Statement by Deputy Permanent Representative Maria Zabolotskaya at a UNSC Briefing on Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflicts
Mr. President,
We note the contribution made by the briefers to our today's discussion.
Russia supports all efforts to facilitate the search for missing persons in armed conflict, including UNSC resolution 2474. Persons separated by war should have the opportunity to learn about the fate of their loved ones and to be reunited with them if they are alive. The relevant obligations are enshrined in the 1949 Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocols thereto.
Russia is one of the most affected states in this regard. Millions of citizens of the Soviet Union remained missing after the Second World War. Considerable efforts have been made to find these persons, and the Red Cross organizations have contributed to it. However, this issue has not become a subject of consideration by the UN Security Council.
We do not think that the UNSC discussion on certain aspects of the aftermath of the Korean War of 70 years ago could contribute to resolving the current situation on the peninsula. What remains the key destabilizing factor in the region is the increasing military presence of NATO countries in the Asia-Pacific region, which is systematically destroying the prospects for building there a collective security architecture beyond any alliances.
Mr. President,
Searching for missing persons is, first and foremost, a humanitarian issue, which is of great importance to those who have survived conflicts.
At the same time, the search for missing persons, like any other humanitarian activity, needs to be carried out in coordination with the affected States, complementing their efforts. What we need to do is develop substantive cooperation and provide effective assistance to governments. The international community does have all these tools at its disposal.
An important role here is to be played by humanitarian organizations, including those related to the Red Cross movement, as well as neutral mediators from among the states. We need to acknowledge that it is much easier to resolve these problems when there is no excessive political attention to them.
Unfortunately, the general trend to politicize the international agenda has also affected the humanitarian sphere. Even such an important matter as searching for the missing becomes a tool of political pressure. We can also observe pseudo-assistance being imposed on States under various pretexts. Such an approach is counterproductive and leads to the deterioration of humanitarian cooperation. This also includes the creation of a number of institutions on the missing persons, which are being used as part of the political toolkit.
Mr. President,
For its part, Russia is making every effort to search for the missing and restore family ties in the context of the Ukrainian crisis. We are grateful to the International Committee of the Red Cross for the assistance in ensuring information exchange in this area, as well as for mediation efforts having to with the repatriation of civilians. Human Rights Commissioner of the Russian Federation Tatyana Moskalkova and Presidential Commissioner for Children's Rights Maria Lvova-Belova, as well as the Russian Red Cross, are very closely involved in information exchange with the Committee.
We would like to express our regret that Assistant Secretary-General Khaled Khiari has decided today to repeat false quotes from the OHCHR report. What this organization does is fully controlled by the Kiev authorities. Therefore, it is incapable of providing any objective information. At the same time, unfortunately, Mr. Khiari did not even mention that there are also missing people from among the Russian nationals. Unfortunately, this is something that can be qualified as "double standards".
We have also taken note of what has been repeatedly said by the delegation of the United Kingdom, which is constantly talking about some 20,000 children abducted. Please note: time again we hear the same figure, without any details, any proof or any information how we can verify all this. At the same time, no one mentions the fact that about 2,000 civilians went missing in Kursk oblast as a result of the Ukrainian invasion. When we liberated part of this territory in March, 378 people were found with further searches going on. We do know that some of these people are being held by the Kiev authorities as hostages and “human bargain chips” for purposes of exchange, as they themselves openly say.
Mr. President,
We would like to welcome the release by Hamas of Idan Alexander, American-Israeli hostage, and of all other hostages released earlier. We hope that this gesture will help to swiftly reach agreement between Hamas and Israel, through mediation by Egypt, Qatar, and the United States.
In conclusion, we would like to commend all efforts to search for missing persons in conflicts around the world. We are not convinced, however, that the Security Council is the best venue to address these issues, especially in the historical context.
Thank you.
