Interactive dialogue with the Independent International

Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine  

(Geneva, 20 March 2023)

Intervention by Ukraine

Mr. President,

We welcome the Commission of Inquiry to the Human Rights Council and thank it for the presentation of the comprehensive report.

Over the year, the direst human rights and humanitarian emergency has been unfolding in Europe because of Russia's unprovoked and unjustified full-scale invasion of Ukraine, launched in blatant violation of the UN Charter and international law.

The international community has decisively condemned what the Commission of Inquiry has confirmed in its report unequivocally: the invasion and attacks by the Russian armed forces, which include regular military units and Wagner mercenaries, against Ukraine’s territory and armed forces qualify as acts of aggression against Ukraine.

The entire world has been witnessing Russia's unspeakable atrocities in Ukraine. One's blood run cold at the news of willful killings, indiscriminate attacks on civilians and civilian objects, unlawful confinement, torture, rape, unlawful transfer and deportation of children.

Dozens of thousands of civilians have been killed, tortured or went missing, millions of people, mostly women and children, were forced to leave their homes to escape the hostilities; millions of people were left homeless, lost their property and means for normal life.

Over these months, the Commission has collected the body of evidence, which show that Russia has committed a wide range of violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law, many of which amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity. 

Ukraine has launched a comprehensive effort with the involvement of all relevant national and international mechanisms and institutions to ensure that there will be no escape from accountability for Russia's crimes in Ukraine.

Arrest warrants for Putin and Russia’s so-called "Commissioner for Children's Rights" Lvova Belova recently issued by the International Criminal Court is the first step towards bringing the world's worst war criminals and their accomplices to justice.  

 Mr. President, 

We look forward to the Commission continuing its important work on investigation of all human rights violations and violations of international humanitarian law in Ukraine and documenting Russian crimes against Ukraine. The evidence collected by the Commission will inevitably become part of the court proceedings, including at a special tribunal, which should be established to prosecute the Russian political and military leadership for the crime of aggression against Ukraine.

We count on the Commission to maintain their focus on the human rights and humanitarian impact of Russia's deleberate, widespread, and systematic attacks on Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure, on the involvement of Belarus in facilitating military attacks on Ukraine, on the unlawful deployment of the Russian military and “Rosatom” illegal presence at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Russia’s continued military attacks on the nuclear facility, posing a risk of a major nuclear accident. With this particular attention should be paid to widespread torture, inhuman treatment and executions, committed by the Russian authorities against civilians and prisoners of war, still in unlawful detention by Russia.

We underline the importance of the Commission's continued assessment of Russia's actions including forced transfer of children to its the territory, their adoptions, granting them Russian citizenship and their indoctrination in Russia’s so-called "reeducation camps". The 1948 Genocide Convention, whose 75th anniversary we are marking this year, makes it clear that forcibly transferring children of the group to another group with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group may constitute a crime of genocide.

We call upon the Council members to support the extention of the Commission's mandate for another year. The relevant draft will be soon uploaded for consideration by the Council, and your support will be of critical importance.

We owe it to the millions of victims in Ukraine, including those who continue to suffer under the Russian occupation. We owe to the millions of people around the globe, who long for peace and justice.

I thank you.