The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine notes the principled and important role of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine in documenting and publicizing evidence of widespread and systematic human rights violations committed by the Russian Federation in the course of its ongoing armed aggression against Ukraine.

The thematic report published on 20 March, “Forced Displacement from Territory of Ukraine Occupied by the Russian Federation: Forcible Transfer and Deportation, Barriers to Return, and the Rights of Internally Displaced Persons”, constitutes further significant evidence of the systemic nature of the Russian Federation’s violations of international law and human rights.

The report clearly documents egregious and systematic violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law committed by the Russian Federation in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.

The facts contained in the document underscore a deliberate state policy of the Russian Federation aimed at the forced transfer and deportation of the civilian population, the imposition of Russian citizenship under the threat of restrictions on fundamental rights, unlawful mobilization, as well as the systematic suppression of Ukrainian identity through restrictions on access to education, the displacement of the Ukrainian language and culture, and persecution on religious grounds.

Ukraine reaffirms its readiness to continue cooperation with the United Nations with a view to protecting human rights, ensuring the return of unlawfully displaced persons, and securing the release of detained civilians and prisoners of war.

We call on the international community to take decisive and coordinated action to increase pressure on the Russian Federation to immediately cease its armed aggression, de-occupy all territories of Ukraine, ensure the inevitability of accountability of the aggressor state, and restore justice for all victims.

The state authorities of Ukraine will continue to carefully consider the recommendations of the Monitoring Mission with a view to ensuring full compliance with international human rights obligations.