Ukraine’s Permanent Representative to the UN Andrii Melnyk called on the Security Council to impose sanctions against states and individuals responsible for serious violations of children’s rights during armed conflicts.
This was reported by Ukrinform’s correspondent in New York.
During an open debate in the UN Security Council, Melnyk noted that Secretary-General Guterres’ report for this year showed the highest number of violations of children’s rights since they began to be recorded.
According to the diplomat, the number of serious violations committed by Russian troops in Ukraine has increased by 105%. The Russian Federation has intensified its attacks on densely populated areas, resulting in civilian casualties.
Melnyk welcomed the Secretary-General’s decision to include the Russian Armed Forces in the “list of shame” for the third year in a row for serious violations against children in Ukraine.
He also called on the UN Secretariat to suspend Russia’s participation in peacekeeping missions until its troops are removed from the list.
The representative of Ukraine proposed introducing automatic sanctions for “repeat offenders” — countries that have repeatedly been included in the report as violators of children’s rights. He also considers it necessary to create a blacklist of individual commanders, military and paramilitary leaders responsible for such violations, with the freezing of their assets, travel bans, and other personal sanctions. In addition, it is proposed to establish a compensation fund to help child victims and their families at the expense of the violating states or the frozen assets of these states.
“To stop the killing and maiming of children in Ukraine, one simple solution is needed: a complete, unconditional ceasefire for at least 30 days, which should be the first step towards a comprehensive, just, and lasting peace in accordance with the UN Charter,” Melnyk stressed.
At the same time, he noted that Russian representatives continue to spread lies in the Security Council, including about children.
“Perhaps they believe that the bigger the lie, the more people will believe it,” the permanent representative said. However, according to him, this trick will not work, because the facts in the Secretary-General’s report are “very stubborn and speak for themselves.”
“George Orwell would turn in his grave if he saw such a distortion of the truth,” added the Ukrainian representative.
As reported by Ukrinform, last year António Guterres included Russia, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, in the “list of shame” for the second time in his annual report “Children and Armed Conflict.”
Source: Ukraine proposes suspending Russia from UN peacekeeping over child rights violations
