UN Human Rights Council 61: UK Statement for the Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine

Mr Vice President,

We had hoped not to be making another statement about Russian atrocities in Ukraine. Yet four years since this Commission was created, its work and conclusions are more important than ever.

The new conclusions regarding the widespread and systematic deportation of Ukrainian children as a crime against humanity are shameful. This is a crime which demands the attention of the entire world given the dangerous precedent that it sets.

Ukrainian language and culture has been stripped out of schools in the Temporarily Occupied Territories, replaced with so-called patriotic Russian curricula. Children are being recruited into Russian militarised youth movements and groomed to serve Russia's war machine.

We are appalled by the Commission's findings of torture, coerced confessions and fabricated trials inflicted on Ukrainian civilians and prisoners of war, including unlawful deportations of civilians into Russia for trial. These practices show Russia systematically misusing legal processes to legitimise its aggression and conceal its crimes.

The report also makes clear how foreign nationals from 17 countries have been tricked or coerced into fighting, and like Russian nationals in their armed forces are subject to various forms of violent, cruel, and inhuman treatment.

How can the Council increase monitoring and protection for Ukrainians living in the Temporarily Occupied Territories?