ARIA
PRISONERS OF WAR / UKRAINE
INTERVENTION BY MRS. ISIS JARAUD DARNAULT,
POLITICAL COORDINATOR OF France TO THE UNITED NATIONS
TO THE TUTORSHIP COUNCIL
New York, January 13, 2025
Mr President,
I thank the United Kingdom for organizing this meeting and the various speakers for their presentations.
In the almost three years of its illegal war of aggression against Ukraine, Russia has committed countless violations of international humanitarian law against Ukrainian prisoners of war.
The United Nations human rights monitoring mission in Ukraine has established that the use of torture against Ukrainian prisoners of war was massive and systematic. They also suffer inhuman and degrading treatment: deprivation of food, isolation, lack of medical care, sexual violence.
On January 8, the Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights once again called on Russia to put an end to the summary executions of Ukrainian prisoners, recalling that they constituted war crimes.
We urge Russia to comply with international humanitarian law and allow humanitarian actors access to prisoners of war, including those held in captivity in Russia.
France welcomes the mobilization of several states, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and the Vatican, with a view to obtaining the release of prisoners of war. The release of all Ukrainian prisoners of war is part of the conditions for a just and lasting peace. It appears in President Zelensky's peace plan, for which France reiterates its support. In this regard, we welcome the holding at the end of October in Montreal of the Ministerial Conference on the Human Dimension of the Peace Formula.
-Mr President,
We call on Russia to end the arbitrary detentions of Ukrainian civilians.
The vast majority of Ukrainian civilians detained by Russia are never informed of the reasons for their detention and have no opportunity to challenge the legality of their detention.
This practice of arbitrary deprivation of liberty on a large scale, documented by the OSCE, is accompanied by numerous cases of forced disappearances, sexual violence and ill-treatment. Humanitarian organizations must be able to access these populations immediately and without hindrance.
France condemns the detention and forced transfer or deportation of Ukrainian children, whom Russia subjects to a policy of forced acculturation, indoctrination and military training. We demand that she return Ukrainian children to their families, legal guardians and communities.
Mr President,
War crimes committed in Ukraine must not go unpunished.
The work of the International and Independent Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine is therefore essential.
We reiterate our support for the International Criminal Court and the Ukrainian courts in the fight against impunity. France welcomes the successful completion, on October 25, of Ukraine's ratification process of the Rome Statute.
France will continue to help Ukraine as intensely and as long as necessary, so that Russia's war of aggression is defeated and a just and lasting settlement of the conflict is possible.
Thank you.
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