China is pressing the United Nations budget committee to defund numerous human rights posts in negotiations on the 2026-2027 UN peacekeeping budget, including essential personnel for the newly established UN Support Office in Haiti.
China is recommending against funding for staff to monitor compliance by a new security force for Haiti with the UN’s human rights due diligence policy, according to a document summarizing member states’ positions in the UN General Assembly’s Fifth Committee, which approves the budget. Human rights due diligence in Haiti is especially important in light of numerous past abuses by peacekeepers there.
Some of the funding China is opposing for 2026-2027 is for the UN support office to assist the Gang Suppression Force. It is a non-UN security force that a small group of countries established to work with the Haitian National Police and armed forces to counter criminal groups that have taken control of much of Haiti.
While the Gang Suppression Force is not a UN mission, the UN provides logistical support, and under UN rules, this means the force must comply with the UN’s human rights due diligence policy.
Since 2017, Human Rights Watch has documented how China and Russia—two countries with abysmal human rights records—have led a sustained push to cut as many UN human rights posts as possible. Backed by Egypt, Iran, North Korea, and others, they have also sought to defund multiple UN rights investigations around the world.
In addition to Haiti, China is currently seeking to defund UN human rights posts in Syria, South Sudan, and Democratic Republic of Congo. Russia is supporting China’s efforts in the peacekeeping budget negotiations, which are scheduled to conclude this week.
China’s defunding efforts come after the UN leadership was forced to slash UN spending due to a liquidity crisis largely caused by the US withholding billions of dollars of obligatory UN dues and China paying late.
Delegations from Europe, Latin America, and elsewhere are resisting China’s efforts. And multiple UN diplomats have said that the US delegation is not supporting the current Chinese push to cut human rights posts.
Member states should continue to resist attempts by China and Russia to undermine the UN’s ability to deter, monitor, and report on human rights abuses.
