27th session of the UN Human Rights Council
Agenda items 2 & 3
General debates
(September 15, 2014)
Mr. President,
First of all, we would like to thank the OHCHR and the Secretary General for the thematic reports under items 2 and 3, in particular, on the question of the death penalty, which now, unfortunately, becomes topical issue for Ukraine.
I mean executions of people convicted to death by so-called “military tribunals” of the illegal terrorist groups, actively supported by the Russian Federation, in the south-eastern part of my country. Such executions were clearly documented by the OHCHR Monitoring Mission in Ukraine.
While welcoming the Office attention to the protection of children’s rights, we cannot omit referring to the flagrant violations by the illegal armed groups of the rights of children, especially orphans and institutionalized children in Donetsk and Luhansk regions. These facts have been repeatedly recorded in the reports of the UN Monitoring Mission in Ukraine.
In this regard we cannot but mention provocative and misleading statements of Russia’s children's rights ombudsman Pavel Astakhov, which for the past few months have been cynically misinforming the public about the situation of children in the southeast of Ukraine, in order to disguise the unlawful activities of the mentioned illegal armed groups.
Recognizing important role played by civil society in protection and promotion of human rights, my delegation is particularly concerned over the drastically shrinking civil society space in occupied Crimea.
Ukraine strongly condemns yesterday’s so-called “Gossoviet elections” illegitimately conducted by the Russian Federation in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol which were, are and will remain an integral part of Ukraine. We call on the international community to condemn these so-called “elections” which are void and carry no consequences for the current status of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city Sevastopol within the internationally recognized borders of Ukraine.
I thank you.