As we at the UN Human Rights Office stepped up our monitoring and developed new strategies, working methods and data-based analytic tools to anchor human rights in responses to the pandemic, it became obvious that our significant experience in combating discrimination and inequalities makes us highly qualified to help societies to not only recover from the immediate medical and socio-economic wounds – but also to repair key underlying weaknesses.

I am proud of the speed and efficacy with which we shifted to pandemic operations so that we could continue implementing almost all of our planned work – even in the face of budget restrictions – while also addressing the many new challenges posed by the global pandemic with respect to human rights. This Annual Report outlines a wide variety of examples.

I trust that we can continue to count on your support as we look to the future.

Thank you for standing up for human rights.