October 2, 2015

Poroshenko’s address to the U.N. General Assembly

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Following is an abridged text of the address by President Petro Poroshenko of Ukraine at the United Nations General Assembly on September 29.

…At the moment of the organization’s anniversary I’m proud to speak on behalf of one of the U.N. founding members. The state, which back in 1945 took an active part in the San Francisco conference, contributed to the establishment of the organization and laid down the foundations for its activities. The state, which added a lot in San Francisco to shape the heart of the U.N. Charter – its Purposes and Principles.

Regrettably, I am also speaking on behalf of the U.N. member state which is now suffering from a brutal violation of the fundamental norms and principles of the U.N. Charter.

The statement on Ukraine’s joining the United Nations as one of the founding members, which was delivered at the San Francisco conference, emphasized, I quote “Ukraine has repeatedly been the subject of bloody invasions by aggressors that for centuries have sought to capture its territory…”

It has been a long time since that landmark event.

But, today, I have to recall that my country has become the object of external aggression.

This time, the aggressor is Russia – a neighboring country, former strategic partner that legally pledged to respect the sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability of the borders of Ukraine.

This country used to be a guarantor of Ukraine’s security under the Budapest Memorandum, whereby security guarantees were provided to my country in exchange for a voluntary renunciation of the world’s third [largest] nuclear arsenal.

Moreover, this state is a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, which is entrusted by the U.N. Charter with maintaining international peace and security.

In February 2014, Russia conducted an open and unprovoked aggression against my country, having occupied and annexed the Crimea, bluntly and brutally violating the international law and shocking the whole world community.

I am deeply grateful to the delegations of the majority of our organization’s member states that last year supported the resolution of the U.N. General Assembly entitled “Territorial integrity of Ukraine,” which condemned the Russian illegal annexation of the Crimea.

It is regrettable that after this clear verdict of the international community, Russia did not return to the civilized international legal field.

Moreover, Moscow started a new military reckless gamble – this time, in the Ukrainian Donbas region.

Despite the fact that until now Russia refuses to officially admit its direct military invasion, today there is no doubt that this is an aggressive war against my country. To mislead the world community, the Russian leadership orders to takes off insignias of its military servicemen and identification marks of its military equipment, to abandon its soldiers captured on the battlefield; to cynically use mobile crematoriums to eliminate traces of its crimes in Ukrainian soil.

I would like to stress: this is neither a civil war nor an internal conflict.

Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia in the Crimea and Donbas region constitute approximately 44,000 square kilometers. Millions of Ukrainians have found themselves under occupation…

For over 20 months, Russia’s aggression against my country has been continuing through financing of terrorists and mercenaries, and supplies of arms and military equipment to the illegal armed groups in Donbas.

Over the last few days we have heard conciliatory statements from the Russian side in which, in particular, it called for the establishment of an anti-terrorist coalition, or warned of fire danger to flirt with terrorists.

Cool story, but really hardly to believe!

How can you urge an anti-terrorist coalition if you inspire terrorism right in front of your door?

How can you talk about peace and legitimacy if your policy is war via puppet governments?

How can you speak of freedom for nations if you punish your neighbor for his choice?

How can you demand respect for all if you don’t have respect for anyone?

…Back to the situation in Donbas I have to state that here we are forced to fight proper, fully armed regular troops of the armed forces of the Russian Federation.

Heavy weaponry and military equipment are concentrated in the occupied territories in such quantities that armies of the majority of U.N. member states can only dream about. …

During this period, more than 8,000 Ukrainians, of whom about 6,000 are civilians, died at the hands of the Russian-backed terrorists and occupiers in Donbas. More than 1.5 million residents of Donbas were forced to flee their homes and became internally displaced persons moving to other safer regions in Ukraine.

…I would like to draw your attention that it is not for the first time that this permanent member of the U.N. Security Council is undermining peace and security at both regional and international levels.

For over 24 years that have passed since the questionable procedure of transfer of the permanent Security Council membership of the former Soviet Union to the Russian Federation, it is not the only hybrid war that Russia has unleashed.

In fact, in order to preserve its influence in neighboring countries, Russia for decades has deliberately created around itself a belt of instability. These are: Nagorny Karabakh, Transnistria, Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Crimea and Donbas.

All of these are protracted conflicts, which are supported by, or directly related to Russia.

But the Kremlin goes further on. These days the Russian “men in green” tread on Syrian land. What or who is next?

… However, we must recognize that in the 21st century our organization lacks an effective instrument to bring the aggressor-country to justice, which has stolen the territory of another sovereign state.

Seventy years ago the creators of the U.N. Charter envisaged the mechanism of the U.N. Security Council sanctions to be one of the restraining tools applied in response to breaches of peace and acts of aggression. However, they couldn’t even imagine that this tool would be needed against an aggressor state that is a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council.

Since the beginning of the aggression, Russia has used its veto right twice, while the U.N. Security Council was considering questions related to Ukraine.

At the outset, Russia blocked a draft resolution condemning the “fake referendum” on Crimea’s annexation in March 2014.

The second time Russia put its shameful veto on the draft resolution on establishment of an international tribunal to investigate and bring to justice all responsible for the Malaysian MH17 plane crash. By imposing its disgraceful veto on this draft resolution, Russia clearly demonstrated to the whole world its defiance in establishing the truth. …I think everyone in this hall clearly understands real motives of Russia’s veto on the MH17 tribunal.

Moreover, the establishment of an international peacekeeping operation which could lead to the stabilization of the situation in Ukraine and stop the bloodshed has been also blocked because of the potential threat of Russia’s veto.

Abuse of the veto right – its usage as a “license to kill” – is unacceptable.

… Ukraine stands for the gradual limitation of the veto right with its further cancellation. Veto power should not become an act of grace and pardon for the crime, which could be used anytime and “pulled off from the sleeve” in order to avoid fair punishment.

… Primary attention should be given to the modernization of the U.N. Security Council – including enlargement of its membership and improvement of methods of its work.

The membership of the U.N. Security Council should reflect realities of the 21st century by representing larger quantity of African, Asian and Latin American States. An additional non-permanent seat in the Council should be given to the Eastern European Group of countries – its composition doubled during the last two decades.

Ukraine also considers improvement of peacekeeping and peace building architecture of the organization as an important element of the U.N. reform.

… A special peacekeeping mission in Donbas under U.N. auspices could become a very useful instrument contributing to implementation of the Minsk Agreements.

Ukraine is committed to follow the letter and the spirit of the Minsk deal. We demand the same approach from other signatories that have lately resorted to the language of blackmail.

… Full access of OSCE monitors to all occupied territories, withdrawal of the Russian military forces, military equipment as well as mercenaries from the territory of Ukraine, restoration of full control by Ukraine over the state border with Russia must be secured.

Freedom, peace, respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity – Ukraine doesn’t demand more. However, it will not settle for less.

… Unfortunately, not by its own free will today Ukraine is one of the areas of fight against terrorist threat. We strongly condemn terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.

… the conclusion of preparatory work on the draft of the U.N. Convention on the Prevention and Combating of Terrorism should become one of the top priorities for this 70th Session.

A special role in the fight against international terrorism should be given to the most reputable legal institutions – the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court.

Making the jurisdiction of these institutions universal is a core element of overcoming the impunity of actual violators as well as their patrons – the regimes whose national policy has become the mass-production of terror.

I strongly believe that one of the most important aspects of fighting against terrorism is keeping and sharing the memory of the victims. In this context, I propose that the 70th Session of the General Assembly consider the establishment of the International Day of Commemoration of Memory of the Victims of Terrorist Acts.

It was the feeling of humiliation, disregard of people’s will and the violation of their fundamental rights that prompted Ukrainians to leave their homes for protests in 2013, which was the beginning of the Revolution of Dignity.

Ukraine has paid and continues to pay an extremely high price for its freedom, and the right to live in a free country – the price of human lives.

This is why, the interests of every single individual, and the protection of people’s rights laid the foundation for my large-scale reform program launched a year ago.

For the first time in 24 years of its independence, Ukraine adopted a National Human Rights Strategy. It took into account best international practices from the human rights perspective, including the EU Strategic Framework on Human Rights and Democracy.

… Leading international human rights organizations are alerting about the radical deterioration of the human rights situation, which directly applies to Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars in the occupied Crimea.

I am referring specifically to the practice used by the occupation authorities of the Crimea to enlist forcefully into Russian citizenship, as well as to the systematic persecution, arrests, abductions and killings of pro-Ukrainian residents of the peninsula, and complete elimination of independent media.

Ukraine reaffirms its commitment to the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. By all legal means, we will continue to defend the rights of the Crimean Tatars – indigenous people of Ukraine – and the Ukrainians, who are suffering from the repressive policy of the occupation authorities in the Crimea.

I believe that the problem of blatant violations of human rights in the Crimea deserves a particular consideration within the U.N. General Assembly. I hope that the decision to address this issue will be taken during the current session.

I also feel obliged to mention the names of Nadiya Savchenko, Oleh Sentsov, Oleksandr Kolchenko and many other Ukrainians, political prisoners of the Kremlin, illegally detained and sentenced. …

I call upon the U.N. and its Member States to launch a worldwide campaign to pressure Russian authorities to immediately release all Ukrainian citizens, which they hold hostage. …

The ongoing hybrid war of Russia against Ukraine has demonstrated that the international community is facing another challenge which requires consolidation of our efforts.

The full-scale information war and propaganda campaign have become a particular destructive form of non-military aggression. Fake news, blatant lies spread to justify aggression, propaganda of intolerance and violence are phenomena of the same range, which undermine the principles of freedom of expression and poison human souls and minds.

That is why the task of strengthening the role of information in the maintenance of peace and security is more important than ever. I call upon the General Assembly to strongly condemn these shameful phenomena and to discuss the ways to confront them.

Despite the above-mentioned external challenges, Ukraine is fully committed to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. …

… As a result of the Russian aggression, Ukraine faces another challenge – the protection of the environment in Donbas. Irresponsible and criminal flooding of mines by terrorists led to the poisoning of drinking water, soil, flora and fauna of the region. The atmosphere is polluted due to explosions and shelling of sensitive industrial infrastructure. In fact, we can speak about the risk of environmental disaster.

I am convinced that the issue of environment protection under the conditions of conflict needs the special attention of the United Nations Environment Assembly.

Speaking about technological disasters, I cannot but recall one of the most horrific of them. Next year we will mark the sad anniversary – 30 years since the tragedy at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Station.

I would like to request you, Mr. President, to hold a special meeting of the General Assembly, dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the Chornobyl disaster in April 2016.

… Just like it was 70 years ago, I reiterate Ukraine’s unwavering commitment to further undertake maximum efforts to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war,” enshrined in the U.N. Charter.

Achievement of this noble goal will be the cornerstone of Ukraine’s non-permanent membership in the U.N. Security Council for the period of 2016-2017, if elected. In this capacity Ukraine will remain a reliable and consistent partner, guided not by its own, but a global agenda, and resolutely following the spirit and letter of the charter. …

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