Statement by the delegation of Ukraine at the General Assembly meeting on Strengthening the role of mediation in the peaceful settlement of disputes, conflict prevention and resolution

At the outset, Mr. President, I would like to underscore the particular importance of the topic of this resolution for my country and to thank the distinguished delegations of Finland and Turkey for their efforts in facilitating this document. We are pleased to join the list of co-sponsors of this resolution.

As a country, which continues to suffer from the Russian aggression, we clearly understand the importance of mediation activities in all stages of the conflict cycle from prevention to resolution.

Ukraine is fully committed to the idea that the United Nations has to play more active role in response to the ongoing conflicts all over the world. The Ukrainian society looks upon the United Nations as a universal international organization tasked to prevent military conflicts between states and to ensure compliance with principles of international law. And the relevance of this statement has risen significantly within the last two years with regard to the ongoing Russian aggression against Ukraine.

According to Secretary-General’s report on the United Nations and conflict prevention on September 25, 2015, «While the Member States bear the primary responsibility for conflict prevention, the United Nations, with its universal membership, impartiality and the legitimacy derived from the principles of the Charter, has an important and unique role to play». Once again we would like to express our gratitude for support expressed by the Member States with respect to the resolution „Territorial integrity of Ukraine’, at the same time we are of the view there are still a lot of room for actions by the UN Secretariat within its competence in the area of mediation and good offices instead of shunning away from playing its part.

Such inaction doesn’t contribute to resolving the conflict. The Russian Federation continues concentrating its weaponry, armaments and military forces on the temporarily occupied territories of Crimea and Donbas as well as along the Ukrainian-Russian border. Nevertheless, Ukraine remains committed to a peaceful resolution of this conflict. We proceed from the fact that Article 33 of the UN Charter envisages an obligation to settle any international disputes peacefully. But striving to achieve it does not mean that the breach of the UN principles should be accepted. This would be a false lesson to be drawn from history and detrimental for both regional and global security.

In this context, Ukraine would like to highlight the necessity of strengthening cooperation of the United Nations with regional and subregional organizations devoted to the process of mediation and conflicts resolution.

To conclude, Mr. President, I wish to recall that the United Nations General Assembly Resolution «Territorial integrity of Ukraine» was also adopted under this agenda item and it underlines the pertinence of the UN Charter principles, including the obligations of states to refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any State, and to settle their international disputes by peaceful means, thus emphasising the acute relevance of mediation activities given the current state of world affairs.

I thank you.