UN Human Rights Council 53rd Session
General Comment by the United States of America
A/HRC/53/L.1: Cooperation w/and Assistance to UKRAINE
As Delivered by Ambassador Michèle Taylor
Thank you, Mr. President.
The United States is proud to support this resolution, which simply and rightly keeps objective reporting on Ukraine from the High Commissioner on the Council’s agenda. Supporting this technical Item 10 resolution should not be controversial, and we hope to see it adopted by consensus.
Even as evidence of war crimes mounts, Ukraine has taken a modest approach in drafting this resolution, asking simply that the High Commissioner continues to be heard by the Council so that the facts may speak for themselves.
The critical work of the High Commissioner’s Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine goes back almost a decade, to Russia’s initial invasion. Its work documenting Russia’s abuses provided a prescient forewarning of the tactics we have seen since its full-scale invasion last year. Today, as Russia continues its relentless attacks and human rights abuses across the territory of Ukraine, this reporting is as important as ever.
It is worth acknowledging that Ukraine is leading this resolution even though some of the High Commissioner’s reporting is critical of actions taken by Ukraine’s forces and authorities. We commend the Government of Ukraine for being open to scrutiny and technical advice from OHCHR even while fighting for its very survival. Regrettably, Russia, by contrast, has not provided access or demonstrated any openness to scrutiny.
We believe supporting this resolution should be a straight-forward step for all delegations to take. In fact, we see no reason why it shouldn’t be adopted by consensus. We should all want to hear what the High Commissioner has to say about the human rights situation in Ukraine.
We thank Ukraine’s delegation for leading this resolution, and we are proud to cosponsor along with countries from across regions.
We urge all members of this Council to join us in supporting this resolution.
I thank you.