The Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) has welcomed and expressed full support for the courageous and principled position of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein on limiting veto power at the UN Security Council, as elaborated with his statement on 4 October 2016 as follows:
I firmly believe that the time has come for strong leadership and bold actions, and that the UN Security Council should, without any further delay, adopt criteria to restrain members from using the veto when there are serious concerns that war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide may have been committed.
In a letter issued on 25 October 2016 to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, UWC President Eugene Czolij highlighted the activities of the UWC in this regard, drawing attention to a letter dated 19 March 2014 from the UWC to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, and the President of the General Assembly of the United Nations, John W. Ashe, urging the United Nations to:
[…] consider the severity of the repercussions on global peace and security of President Vladimir Putin’s actions and imperialistic ambitions and to urgently take effective collective measures in response to Russia’s illegal acts of aggression against Ukraine by: […] suspending Russia’s rights and privileges of membership in the United Nations in view of its flagrant violations of the Charter of the United Nations and other international obligations in accordance with Article 18.2 of the said Charter.
“The Ukrainian World Congress assures full support for promoting this initiative among leaders of the international community and will continue to advance the argument that the rights of the Russian Federation within the UN structure should be revoked or suspended because of its blatant violations of the UN Charter,” stated UWC President Eugene Czolij.
