44th session of the Human Rights Council
Item 3
Interactive dialogue with the Special Representative of
the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict
Intervention by Ukraine
(Geneva, July 3, 2020)
Madam President,
We welcome the Special Representative and take note of her report.
Last November Ukraine endorsed the Safe Schools Declaration – a valuable tool to ensure protection of children from effects of international armed conflict. We call upon Russia to do the same thing.
For the six consecutive years Ukrainian children in Donbas have been suffering from the Russian aggression that started in February 2014 from the occupation of Crimea. More than 750 educational facilities have been damaged or destroyed. There have been nine attacks on schools in 2020. Landmines and explosive remnants of war are other scars of the aggression.
According to the HRMMU, UNICEF and other organizations concerned, nearly 150 children lost their lives, hundreds of thousands of them are in need of humanitarian and psychological assistance. About 200 Crimean children (mostly Crimean Tatars) are left without parental care due to the politically motivated imprisonment of their fathers. As we have repeatedly stressed, the violation by Russia of the ceasefire poses danger for children living along the “contact line” in Donbas.
The COVID-19 pandemic posed yet another threat to those children since, under the pretext of quarantine measures, the Russian armed forces and its proxies have impeded delivery of humanitarian assistance to the civilians.
We share the concerns expressed in the report as to the scale and severity of violations committed against children, and the call to take all available measures to prevent those from occurring.
Indeed, ensuring accountability of the perpetrators serves as an effective prevention tool.
Alas, in the report before us, yet again, there is no mentioning of the situation of children suffering from the Russian aggression in Ukraine, which can hardly contribute to ensuring accountability. Ukraine calls upon Russia to uphold its obligations under IHL and human rights law both in occupied Crimea and Donbas.
I thank you.