The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine welcomes the adoption on July 8 by the Annual Summer Session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (PA) of the final document – the Hague Declaration of the Assembly, which includes a resolution initiated by the Permanent Delegation of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to the OSCE PA “Crimes against humanity and war crimes committed by the Russian Federation: the need to release prisoners of war and civilian detainees and to ensure the return of Ukrainian children”.

In his video address to OSCE PA participants at the opening of the forum’s session, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on the international community to increase pressure on Russia, particularly in light of the Russian Federation’s massive missile attacks against Ukrainian civilians. The head of state addressed parliamentarians from OSCE PA member states and emphasized Ukraine’s need to strengthen its air defense, he called on the OSCE parliamentary community not to ease sanctions pressure against the aggressor state, to combat Russia’s “shadow fleet”, and to make efforts to secure the return of prisoners of war, civilian hostages, including three representatives of the OSCE SMM, and abducted Ukrainian children from Russian captivity.

In the Hague Declaration, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly once again calls on the Russian Federation to immediately, completely, and unconditionally cease its war of aggression against Ukraine, to withdraw all its forces and military personnel from the entire territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders, to immediately release the three detained OSCE staff members — Vadym Golda, Maksym Petrov, and Dmytro Shabanov — and to refrain from any further threats or use of force against Ukraine or any other OSCE participating State. The Assembly reaffirms its unwavering support for the freedom, sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity of Ukraine and calls on OSCE participating States to maintain and increase political, financial, military, humanitarian, and reconstruction assistance to Ukraine.

In the resolution “Crimes against humanity and war crimes committed by the Russian Federation: the need to release prisoners of war and detained civilians and ensure the return of Ukrainian children”, the OSCE PA, among other things, calls on OSCE participating States to:

• increase economic, political and diplomatic pressure on the Russian Federation, Belarus and other States that support the Russian Federation’s armed aggression against Ukraine, in order to deepen the isolation of the aggressor State and to counteract the circumvention of sanctions, in particular through the application of secondary sanctions; condemn the Russian Federation’s demands for territorial concessions; provide humanitarian assistance to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure in Ukraine and to restore damaged Ukrainian energy facilities;

• ensure co-operation with the International Criminal Court and the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine, including by transferring evidence, facilitating the execution of arrest warrants and providing adequate funding to these judicial institutions so that they can fulfil their important mandate of ensuring justice for all victims of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and the crime of aggression; demand that the Russian Federation release all Ukrainian citizens, including prisoners of war, internees, illegally detained civilians, forcibly displaced persons and deportees, including children;

A new important element of the resolution is a call on the Republic of Belarus to stop supporting the Russian Federation’s armed aggression against Ukraine, including military support and the deployment of foreign military troops for this purpose; abide by international law and its commitments under the Helsinki Final Act and the Charter of Paris for a New Europe, and to stop the persecution of national activists, journalists, young people engaged in pro-democracy activities and human rights defenders.

The Hague Declaration contains a number of resolutions initiated by parliamentary delegations of other Assembly member states, which highlight priority issues for our state in countering the ongoing Russian aggression and demonstrate the demonstration of solidarity of the parliaments of the OSCE region.

The adoption of the Hague Declaration once again reaffirmed the international community’s unity in condemning Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and demonstrated strong political support for Ukraine, as well as the determination of members of parliaments in the OSCE region to keep Russia internationally isolated, until the armed aggression against Ukraine ceases, the occupying forces are withdrawn from Ukrainian territory within its internationally recognized borders, including the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, and those responsible are held accountable in accordance with international law.

This year’s OSCE PA Final Declaration was symbolically adopted in The Hague, home to international legal and judicial institutions. Ukraine is confident that international law will prevail over the illegal right of force in today’s democratic world.

For reference: the full text of the OSCE PA Hague Declaration is available at the link.