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, stated that the UN Human Rights Office has supported countries, national institutions, regional bodies, the broader UN system, and the private sector in improving their performance by integrating human rights into their work.

He highlighted that up to 2,000 personnel operating in 92 countries carried out approximately 11,000 human rights monitoring missions and observed nearly 1,000 trials. He added that 95 partners, including 67 UN member states, contributed to the office's efforts and expressed hope for their continued commitment in 2025.

The UN human rights office (OHCHR) has been grappling with chronic funding shortages that many expect will be exacerbated by cuts to US foreign aid by President Donald Trump.

US funding for OHCHR has gone to monitoring human rights violations in northern Ethiopia after the 2020-2022 civil war and peace-building programmes in Colombia, the U.S. Agency for International Development website showed.

The annual appeal is for donations beyond the allocated UN funds from member states' fees, which make up just a fraction of the office's needs.

"In 2025, we expect no let-up in major challenges to human rights," Volker Turk told member states in a speech at the UN in Geneva.

"I am very concerned that if we do not reach our funding targets in 2025, we will leave people ... to struggle and possibly fail, without adequate support," he said.

He said any shortfall would mean more people remain in illegal detention; governments could continue with discriminatory policies; violations may go undocumented; and human rights defenders could lose protection.

"In short, lives are at stake," he said, adding that his office last year helped release over 3,000 people in arbitrary detention and supported more than 10,000 survivors of modern slavery and over 49,000 survivors of torture and their families.

A number of countries including the European Union voiced support for OHCHR's work in the meeting, with China saying it was willing to continue voluntary funding, which in previous years has amounted to about $4 million.

The human rights office gets about 5% of the regular U.N. budget, but the majority of its funding comes voluntarily in response to its annual appeal.

Agencies