Thank you very much Chairman. My name is Hazel Cameron, I am Head of the Human Rights Department in the Foreign Office in London. I am very pleased to be here.
We are deeply alarmed by the ongoing breaches in Interational Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law being committed by Russian forces in Ukraine. As we are all aware in this room, there are reports from numerous credible international and local organisations documenting the scale of the atrocities, including indiscriminate attacks across Ukraine, the destruction of critical national infrastructure, including energy supply with the onset of winter, forced deportation of children and refusal to return those children, and a failure to protect basic human rights standards in Russian-occupied areas.
In the face of this, it’s easy to feel despondent, and I would like now to quote our Prime Minister Kier Starmer when he spoke at the UN General Assembly last week, when he said, ‘people talk about an age of polarisation, impunity and instability, and I fear a sense of fatalism has taken hold.’ However, ‘our task is to say no. We won’t accept this slide into greater and greater conflict, instability and injustice’. Instead, we will do all we can to change it and to recommit to internationalism and to the rule of law. He then went on to evoke a number of situations, including the need to prevent regional war in the Middle East, the call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, he evoked the humanitarian crisis in Sudan, and above all he spoke of the need for the international community to stand together and to stand firm in condemning Russian aggression in Ukraine, and in upholding accountability.
Our support in the United Kingdom for Ukraine is ironclad. We will provide at least 100 million pounds in humanitarian aid in this financial year, bringing our total humanitarian contribution to 457 million pounds since the start of the invasion. We will continue to support the work of this organisation and the rest of the international architecture, including the International Criminal Court, the Council of Europe, United Nations and its specialist bodies, as well as brave human rights defenders, journalists and activists in Ukraine.
We will work with our community of lawyers in the UK, who bring expertise through the UK-US-EU cooperation in the Atrocity Crimes Advisory Group, helping the Ukranian Prosecutor General to ensure that justice is not only done, but is seen to be done. We remain resolute in supporting Ukraine’s sovereignty, protecting civilians and seeking justice for those affected by Russia’s ongoing violations.
Through our collective action and solidarity, we hope to achieve a just and lasting peace and uphold the principles of international law. Thank you.
