38^th session of the UN Human Rights Council

Agenda item 10

General debates

Intervention by Permanent Representative of Ukraine

(5 July 2018)

Mr. President,

Let me reiterate Ukraine’s appreciation to the Office of the High Commissioner for providing technical assistance at the country level. The commitment of OHCHR to delivering much needed help to states with due regard for their individual needs in the human rights area are essential for improvement of human rights situations in these countries as well as on a global scale.  

In 2014, the Government of Ukraine has initiated a deployment of OHCHR Human Rights Monitoring Mission in our country. Since then, the Mission has prepared numerous reports, which have contributed significantly to improvement of Ukraine’s human rights policy implementation. 

It is critical, however, that the monitoring by the Mission and other international human rights mechanisms is extended to the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, including the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, where people face blatant violations of human rights by the power exercising effective control over these territories – the Russian Federation.

This view is shared by the international community, as evidenced by two UN General Assembly resolutions on human rights situation in Crimea. The latest of these resolutions, 72/190, reaffirms General Assembly’s “grave concern that the human rights monitoring mission in Ukraine continues to be denied access to Crimea”.

Russia’s policy of non-cooperation with human rights monitoring mechanisms extends beyond Ukraine to other states, whose territories Russia occupies. Therefore, we appreciate the High Commissioner’s update on cooperation with Georgia which, echoing last year’s report on the subject, pays specific attention to the lack of access to Abkhazia and South Ossetia. We share the conclusion that this raises legitimate concerns about the grave human right situation of people living there.

Moreover, such a lack of access represents a severe impediment to the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals and to building peaceful and inclusive societies, without leaving no one behind. We urge Russia to cooperate fully with international monitoring mechanisms by granting them unrestricted access to Crimea and other territories under its effective control as the occupying power.

Thank you.