Delivered by Renate Bloem
"Thank you Mr. President,
Madame High Commissioner,
CIVICUS welcomes your last annual report and wishes to pay tribute to your tenure, to your and your Office’ overall success and leadership in mainstreaming human rights throughout the UN system and beyond, so exemplarily underscored by the SG’s most recent initiative and plan of action “Rights Up Front”. You combated courageously human rights violations wherever they occurred, becoming the voice of victims and a beam of hope. We laud your smiling diplomacy which so effectively withstood every attempt to undermine or control your independence. "