Виступ делегації України на засіданні 6-го комітету ГА ООН щодо заходів боротьби з міжнародним тероризмом

Mr. Chairman,

While aligning with the statement of the European Union I would like to make the following points on the subject in my national capacity.

Ukraine condemns the phenomenon of international terrorism unreservedly in all its forms and manifestations and share the view that the United Nations and the UN Security Council should play a central role in promoting international cooperation in this field.

Ensuring effective terrorism combating requires a closer cooperation among Member States and UN family agencies and bodies, including in the framework of the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy (GCTS).

We are fully committed to international efforts to combat the terrorist global threat. Being a party to all counter-terrorism treaties, Ukraine is closely engaged in this endeavor with relevant international and regional organizations.

Mr. Chairman,

ISIL, Al Qaeda, Boko Haram, Al Shabaab and their affiliates have overgrown the regional dimension and pose a significant threat to the international peace and security.

This year, we have witnessed a gruesome series of terrorist attacks throughout the world, in particular in Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Burkina-Faso, Turkey, Belgium, France, Germany, Ukraine — and this list unfortunately is not exhaustive as the tentacles of terrorism are wrapping more countries and continents.

It is obvious that such a large-scale threat can be confronted effectively only through joint efforts both at international and national level aimed at disrupting terrorists recruitment and financing schemes, as well as their flows to and from conflict zones.

A viable solution for removing continuous outbreaks of these threats all over the world could also be a timely addressing the underlying factors, in particular prolonged conflicts, that provide opportunities for violent extremism and subsequently terrorism. This was once again confirmed in the Resolution 70/291 adopted during the Fifth Review of the GCTS, which we consider an important step forward in highlighting the emerging threats and evolving trends in international terrorism.

Mr. Chairman,

Since 2014, Ukraine, like no other country, has learned from its own tragic experience what foreign-grown terrorism feels like. The terrorist component of the undeclared hybrid war that Russia wages against Ukraine is evident and became a daily routine in certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine, where the Kremlin puppet masters have set up terrorist organizations of so-called “Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics”.

The shocking reality is that there is a roughly 38,000-strong terrorist force in Donbas, stemming in its large part from Russia, which has set up recruitment centers and training camps both in the occupied Crimea and in certain parts of Donbas as well as in Rostov and other regions of the Russian Federation.

Russia also uses its state-controlled mass-media for the disinformation of its own population creating a fertile ground for the spread of terrorist propaganda that encourages its citizens to join the terrorist ranks in Donbas.

Up to date they have at their disposal huge quantities of sophisticated weapons that exceed even the vast arsenal acquired by ISIL. About 700 tanks, 1200 armoured vehicles, over 1000 artillery systems and 300 multiple launch rocket systems are already there. And Russia continues sending weapons and foreign terrorist fighters to Ukraine through the uncontrolled part of the Ukrainian-Russian state border.

For over two years, Ukraine has provided the international community with extensive and irrefutable evidence of direct involvement of Russia, its state agencies and officials in financing, sponsorship, and coordination of terrorist groups, which have committed countless crimes. The recent report by the MH17 Joint Investigation Team is just another proof of these facts.

Instead, the Russian Federation continues to deny these facts by utilizing deception, saying that it has nothing to do with all of this and that the Russians are not there in Ukraine.

Furthermore it tries to avoid responsibility, shifting attention away from itself by utilizing other conflicts throughout the world, in particular in Syria, and to blame others for the same tactics that it pursues in Ukraine, namely proxy war.

It is evident that having been directly involved in all these terrorist activities, the Russian Federation has discredited itself as a predictable and reliable international player because of its efforts to export terrorism to Ukraine.

Russia is violating commitments undertaken in accordance with a set of legally binding international instruments on prevention and combating international terrorism, including the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism and the International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings, as well as the relevant UNSC resolutions.

We would like to remind the Russian Federation that the financing, planning and inciting of terrorist acts is contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter, and the States Parties are obliged to bring to justice those who have participated in such acts.

Mr. Chairman,

Ukraine supports the EU’s call for the rationalization of our work under present agenda item and under the GCTS review.

However, we proceed from the understanding that any respective decision should not affect the continuity of work of the Sixth Committee’s working group tasked to finalize the process on the draft Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT). This should remain one of the priorities of the UN General Assembly during the current session and beyond.

The situation in Ukraine proves that terrorism can be used as an element of hybrid war against sovereign states. Thus, we consider that the draft CCIT should also include notion of state terrorism against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of its members.

This will allow bringing to account not only individual terrorists and organizations but also those states responsible for organizing, financing, encouraging, providing training or otherwise directly or indirectly supporting terrorist activities.

Mr. Chairman,

Without the fulfillment of international treaties and sincere cooperation by all states parties any international efforts in the area of counterterrorism shall be vain.

On our part, I would like to underline once again that Ukraine will continue to be committed to cooperation at international, regional and sub-regional levels in order to make worldwide environment completely intolerable towards terrorism and its supporters.

I thank you.