26th session of the UN Human Rights Council
Agenda item 2-3
General Debates
Statement by the Permanent Representative of Ukraine
Ambassador Yurii Klymenko
June 19, 2014
Mr. President,
At the outset I would like to thank the High Commissioner and her dedicated Office for the thematic reports under items 2 and 3 and, particularly, for timely and open-minded response to the situation in my country.
The UN Monitoring Mission monthly reports provide objective information on the alarming developments in the East of Ukraine and ongoing deterioration of the human rights situation in the occupied Crimea where recently new disappearances of pro-Ukrainian activists on the backdrop of violence escalation against the civilian population were reported.
Besides, on June 12, unknown have attacked Chukurcha-Jami mosque in Simferopol (Crimea, Ukraine), drawing Nazi swastikas before setting the mosque on fire thus impeding enjoyment by the religious minorities of their right to freedom of religion or belief. I hope that the international monitors would pay in their reports due attention to this flagrant violation.
Welcoming efforts by the OHCHR aimed at protecting rights of the child, I cannot but mention the egregious case of smuggling to the Russian Federation of 25 Ukrainian orphans kidnapped by terrorists from the town of Snizhne in Donetsk region of Ukraine last week.
The Government of Ukraine has immediately filed a lawsuit at the European Court of Human Rights against the Russian Federation that violated not only the Convention on the Rights of the Child, but also a number of agreements on the movement of people across the border.
Fortunately, children were finally returned to Ukraine thanks to the intervention of the international community, but we can only guess what kind of irreparable trauma was caused to these already vulnerable minors.
Thank you, Mr. President.