42nd session of the Human Rights Council
Item 3
Clustered interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence
(Geneva, September 11, 2019)
Mr. President,
Ukraine would like to thank the Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence for his report.
We share your view that IDPs are also victims in urgent need of attention, and that their needs should be addressed in particular by the adoption of national reparation programmes with the victim-centred approach.
While facing the external armed aggression and its ongoing consequences for more than five years, Ukraine remains strongly committed to comprehensive national policies aimed at addressing social, economic and humanitarian needs of vulnerable groups including IDPs. These objectives are the focus of the national Strategy for Integration of IDPs and for Implementation of Long-term Solutions on Internal Displacement for the Period till 2020.
Well resonating with your report’s recommendations, other reparation programmes as well as a national registry of victims are being elaborated by the Government of Ukraine.
But let me emphasise that it is the Russian armed aggression against Ukraine that continues to cause destruction of national, civil and private infrastructure, spread of criminal activity and grave violations of fundamental human rights in the temporarily occupied Crimea and parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
The Russian Federation as the occupying power bears full responsibility for its illegal activities in violation of international law and shall be held accountable for them, including by making full reparation for the injury caused by its internationally wrongful acts.
I thank you.