Statement by the Delegation of Thailand
H.E. Mr. Sek Wannamethee
Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Thailand
during the General Debate Agenda Item 10

(Technical Assistance and Capacity-Building)

at the 38^th session of the Human Rights Council
on Thursday, 5 July 2018
at Room XX, Palais des Nations, Geneva

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Mr. Vice President,

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is grounded in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and human rights treaties. As such, technical cooperation and capacity-building undertaken by the UN human rights bodies and mechanisms should contribute to States’ implementation of both their human rights obligations and the SDGs.

When we consider the recommendations made by the Treaty Bodies, Special Procedures Mandate Holders and by States in the UPR, a sizeable number of these human rights recommendations are directly or indirectly related to specific SDG targets.

Given these mutually reinforcing linkages between human rights recommendations and the SDGs, technical cooperation for the implementation of accepted UPR recommendations will also reinforce the implementation of the SDGs. Such technical support should include the strengthening of national statistical systems on human rights and the SDGs.

It is therefore imperative that States, the OHCHR, the UN Country Teams and all stakeholders – including the private sector, civil society organizations and academia – work together to promote technical cooperation that helps States pursue synergies between human rights and the SDGs to provide the necessary impacts on the ground, in line with the principle of ‘leaving no one behind’ and our human rights obligations.

Thank you.