Thank you President. I thank ASG Brands Kehris for her briefing and the work of OHCHR.
President, the UK is committed to defending freedom of religion or belief around the world, a commitment we share with Ukraine, whose democracy is well-known for its pluralism.
We condemn the persecution of any group based on religion or belief. That's why we hosted a conference in London last year, to urge increased global action to prevent violations and abuses of freedom of religion or belief.
That's why we condemn Russia's campaign of persecution against communities in Ukraine and Russia based on their religion or belief.
This includes the detention and oppression of Crimean Tatars, Jehovah's Witnesses, and clergy belonging to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, and Protestant churches in areas of Ukraine controlled by Russia, since 2014.
This includes Russia's ban against Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia, which the European Court of Human Rights ruled was unlawful and in violation of fundamental human rights. And it includes the damage and destruction of over 100 religious sites resulting from Russia's war in Ukraine, as verified by UNESCO.
It is clear from Russia's track record then that they did not request this meeting out of a concern for any human right. If Russia cared about human rights it would not have launched its illegal invasion of Ukraine - an invasion which Russian Orthodox leader, Patriarch Kirill, has supported and recently suggested would leave no trace of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.
No, President. The reason Russia has requested this meeting is once again to distract from its own actions.
Colleagues, this is an invasion which, as the UN, OHCHR and the Commission of Inquiry have confirmed, continues to be marked by grave violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law. By death, injury and displacement of thousands. Arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, torture, and summary execution of Ukrainians by Russian forces. By mass disruption of education and forced deportations of children. And of course attacks on civilian infrastructure and objects, including the devastating attacks on residential buildings in Dnipro just this weekend, which Ukrainian officials have said killed at least 40 people.
This is the real story of human rights in Ukraine. Russia is the aggressor state. Russia is committing heinous crimes and pointing in the other direction to try to pull the wool over our eyes.
President, Russia should stop this propaganda, and instead do what the overwhelming majority of the UN membership has urged them to since February last year: end its invasion of Ukraine, withdraw its forces from Ukraine's internationally recognised borders, and uphold its commits under international law and the UN Charter.
