Interactive Dialogue with the Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine
Human Rights Council – 54th Session
Statement by the Delegation of the United States of America
As Delivered by Kelly Billingsley
Thank you Mr. President.
And thank you Commissioners for your work to expose crimes committed in Russia’s brutal war of choice. It is essential to ensuring accountability for thousands of victims.
Your reporting paints a dire picture. In October 2022, the Commission reported it had documented “patterns of summary executions, unlawful confinement, torture, ill-treatment, rape and other sexual violence committed in areas occupied by Russian armed forces.”
In March 2023, the Commission found that Russian authorities had established dedicated detention facilities across Ukraine, where they committed such abuses, and that “the use of torture by Russian authorities may amount to crimes against humanity.”
Throughout the Commission’s work, it has described the dire consequences on civilians, particularly children. Russian forces and authorities have subjected children to sexual violence, forced them to witness horrific crimes, and forcibly transferred or deported them from their homes in violation of international law.
We are appalled that so many children have been separated from their loved ones and some have been offered up for adoption in Russia.
I ask the Commission, what more can be done to address crimes and abuses committed against children?
I thank you.
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