Now more than ever, Spain must support the United Nations.

On its 80th anniversary, the United Nations is experiencing a crisis that is not only financial but also moral and political. The lack of payments by numerous member states—including some of the largest contributors—has left the organization in a state of operational collapse. The UN has been forced to reduce its budget, freeze hiring, and cancel essential activities. But the most serious aspect is not the bureaucratic impact: it is the growing vulnerability of millions of people around the world.

These days, Seville hosted the United Nations Conference on Financing for Development , where discussions focused on how to advance the Sustainable Development Goals. There was talk of economic sustainability, environmental sustainability, and so on. But we cannot forget that sustainable development is based on three fundamental pillars: economics, ecology, and human rights. And paradoxically, the latter—the one that gives human meaning to the other two—is the one that receives the least funding. It is also the cheapest to sustain, yet it is the first to fall under the logic of cuts . Defending human rights is not a luxury; it is a basic necessity for any development strategy to be truly fair, sustainable, and inclusive.

Today, the international machinery that safeguards human rights is functioning at half speed. Many of the treaty bodies—such as the Human Rights Committee, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT), and the Committee on the Rights of the Child—are seeing their work seriously compromised. Sessions are being canceled, country evaluations are experiencing years of delays, visits to detention centers to prevent ill-treatment are being suspended, and investigations in war contexts are being abandoned. Thousands of communications are piling up in the Human Rights Committee alone. The lack of resources paralyzes life-saving mechanisms and cripples a system based on the dream of peace and human dignity through the rule of law.

Defending human rights is not a luxury, it is a basic necessity for any development strategy to be truly fair, sustainable and inclusive.

The Committee on the Rights of the Child, for example, has had to cancel entire weeks of work, with the added cost of excluding civil society—and children themselves—from fundamental review processes. Victims of ill-treatment and torture around the world, whose protection requires effective preventive mechanisms—such as visits by the Subcommittee on the Rights of the Child and monitoring compliance with the Convention against Torture—are seeing the already limited guarantees that should safeguard their dignity and integrity disappear. Meanwhile, committees such as CEDAW (the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women) fail to assess respect for women's rights in countries where discrimination and violence are structural. The Human Rights Committee has more than 1,000 pending communications.

Confidence in the universal human rights system could be shattered if this situation is not addressed. The system needs to be strengthened, but the current situation of increasing weakness due to financial issues is going in the opposite direction. States have not denounced the treaties, and the entire system costs 1% of the UN's financial cost. Except for those countries that want a world in which the common language of rights disappears, it is urgent that States put an end to this situation and fulfill their duty to uphold the legacy of human rights.

At the same time, essential protection programs—such as those assisting refugees, women at risk, or children victims of trafficking—are receiving less than 40% of the necessary funding. The result is as simple as it is brutal: millions of people are left without legal assistance, without protection from violence, without access to basic services. And all of this occurs in a global context sadly marked by armed conflicts , migration crises, political repression, and democratic setbacks.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has warned us clearly: “We face real threats to the fabric, values, and sustainability of multilateralism.” If this trend is not reversed, not only will the United Nations' ability to protect human rights be compromised, but also its role as a guarantor of peace and international cooperation. The UN80 initiative , which seeks to modernize and strengthen the system, is a necessary step. But without the political and financial support of Member States, it is an empty promise.

In this context, the King of Spain's message at the opening of the Conference on Financing for Development held in Seville could not have been more timely or clearer. His firm defense of multilateralism as "the only possible way to address global challenges," his recognition that the United Nations system must be "strengthened and protected," and his call to act "with urgency and a sense of responsibility" directly challenge States, including our own.

Since joining the United Nations in 1955, and especially since the 1977 push for a human rights-based foreign policy, Spain has demonstrated a consistent commitment to multilateralism . It has supported fundamental treaties, hosted key summits, and maintained an active Human Rights Office, which channels its relationship with the international system. Spain fulfills its financial obligations to the UN on time, and this must be recognized. But at this critical moment, it is also being asked to go a step further.

As Spanish members of three fundamental bodies of the United Nations human rights protection system, we clearly call on the Government of Spain to strengthen its financial commitment to the United Nations, maintaining its example of compliance and exploring ways to increase its voluntary contributions, especially in support of human rights bodies and humanitarian agencies. This is not just about dues: it's an investment in global stability, justice, and dignity.

Spain has the opportunity to lead. And it has the responsibility not to be complicit, by omission, in the weakening of a system

We also call on Spain, together with other states, to promote a multilateral initiative to guarantee stable and sustainable funding for human rights committees and humanitarian agencies. We should use our presence in international forums—from the Human Rights Council to the G-20—to place the protection of human rights at the center of the global agenda, beyond symbolic declarations.

Spain has the opportunity to lead . And it has the responsibility not to be complicit, through omission, in the weakening of a system that, despite all its limitations, has allowed for real progress in the defense of human dignity. Allowing its collapse would mean renouncing decades of progress, the memory of thousands of victims, and the principles that underpin our foreign policy.

This isn't just about money. It's about humanity . Allowing the system to collapse betrays decades of progress. It leaves the victims out in the cold. It renounces a common future. Faced with this historic crossroads, Spain must make a clear choice: stand on the side of protection, justice, and dignity. With actions, not gestures.