52nd session of the UN Human Rights Council
Interactive Dialogue on situation in Ukraine
Intervention by the delegation of Ukraine
Thank you, Mr. President,
We wish to thank the High Commissioner for his oral update which together with reports provide a disturbing picture of the dire and continuous deterioration of human rights situation in my country.
The Council has received on numerous occasions’ undeniable evidence that the only root cause of the human rights violations of Ukrainian people since 2014 has been a “mother of all crimes” – an unjustified and unprovoked Russian aggression against Ukraine. Aggression that has been unequivocally condemned by the UN General Assembly, the Human Rights Council and many other international organizations. This is exactly the supreme international crime that has led to other atrocity crimes such as war crimes, crimes against humanity. Many of these crimes having explicit signs of genocide. Ukraine will continue to pursue efforts towards the establishment of a special tribunal to prosecute Russian political and military leadership for the crime of aggression.
For the second year, Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine continues to inflict on my country and its population unconscionable violence and destruction and unspeakable human suffering.
Russia’s persisting heinous attacks against residential buildings, schools and medical facilities, critical infrastructure, deliberate targeting of civilians or civilian objects, willful killings, torture, rape, unlawful transfers and deportations have become a hallmark of Russia’s terror against Ukraine.
Russian brutality in its most barbaric forms is manifested in the inhumane treatment of the Ukrainian prisoners of war, who are subjected to torture and execution through violent beatings, electrocution, strangulation, sexual violence or torture by fire.
Mr. President,
No child shall ever live through the horrors, as those inflicted on the Ukrainian children by the Russian occupiers. We believe that arrest warrants issued by the ICC for putin and lvova-belova for the unlawful deportation and transfer of Ukrainian children from occupied territories of Ukraine to the Russia is an important legal step towards holding aggressor state to account for the most serious international crimes committed against Ukraine and bringing justice for the victims.
The territories of Ukraine temporarily occupied by Russia, including certain areas of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia region and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, without international access, remain black holes, where people are completely deprived of their basic rights and freedoms and are subject to persecution for their resistance to the foreign occupation.
High Commissioner,
We have taken note of the information on the alleged violations from the Ukrainian side and of the recommendations in the reports which will be closely examined with a view to take necessary actions in line with national legislation and international obligations of Ukraine.
Even in the face of aggression Ukraine remains committed to its obligations under international humanitarian law and human rights law and looks forward to continuing open and constructive cooperation with international human rights and humanitarian mechanisms.
Distinguished delegates,
The scope of documented Russia’s atrocities in Ukraine is unfortunately just a tip of the iceberg of russia’s war crimes. As acknowledged in the reports, the established international human rights and humanitarian mechanisms continue to be denied access to Russian-occupied territory of Ukraine, which prevents them from assessing the real scale of Russia’s atrocities and providing a comprehensive account of violations.
We reiterate our demand for Russia to provide full and unimpeded access to the Ukrainian territories under its temporary military control for the existing human rights and humanitarian mechanisms so that they could implement their monitoring and investigating mandates.
Today the only way to halt Russia’s crimes against the people in Ukraine and to save many human lives is for Ukraine to exercise its legal and moral right for self-defense under the UN Charter, with the support of the international community, and to ensure aggressor’s defeat. We will also leave no stone unturned in our pursuit of accountability and justice. And it will be achieved it in the name of millions of victims of the Russian aggression and in the name of human rights.
I thank you.