Human Rights Council 52nd session
Statement by Minister of Foreign Affairs of Estonia Urmas Reinsalu
2 March 2023
Mister President,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
One year ago, a vicious full-scale war of aggression was unleashed by Russia against Ukraine. Let’s be clear - this is the war of conquest. Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea, as well as Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine is an attempt to establish a new colonial power in the region. This is a grave violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. This is a grave violation of international law and the UN Charter.
In the past year, we have seen killings of civilians, tortures, ill-treatment and gender-based violence in Ukraine, including rapes as a tactic of war. More than 5 million people are displaced within Ukraine and 40% of the Ukrainian population are in need of humanitarian aid because they lack access to electricity, heating or running water.
Over 1,6 million Ukrainians, including hundreds of thousands of children, have been systematically put through filtration camps and illegally deported to Russia, many of them separated from parents and forcefully adopted.
Russia’s heinous actions do not only harm Ukraine, but all of us. The global food security has been weaponised by Russia threatening to leave millions of people across the globe at the risk of starvation. The blockade of Ukrainian exports, continuing impediments to the Black Sea Grain Initiative, shelling of major ports and grain storages. All this shows that Russia is ready to go as far as it can get to achieve its political ambitions.
This is why the Russian war against Ukraine is not a “European war” or local “crisis”. Imperialistic ambitions have no mercy and no limits – Russia has violated human rights and international humanitarian law. It has committed atrocity crimes in Ukraine and must be held to account.
Our way ahead is simple – we have to fight against impunity and ensure proper investigation, trial and prosecution of crimes committed by Russia on Ukrainian soil. We have to redouble our efforts to bring perpetrators before the International Criminal Court. We should also support Ukraine in establishing a special international tribunal with cross-regional support for the crime of aggression.
Mr President,
In 2022, we have seen a steady decline in human rights in various parts of the world. The grave human rights violations and abuses against women and girls in Afghanistan aim to gradually erase them from public life, deprive of education and opportunities. Together we must put pressure on Taliban to protect women and girls from all forms of violence and guarantee their full, equal and meaningful participation in all spheres of life.
In Belarus, crackdowns on the opposition leaders, journalists and media workers continue as well as unprecedented brutality and mass violence. We urge the Belarusian authorities to release immediately and unconditionally all arbitrarily detained persons, including political prisoners, journalists and media workers. We strongly condemn Belarus’ illegal involvement in Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified military aggression against Ukraine.
In Iran, brave citizens, especially women and girls, have been out in the streets for months, demanding their human rights. We urge Iranian authorities to immediately release the thousands of persons arrested for exercising their right to peacefully protest. Iran must also cease all executions – Estonia strongly opposes the use the death penalty at all times and in all circumstances.
Mr President,
Today, I would also like to stress the importance of guaranteeing the rights of children, both online and offline. Rights of the child are high among our priorities and Estonia pays special attention to the children in vulnerable situations. We should remember to protect our children online by encouraging digital literacy and developing tools to fight child exploitation. Digital technology should advance human rights and not to hinder them.
But all of it starts from education. To this day, more than 200 million children are deprived of education and hundreds of millions lack basic literacy skills. We should do all we can to support free and universal access to quality education in all parts of the world, including digital learning. We should aim for closing the various digital gaps, including the digital gender gap, and foster access to digital, information and media education.
Mr President,
This year, we are celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This is an important milestone in the history of universal rights and freedoms guarded by an objective mechanism of Universal Periodic Review.
The UPR reminds us that each country is capable of real and positive changes. It also reminds us that each one of us has to work hard to uphold the universal standards of human rights.
I am hopeful that 25 years later, we are going to celebrate the world where more of us can enjoy peace and universal human rights that we all deserve.
I thank you!
