41st session of the UN Human Rights Council
Agenda item 4 General debates
Intervention by the Permanent Representative of Ukraine,
Ambassador Mr. Yurii Klymenko
(3 July 2019)
Mr. President,
Among the states, where the human rights situation causes great concern, I dwell on the Russian Federation, which continues to violate human rights on its own soil and in the territories of other states.
According to the latest OHCHR report, “the situation in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, Ukraine, temporarily occupied by the Russian Federation, continued to be characterised by human rights and international humanitarian law violations committed by the Russian Federation as the occupying Power on the peninsula”.
In the occupied territories in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine, Russia illegally imposes its citizenship on the local population, thus violating the norms of international law and sovereignty of Ukraine.
The Russian Federation does not genuinely care at all about people’s real needs, in particular linguistic or humanitarian ones. It cares exclusively about expanding its territory and areas of influence, about maintaining and consolidating various forms of its presence there. Its efforts at changing the demographic structure of the populationis part and parcel of the overall Russia’s policy in the occupied territories.
Russia continues to ignore the orders of International Court of Justice and International Tribunal of the Law of the Sea. Instead of unconditionally executing the ITLOS’ order to immediately release 24 Ukrainian sailors, Russia cynically demands from Ukraine to guarantee the continuation of their phony criminal prosecution, continuing to deny the core principle of customary international and maritime law on the immunity of warships.
We insist on immediate implementation by Russia of the aforementioned ITLOS’ order as well as of the ICJ order of April 2017 requiring torefrain from maintaining or imposing limitations on the ability of the Crimean Tatar community to conserve its representative institutions, including the Mejlis and to ensure the availability of education in Ukrainian language.
The Russian Federation has now become ill-famed for its disregard of international law, bilateral and multilateral treaties, which it is a party to. Thus, it is necessary to maintain and strengthen the politico-diplomatic pressure on the Russian Federation to make it respecthuman rights, its obligations under international law and international humanitarian law.
I thank you.