As delivered by the Delegation
of Ukraine to the 1124th meeting of the Permanent
Council, 15 December 2016
Mr. Chairperson,
The Delegation of Ukraine has
aligned itself with the statement of the European Union which we fully support.
We would also like to add some remarks in the national capacity.
On the occasion of the
International Human Rights Day, the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko
addressed the Ukrainian nation. He emphasized, in particular, that human and
civil rights belong to the most important values in Ukraine. Their protection
and promotion will always remain an unconditional priority of the Ukrainian
authorities. Last year marked the adoption of the National Human Rights
Strategy which was elaborated in intensive consultations between the
Government, academia, the parliamentary ombudsperson, representatives of civil
society and international organizations.
Currently the Government of Ukraine undertakes
consistent efforts to effectively put into practice the Action Plan on
implementation of the Strategy, pursuing an inclusive and democratic process
with active engagement of all segments of the Ukrainian society. The President
of Ukraine thanked the national human rights organizations for performing a
permanent civil monitoring of implementation of this important document.
At the same time the President
of Ukraine stressed that the challenges of protection of human rights and
fundamental freedoms are particularly acute for Ukraine in the circumstances of
ongoing Russia’s aggression against the country. We are grateful to the
international community for unequivocal condemnation of violation of human
rights, discrimination and repressive practices by the Russian occupying
authorities targeting the residents of the illegally annexed Crimea, including
Crimean Tartars, Ukrainians and individuals belonging to different ethnic and
religious groups. We are grateful for support of Ukraine in urging the Russian
Federation to immediately release the Ukrainian citizens who are held as
hostages in captivity on the occupied territories of Ukraine and in Russian
prisons.
It is important to maintain
firmness and solidarity in speaking loud about gross human rights violations
perpetrated in the situations of occupation and urging their correction,
including through establishment of permanent human rights monitoring on the
ground. The OSCE has developed a solid acquis of commitments relating
to human rights and fundamental freedoms and we encourage further focused
efforts of the Chairmanship and the autonomous OSCE Institutions in fostering
their full implementation and making sure that there are no “human rights grey
zones” in the OSCE space.
Thank
you, Mr. Chairperson.
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