Opening remarks of H.E. Mr. Sergiy Kyslytsya,
Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the UN
at the Ukrainian Human Rights Defenders’ Briefing on the topic:
Addressing the human rights situation in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine
15 November 2024 11:30 – 13:00, UNHQ CR-8
Distinguished delegates, dear colleagues,
First, allow me to express my gratitude to the co-organizers of this timely and crucial event: the delegations of Lithuania, Norway, Costa Rica, and Canada. This important briefing would not be possible without your commitment.
Special thanks also go to our esteemed speakers—Olga, Mariia, Kateryna, and Sabina—who have journeyed from war-torn Ukraine to shed light on the grave human rights situation in Ukraine’s temporarily occupied territories.
Next week, the world will reach a somber milestone—1,000 days since the Russian Federation launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. That’s 1,000 days of enormous devastation, death, and suffering inflicted upon the Ukrainian people.
Yet, we must remember that Russia’s aggression against Ukraine has been ongoing for more than a decade. It began in February 2014 with the occupation of Crimea and subsequently spread to the Donbas region.
For the past ten years, Ukrainian territories under Russian occupation have turned into a vast GULAG—a notorious Soviet prison system infamous for its horrors. This lawlessness and brutal repression have only intensified manifold since the full-scale invasion in February 2022. Today, numerous reports from the UN and other international monitors unequivocally confirm that Russian forces and occupation authorities are committing heinous war crimes and crimes against humanity. These include deliberate killings, brutal torture, sexual and gender-based violence, and the inhumane treatment of both civilian detainees and prisoners of war in Russian captivity.
Recently, it was confirmed that Ukrainian journalist Victoria Roshchyna, aged 27, died after enduring 15 months of suffering in Russian captivity. She disappeared during a reporting trip to a Russian-occupied area in August last year. As of early 2024, at least 17 Ukrainian journalists remain imprisoned in Russian jails, including Vladyslav Yesypenko, Iryna Danylovych, Serhiy Tsyhypa, and Dmitry Khilyuk. Everyone who dares to convey the truth about Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine to the world faces grave risks in the Russian-occupied territories.
Therefore, it has been—and remains—more essential than ever to ensure comprehensive, objective, and credible monitoring of the human rights situation in these territories by the Secretary-General and the Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine. To this end, since 2016, Ukraine has introduced annual resolutions aimed at protecting the rights of Ukrainians forced to live under Russian occupation. These efforts are critical not only to safeguard and secure the release of tens of thousands of Ukrainians held in Russian captivity—including POWs, civilians, political prisoners, men, and women—but also to ensure the return of thousands of forcibly deported children, including orphans and those deprived of parental care.
This year, the Ukrainian delegation has submitted an updated draft resolution titled "Situation of human rights in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, including the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol." To date, 45 Member States have co-sponsored this draft resolution, and we urge all present today who have not yet done so to join as co-sponsors and to support the text in the Third Committee on November 20th. Doing so will send a strong, unequivocal message to the aggressor state and occupying power: the international community is closely monitoring the situation and will not tolerate its crimes and atrocities.
I am confident that our speakers, who have worked in human rights advocacy since the onset of Russia's aggression in 2014, will provide further insight into the crimes committed by the Russian Federation in Ukraine’s temporarily occupied territories.
Thank you!