Ukraine's Permanent Representative to the UN Andriy Melnyk considers Secretary General Antonio Guterres' inclusion of the Russian army in the "list of shame" - a list of armed forces that systematically commit crimes of sexual violence - a historic event.
Points of attention
- Ukraine's Permanent Representative to the UN highlights the historic inclusion of the Russian army in the 'list of shame' for sexual crimes against Ukrainians.
- The step is considered a significant victory for Ukrainian diplomacy in the pursuit of holding Russia accountable for war crimes.
The Russian army was included in the UN “list of shame”: what does this mean?
The Permanent Representative stated this in a video posted on Facebook.
The Russian army is on the UN's blacklist of shame! Finally!
According to him, "today is a truly historic day for Ukraine and Ukrainians on the path to holding Russia accountable for war crimes."
This is "a great victory for our domestic diplomacy, for our team," he emphasized.
This is an important argument that gives us new strength to even more actively promote our interests and ban Russia from the UN.
The Ukrainian side regularly informed the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Conflict-Related Sexual Violence, Pramila Patten, about numerous crimes committed by Russians against Ukrainian women and men, including military personnel who survived Russian captivity.
From now on, Russia will appear on both UN "lists of shame" — regarding violations of children's rights in armed conflicts and conflict-related sexual violence.
Guterres on May 29 released an annual report on crimes of sexual violence during armed conflict, which includes the Russian army and its associated military formations.
The “List of Shame” contains a list of armed forces for which there are credible grounds to believe that they systematically commit crimes of sexual violence.
Last year, Guterres recorded a sharp increase in the number of gross violations of children's rights during the Russian Federation's armed aggression against Ukraine and for the third time added the Russian army to the relevant "list of shame" regarding children in armed conflicts.
