Following the recent announcement that the occupied regions of Ukraine plan to hold referendums to join Russia, the General secretary The UN expressed its concern on Thursday about the eventual holding of these plebiscites “in areas of Ukraine that are not currently under government control.”
During a session of Security Council At the ministerial level dedicated to threats to international peace, António Guterres declared that “any annexation of the territory of a State by another State resulting from the threat or use of force is a violation of the UN Charter and international law”.
The announcement came at a time when the UN chief noted that “Russia’s war in Ukraine shows no signs of letting up” and described the latest developments in the conflict as “dangerous and disturbing.”
“They represent one more step to remove any prospect of peace, and an endless cycle of horror and bloodshed”, a comment to which he added the possibility of a hypothetical nuclear conflict.
“This is totally unacceptable. All nuclear weapon states should recommit not to use and fully eliminate them“, said.
A daily average of five dead or deceased children
In relation to civilian casualties, he stressed that thousands of Ukrainians died or were injured, most of them due to Russian bombing of urban areas, and that hundreds of children must be counted among these casualties.
He added that an average of five minors are killed or injured every day and that some 14 million people have been forced to flee, most of them women and children.
“The situation will only worsen with the arrival of winter and the decrease in gas and electricity supply,” he predicted.
Investigate human rights violations
Guterres went on to point out that the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has been documenting the “unacceptable impact” of the war on fundamental guarantees.
“The reports are a catalog of cruelty: summary executions, sexual violence, torture and other inhuman and degrading treatment against civilians and prisoners of war. The latest accounts of the burials at Izyum are extremely disturbing,” he summarized.
He stressed that all these accusations must be thoroughly investigated and that accountability must be guaranteed.
“It is essential to put an end to impunity for international crimes”, he stressed and recalled that the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, present in the room, opened an investigation into the situation in Ukraine, for which he requested full cooperation.
Subsequently, Karim Khan explained that objective and impartial forensic work is currently continuing, sometimes very laborious, maintaining a meticulous work that deals with the facts, “separating truth from fiction”, and building a picture of what really happened in May, when his office was permanently deployed to the field.
Khan announced a new deployment of members of his office scheduled for next week.
Ukraine trusts the International Criminal Court, Russia does not
However, the task of the organization was questioned by the Russian foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, who declared “not having any confidence” in it.
“I just want to remind you that neither the coup in 2014 or the tragedy in Odessa, or the bombing of Donetsk or any other crime have given rise to any reaction from the International Criminal Court,” he said.
Lavrov explained that for the last eight months his country has been waiting for measures to be taken against impunity in Ukraine and that he is currently not waiting “nothing else from this institution or from a whole series of other international institutions.”
On the contrary, his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmitro Kuleba, explained that the security forces of his country, together with the members of the International Criminal Court and the countries that support both Ukraine and the Court, they work collectively to gather evidence of Russian crimes and hold their perpetrators to account.
“We trust the International Criminal Court. Justice will be done. We owe it not only to the thousands of victims, but to future generations in Ukraine and in other countries. There will be no peace without justice.
Kuleba stressed that none of the Russian crimes in Ukraine would have been possible without the criminal aggression committed by the Russian leaders against his country and that this attack “cannot go unpunished.”
“And the only viable way to put President Putin and his entourage on trial is to establish a special Court for the crime of aggression against Ukraine. I reiterate my appeal to all States to support this undertaking in the interests of the most basic principles of humanity and United Nations Charter”, he stated, reiterating the call made by his president this Wednesday before the General Assembly.
Prevent the world from running out of food
Guterres also announced that the Fact-Finding Mission established after the tragic incident that occurred at the Olenivka detention center on July 29 is now ready for deployment “as soon as all the necessary guarantees are received,” and that the situation in the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant remains a cause for great concern.
“The International Atomic Energy Agency is consulting all parties involved on measures to ensure the safety of the plant and surrounding areas. I thank the IAEA for its work. Their continued presence at the plant is a major deterrent.” projection.
On the positive side, he highlighted that the exchange of more than 250 prisoners of war between Russia and Ukraine took place this Wednesday and thanked the role played by the Government of Türkiye in achieving this agreement.
In terms of food, he recalled that since the signing last July of the Black Sea Grains initiative, a large drop in world food prices has been achieved, although he acknowledged that they continue to be about 8% higher than a year ago.
Similarly, he explained that “it is doing everything possible to facilitate” the full access of Russian food products and fertilizers, including ammonia, to world markets.
“If the fertilizer market does not stabilize, next year there could be a food supply crisis. Simply put, the world could run out of food”, he alerted.
Likewise, he described as “essential” that all nations immediately remove the remaining barriers to the export of Russian fertilizers “so that they reach farmers at a reasonable cost and the fields as soon as possible.”
Mexico proposes to create a mediation committee
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mexico, Marcelo Ebrard, recalled that “it is the purpose of this Organization and the mandate of this Council to prevent people from suffering from the scourges of war.”
For this reason, he said that indifference is not admissible, nor is it admissible to lament that the Security Council is not capable of fulfilling its responsibility, and made a proposal to create a mediation mechanism.
“Based on its pacifist vocation, Mexico believes that the international community must now channel its best efforts to achieve peace. In this sense, I allow myself to share this proposal by the President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, to strengthen the mediation efforts of the Secretary General, António Guterres, through the formation of a Committee for dialogue and peace in Ukraine, with the participation of other Heads of State and Governmentincluding, if possible, His Excellency Narendra Modi of India and His Holiness Pope Francis,” he explained.
The objective of the Committee, he indicated, would be to generate new organizations for dialogue and create complementary spaces for mediation, which foster confidence, reduce tensions, and open the way to lasting peace.
“As the Secretary General has said, it is time to act and commit to peace. Resigning oneself to war is always going to the precipice”, he concluded.
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