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Statement by the delegation of Ukraine at the UNGA meeting on agenda item 26 “Report of the Security Council” (25 June 2024)

Mr. President,

The delegation of Ukraine would like to thank you for convening this meeting to discuss the report of the Security Council on its activities in 2023.

We also thank Ambassador Hwang for presenting the Report to the UN General Assembly. I would like to avail this opportunity to commend him for an excellent job that the Republic of Korea is doing so far in steering the Council’s work in June.

I would also like to particularly commend the President of the General Assembly and the UK Mission for their efforts to engage the wider membership ahead of drafting this document. The informal consultation, convened in January, provided the Member States with an ample opportunity to share their views and concerns about the Security Council’s activities, worth of being reflected in the Report.

As well as many Member States, Ukraine remains convinced that such reports have to be elevated from compendiums of mostly technical information to analytical documents, applicable in our efforts to restore the efficacy of the Council.

We note therefore that the current Report recognizes in its paragraph 6 that “many Member States expressed concern that the Security Council failed to fully utilize the powers granted to it under the Charter of the United Nations for the maintenance of international peace and security.” Recognition of the problem is a step in the right direction.

It is, however, important also to recall a root cause of this failure, notably a presence of the country carrying out an armed aggression against a sovereign peace-loving country and recognized by the UN General Assembly as an aggressor, in the Council’s permanent seat.

The acuteness of this problem appears even more relevant following the most recent developments. Yesterday, the International Criminal Court issued warrants of arrest for former Russian Defence Minister Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Army Gerasimov, in the context of the situation in Ukraine for alleged international crimes committed. Both have joined their Supreme Commander-in-Chief, Putin, who has held the same status on the warrant of arrest list as a suspect in war crimes since March 2023.

Today, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights made public its judgement in the case of Ukraine v. Russia regarding Crimea, recognizing numerous crimes, committed by Russia since the temporary occupation of Crimea in February 2014, including abduction and enforced disappearance, unlawful detention, torture and ill-treatment of political prisoners, violations of freedom of expression, freedom of religion and freedom of peaceful assembly, deprivation of property.

It is therefore a matter of deep regret that the country, whose political and military leadership are under arrest warrants, will sit at the head of the table in the Council’s Chamber in July.

However, this shameful situation does not change the fact that serving justice is imminent. The sooner the Russian aggression and war crimes are ended, and justice is served, the faster the Security Council can restore its efficacy in fulfilling its primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security.

Mr.President,

The above issue serves as a clear example of misuse and manipulation of the Council’s toolbox by the aggressor in an attempt to divert attention, distort realities and induce fatigue among Council’s members regarding the issue of aggression.

We observed different destructive practices in this regard, in particular

-        spamming the agenda with questions that could hardly align with the Council’s mandate, in particular on theological differences between different orthodox denominations in Ukraine;

-        retaliating against meetings under agenda item “Maintenance of peace and security of Ukraine” by requesting the next day or a couple of days later another Ukraine-related meeting;

-        blocking the Presidencies’ monthly programmes if the draft contained meetings under agenda item “Maintenance of peace and security of Ukraine”.

All of the above practices lead to further discreditation of the Council, undermining its integrity.

Ukraine believes that, in order to make annual reports a useful tool to safeguard the credibility of the Council, the above problems have to be openly identified in its text.

It is also important to use a proper language to this end. We reiterate that the term “conflict in Ukraine”, used in the Report, is not an appropriate option. This conflict involves two parties, and one of these parties has been recognized by the UNGA resolutions as an aggressor and instigator of this conflict. We do not consider that hiding this role by using improper terms would contribute to the credibility of the document.

We encourage Council members to keep exploring new ways to further improve preparation of annual reports to the UN General Assembly, as well as to upgrade its overall working methods.

Thank you.