The Permanent Representative of Italy to the United Nations and other International Organizations in Geneva, Ambassador Gian Lorenzo Cornado, took the floor today at the Human Rights Council during the interactive dialogue with the High Commissioner following his presentation on the findings of the OHCHR report on the situation of human rights in Ukraine.
Ambassador Cornado underlined that the recent publication of the OHCHR report on the “Killings of civilians” highlights the importance of the activities carried out by the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, that Italy is supporting also through a financial contribution.
“Italy is appalled by the information that continues to emerge of violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in Ukraine, including summary executions, torture, sexual violence and other horrendous attacks against civilians and civilian objects, which may amount to war crimes”, the Permanent Representative of Italy stated.
He then urged Russia to stop immediately its war of aggression and reiterated that those responsible for these atrocities must be held accountable, explaining, “There is no peace without justice and the full respect of Ukraine’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence”.
Ambassador Cornado reaffirmed Italy’s support to Ukraine and its people, also by continuing to mobilise resources to meet the most urgent needs of the population and respond to the huge humanitarian crisis. He concluded his statement by calling on Russia to grant the OHCHR and other investigative and monitoring mechanisms access to all areas under its control, including to places of internment of prisoners of war.
Read the full statement here.
