Good afternoon,

As the Russian aggression against Ukraine has entered the third month, we continue to see reports of shelling of civilian targets, urban settings, and civilian infrastructure causing maximum damage.

Millions of refugees have already fled while an even larger number of internally displaced people is shaking the country and the entire region.

From the images of the people summarily executed in Bucha to the remnants of Mariupol’s bombarded theater where hundreds of civilian refugees perished, or the mass graves discovered around Kiev, Russia’s war of choice has unleashed immense suffering on the civilian population.

There are many countries that have rallied in support of Ukraine, be it with military equipment to help it defend itself; through humanitarian aid, or opening their homes to welcome the refugees.

But there is also another important support of a different nature, the political support for Ukraine in the international arena.

Confronted by this unprecedented aggression accompanied by the Russian machinery of propaganda and lies that aim to distort the reality on the ground as well as to provide a false narrative for their unjustifiable war, we need to speak out, keep telling the truth and mobilize support for collecting and documenting facts on the atrocities committed in Ukraine.

Perpetrators of these crimes must be and will be held accountable. We are heartened by the unity of purpose that has emerged with respect to the documentation of crimes committed in Ukraine.

We all agree on the importance of ensuring that anyone responsible for atrocities in Ukraine is held accountable in accordance with the rule of law. This is the main purpose of this Arria-formula meeting organized by Albania and France in cooperation with Ukraine.

This meeting will bring together Member States and key actors involved in the documentation of crimes committed in Ukraine to identify how such efforts can be supported and coordinated so as to ensure the effective investigation and prosecution of those responsible for atrocities.

I would also like to pay tribute to the independent professional investigative journalisms, the work by your colleagues on the ground who are working in very difficult and challenging conditions, putting their lives in risk to tell the truth, to tell the story of this senseless war. It was the horrible photos and reports emerging from the towns near Kiev that triggered global revulsion as first evidence of what amounts to be widespread, systematic violence against civilians typical of atrocity crimes.

It is essential that all such crimes are thoroughly documented and are ultimately used in a court of law. This event will seek to mobilize all efforts, including the ICC, HRC Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine, as well as Civil Society, and the GoF Accountability in Ukraine in ensuring knowledge sharing between accountability mechanisms, the UN member states through national prosecutions in states with universal jurisdiction over atrocity crimes or jurisdiction over the crime of aggression, and civil society.

Justice and accountability should prevail, for Ukraine and the Ukrainians, but also for the entire international community, in order to restore the confidence in multilateralism and international law that was destroyed by the war of choice of Russia.

Thank you!