Statement by the Delegation of Ukraine under agenda item 36 “Protracted conflicts in the GUAM area and their implications for international peace, security and development”

Statement by the Delegation of Ukraine under agenda item 36 “Protracted conflicts in the GUAM area and their implications for international peace, security and development”

Mr. President,

We indeed walking in circles, same circles that the russian delegate mentioned but those are circles of blood and impunity.

Impunity that still with us because people including some of them in this Assembly continue to be with fill of apathy. Apathy to what’s going on in our region and this procrastinate the impunity and bloodshed. Today’s agenda item is entitled “Protracted conflicts in the GUAM area and their implications for international peace, security and development”.

GUAM is an organization for democracy and economic development of four countries: Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and the Republic of Moldova. And precisely the GUAM member-countries continue to be the most affected in Europe by conflicts, violating their sovereignty and territorial integrity, constraining their freedom and democracy, hampering their development and the livelihoods of their people.

In August 2008 the territorial integrity of Georgia was violated by russia’s full-scale military aggression and occupation of the Georgian regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali/South Ossetia. After 14 years the beginning of its aggression and occupation of the Georgian territories, the russian federation still refuses to implement the European Union-mediated ceasefire agreement of 12 August 2008 and the implementing measures of 8 September 2008, in particular to withdraw its military and security forces and armaments from both regions and to allow the establishment of international security mechanisms on the ground.

Moreover, occupier continues its illegal military presence and activities on Georgian soil as well as is strengthening its control over parts of Georgia’s territory. In particular, on 12 March 2022 the illegal so-called parliamentary elections held in Abkhazia, Georgia and on 10 April 2022 the illegal so-called presidential elections held in the Georgian region of South Ossetia.

Resolution, which will be adopted today, addresses the issue of protracted displacement, where hundreds of thousands of men, women and children from the Abkhazia and Tskhinvali regions of Georgia have remained forcibly displaced as a result of the conflict and several waves of ethnic cleansing since the early 1990s.

This resolution commits us all to continued work to provide protection and assistance to those who have been forcibly displaced from the Abkhazia and Tskhinvali/ South Ossetia regions of Georgia. Therefore, Ukraine joined as a main co-sponsor of the resolution and will vote in favour of the resolution. The resolution is an opportunity for the UN Member States to reconfirm their commitment to the fundamental right to the safe and dignified return of IDPs and refugees and express solidarity to forcibly displaced persons around the world.

Mr.President,

Russia doesn’t stop on Georgia, in 2014 russia continued to use its military aggression toolbox and the most barbaric and inhumane methods of warfare in Ukraine. The invasion of 2014 followed by the eight long years of war and eventual full-scale invasion in Ukraine on 24 February 2022, aimed at destroying the Ukrainian state, seizing by force the Ukrainian territory and establishing occupational control.

This new wave of russian aggression is an unjustified and unprovoked act of war, an attack on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, a brutal violation of the UN Charter and basic norms and principles of international law Depopulation by forcible transfer of local residents is an essential part of the nefarious plans of the russian strategists. Up to 5 million people have been recorded across Europe as individual refugees from Ukraine, mostly women and children.

Almost 12 million people have become IDPs. It is alarming that, more than 1 million Ukrainian citizens have been forcible transferred to different regions of Russia, including more than 234 thousand children. Several thousands of them are orphans or deprived of parental care.

For decades russia has persisted in its attempts to undermine sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia, Ukraine and other GUAM member-states, increasing the regional insecurity and human sufferings. Aggressor must and will be stopped to bring the peace, security and prosperity back to the region. To the russian delegate I would like to say: “Walking in circles must be stopped indeed”.

I thank you.