42ndsession of the UN Human Rights Council
Agenda item2
General debate on High Commissioner’s oral update
Intervention by Permanent Representative of Ukraine
Ambassador Yurii Klymenko
September 10, 2019
Mr. President,
Madame High Commissioner,
We appreciate the work done by the High Commissioner during the first year in the Office and support her activities to strengthen OHCHR.
We welcome the Office’s commitment to maintain prevention on the human rights agenda. This session Ukraine, together with a core group, initiates an updated resolution “The role of prevention in promotion and protection of human rights” and hopes it will receive broad support.
Ukraine shares concern of the High Commissioner on extensive arrests and police action in the Russian Federation last Sunday in connection with local elections. We also express our resolute protest in connection with holding such elections to the Russian occupation administrations in the temporarily occupied Crimea. These territories are temporarily occupied and their legal regime is governed by international humanitarian law. Results of this illegal voting are null and void, and they will have no legal consequences.
Other facts of grave human rights violations committed by the Russian Federation in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine have been reflected in the report of the UN Secretary General on the situation of human rights in Crimea submitted to the 74th UNGA session, as well as in a number of reports of the Office of High Commissioner. We insist on safe and unhindered access of established international human rights monitoring mechanisms to Crimea in line with international law and urge Russia to ensure such access immediately. We are looking forward to the next Interactive Dialogue on Ukraine on September 24, where the 27th quarterly report of the OHCHR will be discussed. We invite delegations to take part in it.
Last but not least. The recent release of Oleg Sentsov, Oleksandr Kolchenko, Volodymyr Balukh, Roman Sushchenko, Stanislav Klykh and 30 other Kremlin hostages, including 24 sailors, should remind us about others – those still illegally detained in the Russian Federation and in Russia-occupied territories of Donbas and Crimea. We strongly count on solidarity of our international partners in this matter, as well as on steadfast commitment and action of the OHCHR, ICRC and other international organisations.
Thank you.