Imogen Folks

not today or tomorrow, but it is facing very serious cutbacks, right?

I mean, we see cutbacks right across the UN agencies, but UN Human Rights sometimes finds it more difficult to put its case because it's not jumping in where there's a famine like the World Food Programme or

supporting children like UNICEF or offering shelter like UN refugees.

It's a much quieter, but what the UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk tried to say today was very important work, trying to uphold the rights of people who are disenfranchised or suffering major violations.

And they are the eyes and the ears on the ground, UN Human Rights monitors.

So very serious cutbacks.

The appeal today for $400 million is actually less than its appeal last year.

So it is taking into account the fact that there will be reduced funding, but it can't rely on that $400 million being handed over by member states.

And I think that is a big concern.

No, certainly not.

I mean, we have conflicts if you look at somewhere like Sudan or Gaza or Ukraine.

And, you know, in Ukraine, even before the conflict, UN Human Rights had monitors on the ground.

They are documenting violations.

We have seen before in cases like Syria or Myanmar that this documentation can lead to prosecutions and accountability.

It can be shared with international courts.

So I think if you're in one of those places, you will be dismayed that now these eyes and ears may not be on the ground anymore.

For example, one which has been unfunded is the monitoring for the Democratic Republic of Congo, where sexual violence has reached terrible, terrible levels.

And women and girls who suffer that now don't really have anyone to turn to to say this happened to me.

This was an emotional video posted to Instagram in which we see one of the most recognisable faces on American television, Savannah Guthrie, flanked by her siblings, and she appears bereft.

She delivers a message to any potential abductor of her mother saying that they need to know that their mother is alive.