HRC Interactive Dialogue on Ukraine

Intervention by the delegation of Ukraine 

December 15, 2022

Mr. President,

We are grateful to the High Commissioner Volker Turk for the heartbreaking  account, following his recent visit to Ukraine, and for the report of his Office on the situation in our country. The presented assessments once again point to the dramatic human rights ramifications caused by the unprovoked and unjustified russian aggression against the Ukrainian people.

Ten months in a row the Ukrainians has been suffering from gross violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, committed by russia, which have been clearly qualified by the international human rights and humanitarian mechanisms as war crimes and crimes against humanity.  

Thousands of prisoners of war and civilians continue to be forcibly detained being subject to inhumane treatment. Russian occupation authorities prevent UN officials from visiting Ukrainian prisoners of war, while the UN has documented instances of torture, poor treatment, lack of food, water, healthcare, and sanitation in the sites in which they are held, as well as absence of contacts with their families.

Nearly three million people and more than 12,000 children have been forcibly displaced to russia. Around 16,000 missile strikes have been launched, 97% of which on civilian targets. And on the edge of winter, in revenge for its military losses on the ground, russia also started to use the cold as a weapon of mass destruction deliberately targeting the Ukrainian energy infrastructure.

Shelling, torture, deportations, filtration camps – such words have become a daily unbearable reality to every Ukrainian. And while the pain of a loss of a newborn boy in the russian shelling and the picture of a sick girl coming to the gas station to recharge her respiratory apparatus leave the world speechless, the russian officials openly state that Ukraine must fulfil Kremlin’s demands, otherwise civilians will continue suffering.

Mr. President,

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a war against human rights in my country and everywhere in the world. Against the right to food for millions of people, which would suffer the most from the russian hunger games.

 90 years ago, the Ukrainians experienced the Stalin’s man-made famine, the Holodomor, which killed over 4 million innocent people. As we remember the victims and call for a worldwide recognition of this crime as a genocide against the Ukrainian people, we will not allow such a tragedy to happen again with other nations.

We must rise to defend the most vulnerable countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia from hunger, the russian another weapon of war, and call for the support or our humanitarian initiative “Grain from Ukraine”, which provides for the export of Ukrainian grain to the countries in need.      

Mr. President,

The international community should not lose sight of the situation in Crimea, where for the eight long years under the Russian occupation the residents of the Ukrainian peninsula, including Crimean Tatars, have been subjected to intimidation, arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances, disruption of family unity, forcible recruitment into the Russian army, denial of the right to peaceful assembly, freedom of expression and freedom of religion. The First Crimea Platform Parliamentary Summit, held on 25 October in Zagreb, Croatia, sent a clear message of condemnation of the ongoing serious and systemic human rights violations and abuses on the peninsula as well as of consolidation of interparliamentary efforts aimed at de-occupation of Ukraine’s Crimea.

Today the UN General Assembly will consider the updated resolution “Situation of human rights in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, Ukraine”, which is based upon the extensive findings and recommendations of the Secretary-General, contained in his two Reports on the matter A/HRC/50/65 and A/77/220 and refers to the ongoing Russian unprovoked aggression against Ukraine.

We count on a broad international support of the draft and call on Member State to vote in favour.

What russia started in Crimea in 2014 and its full-scale war against Ukraine today are a part of one chain of events that have been characterized by complete disregard for human rights and fundamental freedoms. All the violations committed by russia in Ukraine threaten the proper functioning of the international human rights system. We are convinced that this can only be averted by joint efforts to strengthen the ability of the international human rights machinery to respond, prevent and punish such crimes more effectively.

In this regard, we  urge every state to support the establishment of a Special Tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine in order to bring the Russian political and military leadership to account.

Today, Ukraine is at the forefront of protecting human rights as we are fighting for the opportunity to build a state where the rights of each and every individual are protected. Ukraine’s determination to ensure protection of human rights and accountability was  firmly affirmed during the conference “UA: Human Rights in Dark Times” held on 9 December in the underground metro station in Kyiv, and by the recent creation of the human rights information headquarters at the President’s Office. 

 We continue to be committed to working with all international human rights  monitoring mechanisms to investigate all allegations of violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law and bring perpetrators to justice.

 Mr. President,

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has recently presented a Peace Formula, a ten points’ plan, which includes important human rights elements, such as food and energy security, release of all prisoners of war and return of deportees, restoration of justice, and we appeal for the international support in its implementation.

As a first step, President Zelenskyy urges Russia to start the withdrawal of its troops from the internationally recognized territory of Ukraine this Christmas. Russia’s response will reveal what the Kremlin really wants – peace or war.

I thank you.