Implementation

According to the report, in the territory controlled by armed groups supported by Russia, sexual violence is used to compel people in detention to hand over property. Performing sex acts is also often an explicit condition for being set free. The report includes specific recommendations to the Government of Ukraine, illegal armed groups and the Russian Federation, as well as the international community, aimed at preventing sexual violence, improving response and ensuring justice for survivors. Ukrainian authorities are committed to act upon those recommendations. For one, we are ready to enhance cooperation in that area with the appropriate international organizations and mechanisms, first of all with the United Nations. We will also make full use of our national human rights strategy and its action plan, as well as of the national plan on women and peace and security. The adoption of all of those documents was highly praised by the OHCHR.

I would also like to inform the Council that we have invited, and look forward to the visit to Ukraine next month of, a UN-Women delegation headed by Executive Director Mlambo-Ngcuka. Moreover, we reiterate our call to the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict to monitor the situation in Ukraine’s conflict-affected areas within her mandated activities.

I take this opportunity to congratulate Pramila Patten on her appointment as Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict. We wish her every success. Ukraine also reiterates its full support for that important mandate and the work of the United Nations Team of Experts on the Rule of Law and Sexual Violence in Conflict. Ukraine also reaffirms its firm backing of the zero-tolerance policy regarding all forms of sexual violence and stands in solidarity with the victims and survivors of such crimes.

While my delegation aligns itself with the statement of the European Union to be delivered later today, I would like to make a number of points in my national capacity.

In that light Ukraine, as the country that pioneered the issue of prevention and initiated the relevant process in the Human Rights Council, fully supports the Secretary-General’s approach that “[t]he prevention of sexual violence is an integral part of wider conflict prevention” (S/2017/249, para. 4).