Activities in the UN

In 1945, Ukraine became one of the founding members of the United Nations. The Delegation of Ukraine took an active part in San Francisco conference and made a significant contribution to the development of the Charter of the United Nations (in particular, it coordinated the process of preparation of the Preamble and the Purposes and Principles of the United Nations).

One of the testimonies of the high regard for our state at the United Nations is its numerous election to the UN Security Council – the main organ with primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security (1948-1949, 1984-1985, 2000-2001, 2016-2017). The UN Secretary-Generals paid 9 visits to Ukraine: U Thant (1962), Kurt Waldheim (1981), Javier Perez de Cuellar (1987), Boutros Boutros-Ghali (1993), Kofi Annan (2002), Ban Ki-moon (2011, 2014, 2015) and António Guterres (2017).

Ukraine attaches significant importance to the strengthening of the UN as a center of multilateral efforts aimed at tackling difficult and complex challenges. Ukraine proceeds from the necessity of implementing the Sustainable Development Agenda 2030, taking forward comprehensive reform of the UN, strengthening the effectiveness of its activities, updating the UN Security Council, strengthening the role of the UN General Assembly.

Despite the ongoing aggression of the Russian Federation, Ukraine pays particular attention to the activities of the United Nations in support of international peace and security, considering it as an important factor of its foreign policy. Since 1992, Ukraine has been an active contributor of personnel and equipment to the UN peacekeeping operations.

Ukraine actively participates in the activity of the principal organs of the United Nations: General Assembly, Security Council, Economic and Social Council, Human Rights Council, etc.

Ukraine’s main priority at the UN Security Council in 2016-2017 was informing the members of the Council and the international community about all attempts of the Russian side to aggravate the situation in the temporarily occupied Crimea and eastern Ukraine. Since 2014, the UN Security Council has conducted over 40 meetings on the issue of Russian aggression against Ukraine, which showcased the isolation of the Russian Federation at the UN.

On February 13, 2017 at the Ukraine’s initiative the UN Security Council unanimously adopted the first ever resolution (2341) aimed at protection of critical infrastructure from terrorist attacks.

Ukraine supports the strengthening of the role of the UN General Assembly as the most representative UN political body. In 1997, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Hennadiy Udovenko was elected President of the 52^nd session of the General Assembly. This session, which came to be known as the «reform session», adopted the comprehensive program of reform of the Organization proposed by Secretary-General K.Annan and provided a powerful impetus to a large-scale UN reform. In June 2018 Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the United Nations Volodymyr Yelchenko was elected Vice-President of the 73^rd session of the UN General Assembly.

Amid the ongoing aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, adoption by the UN General Assembly of resolutions 68/262 «Territorial integrity of Ukraine» (27.03.2014), 71/205, 72/190, 73/263, 74/168 and 75/192 «Situation of human rights in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, Ukraine» (19.12.2016, 19.12.2017, 22.12.2018, 18.12.2019), as well as 73/194, 74/17 and 75/29 «Problem of militarization of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, Ukraine, as well as parts of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov» (17.12.2018, 9.12.2019 and 7.12.2020) is instrumental in political and legal terms.

Ukraine is an active participant in the work of the UN human rights system organs, main UN human rights instruments, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, its optional protocols and International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

In March 2014 upon the invitation of our state the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission, which monitors the human rights consequences of the Russian aggression, was deployed in Ukraine.

As an active advocate of gender equality, empowerment of women, overcoming gender stereotypes, Ukraine participates in UN deliberations on these issues, including in the Security Council debates on women, peace, security, implements the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination, in particular by carrying out national programs and projects.

Ukraine is actively engaged in international cooperation on sustainable development aimed at comprehensively addressing the challenges of environmental protection, social development, and economic growth at global, regional, and national levels. Delegations of Ukraine at the presidential level have participated in high-level meetings to review the progress in the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and the Sustainable Development Goals.

Our country receives significant technical, advisory, and financial assistance from UN specialized agencies, its funds and programs. This assistance focuses on democratic governance, poverty reduction, achievement of the national Sustainable Development Goals, support of public administration, fight against HIV/AIDS and other diseases, environmental protection.

In the framework of cooperation with the United Nations system Ukraine has been provided with assistance of more than US$ 200 million to implement more than 300 projects in the areas of human rights protection, social assistance, development of civil society, environmental protection and nuclear energy. In 2019, the United Nations portfolio of such assistance included 12 projects with an estimated cost of US$ 46 million.

This assistance is channelled through Ukraine-UN Partnership Framework 2018-2022. This includes projects involving all UN agencies in Ukraine, with priority being 1) sustainable economic growth, environment and employment; 2) equal access to quality and inclusive services and social protection; 3) democratic governance, the rule of law; 4) citizens' security, social cohesion, and recovery, with particular emphasis on the east of Ukraine. The budget of the Partnership Framework is US$ 667 million, which also envisages mobilization of additional resources.

In response to the devastating humanitarian consequences of Russian aggression against Ukraine and the activities of illegal armed groups in the east of our country, cooperation between Ukraine and the United Nations in the humanitarian field has increased exponentially. Humanitarian assistance is provided by UN bodies responsible for operational activities (UNHCR, OCHA, UNDP, WHO, UNFPA, UNICEF and other relevant bodies).

Since April 2014 organizations of the United Nations system have been implementing annually Humanitarian Response Plans in Ukraine, prepared in coordination with the Government of Ukraine. Here, the United Nations has mobilized over US$ 0.5 billion for the delivery of humanitarian assistance to the population of Ukraine. The Humanitarian Response Plan for 2020 envisages humanitarian assistance for 2 million people, which requires donor funding of US$ 158 million to implement projects focused on the humanitarian situation in the temporarily occupied territories and along the contact line.

To overcome the COVID-19 pandemic, the Government of Ukraine and the UN agencies have prepared a Humanitarian Response Plan to the COVID-19 pandemic in Ukraine amounting US$ 165 million in 2020. It is anticipated that 51% of the funding under this plan will focus on strengthening the capacity of the health care system and supporting health care facilities. Other funds will be used to tackle the negative impacts of the pandemic in the social and economic spheres. This includes an amount of US$ 34 million for covering all necessary humanitarian areas to counter the spread of COVID-19 coronavirus in the east of Ukraine.

The electoral activity of our state in the UN is intensive. In addition to the UN Security Council and various posts in the General Assembly, Ukraine was elected seven times as a member of the United Nations Economic and Social Council and three times as a member of the UN Human Rights Council (also nominated for 2021-2023). In 2011, the Permanent Representative of Ukraine served as the Vice-Chair of the UN Peacebuilding Commission during our membership in the PBC in 2011-2012. In 2020, the Permanent Representative of Ukraine elected as the Vice-President of the ECOSOC for the term 2020-2021.

Today Ukraine is a member of such UN bodies as the Economic and Social Council (2019-2021), the Human Rights Council (2018-2020, re-elected for 2021-2023), the Commission on Social Development (2020-2023), the Commission on Population and Development (2021-2024), the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (2016-2021), the Committee on Conferences (2019-2021), the Bureau of the Committee on Information (2019-2021), the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (2020-2023), the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL, 2019-2025), the Executive Board of UNDP/UNFPA/UNOPS (2019-2021), the Executive Council of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (2019-2020), the International Tribunal of the Law of the Sea (2011-2020).