A/RES/80/223 GA
Situation of human rights in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, including the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol : resolution / adopted by the General Assembly
80
Session
79
Yes
16
No
73
Abstentions
| Draft symbol | A/RES/80/223 |
|---|---|
| Adopted symbol | A/RES/80/223 |
| Category | SOCIAL CONDITIONS AND EQUITY |
| P5 Positions |
|
| UN Document | A/RES/80/223 ↗ |
Vote Recorded Vote — A/80/PV.69
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Algeria
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Angola
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Antigua and Barbuda
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Armenia
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Bahrain
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Bangladesh
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Botswana
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Brazil
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Brunei Darussalam
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Cambodia
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Cameroon
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Chad
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Colombia
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Congo
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Côte d'Ivoire
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Djibouti
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Egypt
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El Salvador
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Ethiopia
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Gambia
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Ghana
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Guinea
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Guinea-Bissau
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Honduras
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India
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Indonesia
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Iraq
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Jordan
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Kazakhstan
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Kenya
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Kuwait
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Kyrgyzstan
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Lao People's Democratic Republic
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Lebanon
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Lesotho
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Libya
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Malaysia
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Maldives
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Mauritania
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Mauritius
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Mongolia
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Mozambique
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Namibia
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Nepal
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Nigeria
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Oman
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Pakistan
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Paraguay
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Peru
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Philippines
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Qatar
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Rwanda
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Saint Kitts and Nevis
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Saint Lucia
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Saudi Arabia
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Serbia
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Seychelles
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Sierra Leone
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Singapore
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Solomon Islands
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South Africa
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Sri Lanka
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Tajikistan
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Thailand
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Togo
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Tonga
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Trinidad and Tobago
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Tunisia
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Uganda
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United Arab Emirates
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United Republic of Tanzania
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Viet Nam
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Yemen
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Afghanistan
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Azerbaijan
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Benin
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Plurinational State of Bolivia
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Comoros
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Democratic Republic of the Congo
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Dominica
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Eswatini
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Gabon
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Grenada
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Haiti
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Kiribati
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Madagascar
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Morocco
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Nauru
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Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
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Sao Tome and Principe
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Senegal
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Somalia
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South Sudan
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Syrian Arab Republic
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Turkmenistan
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Uzbekistan
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Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela
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Zambia
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Albania
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Andorra
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Argentina
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Australia
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Austria
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Bahamas
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Barbados
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Belgium
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Belize
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Bhutan
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Bosnia and Herzegovina
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Bulgaria
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Cabo Verde
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Canada
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Chile
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Costa Rica
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Croatia
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Cyprus
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Czechia
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Denmark
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Dominican Republic
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Ecuador
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Estonia
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Fiji
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Finland
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France
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Georgia
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Germany
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Greece
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Guatemala
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Guyana
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Hungary
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Iceland
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Ireland
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Israel
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Italy
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Jamaica
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Japan
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Liberia
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Liechtenstein
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Malta
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Micronesia (Federated States of)
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Monaco
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Montenegro
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Myanmar
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Netherlands
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New Zealand
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North Macedonia
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Norway
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Palau
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Panama
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Papua New Guinea
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Poland
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Portugal
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Republic of Korea
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Moldova
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Romania
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Samoa
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San Marino
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Slovakia
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Slovenia
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Spain
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Suriname
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Sweden
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Switzerland
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Timor-Leste
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Türkiye ⚠
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Tuvalu
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Ukraine
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United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
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United States of America
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Uruguay
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Vanuatu
Full text of resolution
United Nations
A/RES/80/223
General Assembly
Distr.: General
22 December 2025
25-20987 (E)
*2520987*
Eightieth session
Agenda item 71 (c)
Promotion and protection of human rights: human
rights situations and reports of special rapporteurs
and representatives
Resolution adopted by the General Assembly
on 18 December 2025
[on the report of the Third Committee (A/80/545, para. 5)]
80/223. Situation of human rights in the temporarily occupied territories
of Ukraine, including the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the
city of Sevastopol
The General Assembly,
Guided by the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, and
recalling the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1 international human rights
treaties and other relevant international instruments and declarations,
Recalling the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial
Discrimination,2 the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment 3 and the Optional Protocol thereto, 4 the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,5 the International Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights, 6 the Convention on the Rights of the Child 7 and its
Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict, 8 the Convention
on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities9 and the International Convention for the
_______________
1 Resolution 217 A (III).
2 United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 660, No. 9464.
3 Ibid., vol. 1465, No. 24841.
4 Ibid., vol. 2375, No. 24841.
5 See resolution 2200 A (XXI), annex.
6 Ibid.
7 United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1577, No. 27531.
8 Ibid., vol. 2173, No. 27531.
9 Ibid., vol. 2515, No. 44910.
A/RES/80/223
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Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, 10 as well as the United
Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, 11
Recalling also the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 12 and Additional
Protocol I thereto, of 1977,13 as applicable, as well as relevant customary international
law,
Confirming the primary responsibility of States to respect, protect and fulfil
human rights,
Acknowledging that international human rights law and international
humanitarian law are complementary and mutually reinforcing,
Reaffirming the responsibility of States to respect international law, including
the principle that all States shall refrain from the threat or use of force against the
territorial integrity or political independence of any State and from acting in any other
manner inconsistent with the purposes of the United Nations, recalling its resolution
2625 (XXV) of 24 October 1970, in which it approved the Declaration on Principles
of International Law concerning Friendly Relations and Cooperation among States in
accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, and reaffirming the principles
contained therein,
Recalling its resolution 3314 (XXIX) of 14 December 1974, entitled “Definition
of aggression”, in which it states that no territorial acquisition or special advantage
resulting from aggression is or shall be recognized as lawful,
Recalling also its resolution 68/262 of 27 March 2014 on the territorial integrity
of Ukraine, in which it affirmed its commitment to the sovereignty, political
independence, unity and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally
recognized borders and called upon all States, international organizations and
specialized agencies not to recognize any alteration to the status of the Autonomous
Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol and to refrain from any action or
dealing that might be interpreted as recognizing any such altered status,
Recalling further its resolution ES-11/4 of 12 October 2022, entitled “Territorial
integrity of Ukraine: defending the principles of the Charter of the United Nations”,
Recalling its resolutions 71/205 of 19 December 2016, 72/190 of 19 December
2017, 73/263 of 22 December 2018, 74/168 of 18 December 2019, 75/192 of
16 December 2020, 76/179 of 16 December 2021 and 77/229 of 15 December 2022
on the situation of human rights in the temporarily occupied Autonomous Republic
of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, Ukraine, as well as its resolutions 78/221 of
19 December 2023 and 79/184 of 17 December 2024 on the situation of human rights
in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, including the Autonomous
Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, its resolutions 73/194 of 17 December
2018, 74/17 of 9 December 2019, 75/29 of 7 December 2020 and 76/70 of
9 December 2021 on the problem of the militarization of the Autonomous Republic
of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, Ukraine, as well as parts of the Black Sea and
the Sea of Azov, and its resolution 78/316 of 11 July 2024 on the safety and security
of nuclear facilities of Ukraine, including the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, and
relevant decisions of international organizations, specialized agencies and bodies
within the United Nations system,
_______________
10 Ibid., vol. 2716, No. 48088.
11 Resolution 61/295, annex.
12 United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 75, Nos. 970–973.
13 Ibid., vol. 1125, No. 17512.
Situation of human rights in the temporarily occupied territories of
Ukraine, including the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the
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Recalling also its resolutions ES-11/1 of 2 March 2022 on the aggression against
Ukraine, ES-11/2 of 24 March 2022 on the humanitarian consequences of the
aggression against Ukraine, ES-11/6 of 23 February 2023 on the principles of the
Charter of the United Nations underlying a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in
Ukraine and ES-11/7 of 24 February 2025 on advancing a comprehensive, just and
lasting peace in Ukraine, and Human Rights Council resolutions 49/1 of 4 March
2022,14 52/32 of 4 April 2023,15 55/23 of 4 April 202416 and 58/24 of 4 April 202517
on the situation of human rights in Ukraine stemming from the Russian aggression
and S-34/1 of 12 May 2022 on the deteriorating human rights situation in Ukraine
stemming from the Russian aggression,18
Gravely concerned that the provisions of these resolutions and relevant
decisions of international organizations, specialized agencies and bodies within the
United Nations system have not been implemented by the Russian Federation,
Condemning the ongoing temporary occupation by the Russian Federation of
part of the territory of Ukraine, including the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and
the city of Sevastopol (hereinafter “Crimea”), and certain areas of the Kherson,
Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts (hereinafter “temporarily occupied
territories of Ukraine”), and reaffirming the non‑recognition of its annexation,
Condemning also the war of aggression against Ukraine by the Russian
Federation in violation of Article 2 (4) of the Charter, and the use of Crimea for this
and to support the attempted illegal annexation of the Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk
and Luhansk Oblasts,
Supporting the commitment by Ukraine to adhere to international law in its
efforts to put an end to the temporary Russian occupation of Crimea, and welcoming
the commitments by Ukraine to respect, protect and fulfil the human rights and
fundamental freedoms of all persons, including Indigenous Peoples, and its
cooperation with human rights treaty bodies and international institutions,
Encouraging all efforts aimed at achieving a resolution of the conflict through
peaceful means in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations,
Recalling that organs and officials of the Russian Federation established in the
temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine are illegitimate and should be referred to
as “occupying authorities of the Russian Federation”,
Concerned that applicable international human rights law obligations and
treaties, to which Ukraine is a Party, are not upheld by the occupying Power, thus
severely restricting the ability of residents of the temporarily occupied territories of
Ukraine to exercise their human rights and fundamental freedoms,
Reaffirming the obligation of States to ensure that persons belonging to national
or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities, and Indigenous Peoples may exercise
fully and effectively all human rights and fundamental freedoms without any
discrimination and in full equality before and under the law,
Welcoming the reports of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner
for Human Rights on the human rights situation in Ukraine, of the Commissioner for
Human Rights of the Council of Europe and of the missions of experts under the
_______________
14 See Official Records of the General Assembly, Seventy-seventh Session, Supplement No. 53
(A/77/53), chap. VI, sect. A.
15 Ibid., Seventy-eighth Session, Supplement No. 53 (A/78/53), chap. V, sect. A.
16 Ibid., Seventy-ninth Session, Supplement No. 53 (A/79/53), chap. IV, sect. A.
17 Ibid., Eightieth Session, Supplement No. 53 (A/80/53), chap. V, sect. A.
18 Ibid., Seventy-seventh Session, Supplement No. 53 (A/77/53), chap. VII.
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Moscow Mechanism of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, in
which they stated that a wide array of gross and systematic violations and abuses of
human rights continued to take place in Ukrainian territory affected by aggression by
the Russian Federation,
Welcoming also the reports of the Office of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights on the situation of human rights in the temporarily
occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, Ukraine,
submitted pursuant to resolutions 71/205 19 and 72/190, 20 and the reports of the
Secretary-General submitted pursuant to resolutions 73/263, 21 74/168, 22 75/192, 23
76/179,24 77/229,25 78/22126 and 79/184,27 and recalling with deep concern the reports
of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine of 18 October
2022,28 15 March 2023,29 19 October 2023, 30 18 March 2024,31 25 October 2024, 32
28 May 2025, 21 October 202533 and 28 October 202534 pursuant to Human Rights
Council resolutions 49/1, 52/32, 55/23 and 58/24 on the situation of human rights in
Ukraine stemming from the Russian aggression,
Condemning the imposition and retroactive application of the legal system of
the Russian Federation in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, including
the forced or compulsory imposition of citizenship of the Russian Federation on
protected persons, as well as the associated negative impacts on the human rights
situation, including the forcible transfer within temporarily occupied territory or
deportation of civilians, deprivation of land and residential property ownership and
the regressive effects on the enjoyment of human rights by residents, particularly
those who have rejected that citizenship,
Deeply concerned about continued reports that the law enforcement officials of
the Russian Federation conduct searches and raids of private homes, businesses,
religious institutions, media outlets and meeting places in the temporarily occupied
territories of Ukraine, often pillaging and requisitioning private property, and
recalling that the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights prohibits
arbitrary or unlawful interference with a person’s privacy, family, home or
correspondence,
Gravely concerned that, since 2014, torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment or punishment has reportedly been widely and systematically used by the
Russian authorities, and expressing deep concern about the ongoing reports of
arbitrary detentions, arrests and sentencing by the Russian Federation of Ukrainian
citizens and citizens of other countries, in particular for statements and actions in
opposition to the war of aggression by the Russian Federation against Ukraine, including
Emir-Usein Kuku, Halyna Dovhopola, Server Mustafayev, Asan and Aziz Akhtemov,
_______________
19 See A/72/498.
20 See A/73/404.
21 A/74/276.
22 A/75/334 and A/HRC/44/21.
23 A/76/260 and A/HRC/47/58.
24 A/77/220 and A/HRC/50/65.
25 A/78/340 and A/HRC/53/64.
26 A/79/258 and A/HRC/56/69.
27 A/80/315.
28 A/77/533.
29 A/HRC/52/62.
30 A/78/540.
31 A/HRC/55/66.
32 A/79/549.
33 A/80/497.
34 A/HRC/58/67.
Situation of human rights in the temporarily occupied territories of
Ukraine, including the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the
city of Sevastopol
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Iryna Danylovych, Bohdan Ziza, Enver Krosh, Vilen Temeryanov, Mariano García
Calatayud, Seyran Saliev, Oleh Pryhodko, Osman Arifmemetov and many others,
Deeply concerned about the serious continued restrictions on the right to
freedom of movement and the rights to liberty and security of person, especially for
those who have been previously unlawfully or arbitrarily arrested or detained and
served sentences on politically motivated criminal charges,
Gravely concerned that the temporary occupation continues to hinder the
enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights by residents, including children,
women, older persons, persons with disabilities and other persons in vulnerable and
marginalized situations,
Condemning the reported serious violations of international humanitarian law
and violations and abuses of human rights committed against residents of the
temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, in particular those involving extrajudicial
killings, abductions, enforced disappearances, politically motivated prosecutions,
discrimination, harassment, intimidation, violence, including sexual and gender-
based violence, mass searches and raids, arbitrary detentions and arrests, torture and
ill-treatment, in particular to extract confessions, subjecting detainees to special
security regimes and involuntary placement in psychiatric institutions, as well as
deplorable treatment and conditions in detention, and the forcible transfer or
deportation of protected persons to the Russian Federation, as well as reported abuses
of other fundamental freedoms, including the freedoms of expression, religion or
belief and association and the right to peaceful assembly,
Seriously concerned about violations of international law by the Russian
Federation in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, including those
involving arbitrary detention of civilians, the taking of hostages and so-called
filtration procedures, particularly affecting displaced persons, and strongly
condemning the ongoing impunity in reported cases of enforced disappearances and
the continued use of these practices to intimidate and oppress the local population,
Expressing grave concern at the findings of the Independent International
Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine that Russian authorities have committed enforced
disappearances as crimes against humanity, and that the enforced disappearances were
committed for a prolonged period of time as part of a widespread and systematic
attack against civilian populations, pursuant to a coordinated State policy,
Expressing grave concern also at the reported continued denial by the Russian
authorities of information to the families of forcibly disappeared and missing persons,
as well as prisoners of war and civilian detainees, on their fate and whereabouts,
which denies victims and their families justice, truth, reparations and guarantees of
non‑repetition,
Deeply concerned about restrictions faced by Ukrainians, including Indigenous
Peoples of Crimea, in particular the Crimean Tatars, in exercising their civil, political,
economic, social and cultural rights, including the rights to work and education, as
well as the ability to maintain their identity and preserve their culture and to education
in the Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar languages,
Condemning the reported destructions of cultural and natural heritage, illegal
archaeological excavations and transfer of cultural property, discrimination against
persons belonging to religious minorities and repression of religious traditions,
thereby diminishing Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar culture in the ethnocultural
landscape of the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine,
Expressing concern about the intensified militarization and assimilation of young
people in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine by the Russian Federation,
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including combat training of children and youth for military service in the Russian
armed forces as well as the introduction of the “military-patriotic” education system,
and its blocking of access to Ukrainian education,
Condemning the incitement of hatred against Ukraine, Ukrainians and Crimean
Tatars as well as the dissemination of disinformation seeking to justify the war of
aggression against Ukraine by the Russian Federation, including through the
education system and youth policy,
Gravely concerned by the above-mentioned policies and practices of the Russian
Federation, which cause a continuing threat and have caused a large number of
Ukrainians to flee from the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine,
Recalling that individual or mass forcible transfers and deportations of protected
persons from occupied territory to the territory of the occupying Power, or to that of
any other country, occupied or not, and the transfer by an occupying Power of parts
of its own civilian population into the territory that it occupies, are prohibited under
international humanitarian law, and may amount to war crimes or crimes against
humanity,
Deeply concerned by consistent reports that the Russian Federation promotes
policies and conducts practices aimed at changing the demographic, including ethnic,
structure in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine,
Concerned about the negative effects on the full and effective enjoyment of
human rights by residents of the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, resulting
from disruptive activities of the occupying Power, including the expropriation of land
and residential property, the demolition of houses and the depletion and acquisition
of natural and agricultural resources,
Reaffirming the right of return of all internally displaced persons and refugees
affected by the temporary occupation by the Russian Federation to their homes in
Ukraine,
Reaffirming its serious concern that, according to the decision of the so-called
“Supreme Court of Crimea” of 26 April 2016 and the decision of the Supreme Court
of the Russian Federation of 29 September 2016, the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar
People, the representative body of the Indigenous People of Crimea – the Crimean
Tatars – continues to be declared an extremist organization and the ban on its activities
has still not been repealed, and that the persecution of the leaders of the Mejlis of the
Crimean Tatar People continues,
Condemning the ongoing pressure exerted upon persons belonging to religious
minorities and their communities, including through frequent police raids, demolition
of and eviction from buildings dedicated to religion, undue registration requirements
that have affected legal status and property rights and threats against and persecution
of those belonging to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, Protestant churches, Muslim
religious communities, Greek Catholics, Roman Catholics and Jehovah’s Witnesses,
and condemning also the baseless prosecution of dozens of peaceful Muslims for
allegedly belonging to extremist organizations,
Gravely concerned about the constant use of military courts, including those
located on the territory of the Russian Federation, to try civilian residents of the
temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine and mounting evidence of the failure of
the occupying Power to uphold fair trial standards, including by setting up in the
temporarily occupied territories illegal courts that do not meet international standards
with respect to the independence and impartiality of the judges, the transparency of
court proceedings, the presumption of innocence of the accused or their right to a
defence,
Situation of human rights in the temporarily occupied territories of
Ukraine, including the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the
city of Sevastopol
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Condemning the continuous widespread misuse of counter-terrorism and
anti‑extremism laws to suppress dissent, including through enforcing new Russian
legislation with the intent to dissuade the residents of the temporarily occupied
territories of Ukraine from peaceful protests, in accordance with their rights to
freedom of expression and opinion and freedom of peaceful assembly, following and
during the war of aggression by the Russian Federation against Ukraine,
Strongly condemning, in this regard, the ongoing pressure and mass detentions
on terrorism, extremism and espionage or related grounds and other forms of
repression against journalists and other media workers, lawyers, human rights
defenders and civil rights activists, including against activists of the Crimean
Solidarity civic initiative, which documents violations and provides humanitarian
assistance to the families of victims of politically motivated prosecutions,
Recalling the judgment of the International Court of Justice of 31 January 2024
in Application of the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing
of Terrorism and of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Racial Discrimination (Ukraine v. Russian Federation),35
Recalling also the judgment of the International Court of Justice of 2 February
2024 in Allegations of Genocide under the Convention on the Prevention and
Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Ukraine v. Russian Federation),36
Recalling further the prohibition under the Geneva Conventions of 12 August
1949 for the occupying Power to compel protected persons to serve in its armed or
auxiliary forces, including medical staff, and strongly condemning any forced
conscription and mobilization to the armed forces of the Russian Federation in the
temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine against the backdrop of the war of
aggression by the Russian Federation against Ukraine,
Recalling that the safety of journalists, other media workers and a free press, or
other media, are essential for the realization of the rights to freedom of expression
and freedom to seek, receive and impart information and the enjoyment of other
human rights and fundamental freedoms, concerned about reports that journalists,
media workers and citizen journalists continue to face unjustified interference with
their reporting activities in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, and
expressing deep concern that journalists, media workers and citizen journalists have
been arbitrarily arrested, detained, prosecuted, harassed, intimidated, tortured and
killed as a direct result of their reporting activities, in particular for covering
developments in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine as well as the war of
aggression by the Russian Federation against Ukraine,
Condemning the blocking by the Russian Federation of Ukrainian websites and
television channels and the seizure of Ukrainian transmission frequencies in the
temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, which entails completely blocking access
to Ukrainian education, as well as the use of mass media controlled by the occupying
Power to incite hatred against Ukrainians, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, Crimean
Tatars, Muslims, Jehovah’s Witnesses and activists and to call for atrocities against
Ukrainians,
Expressing grave concern at the findings of the Independent International
Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine that the Russian authorities, pursuant to a
coordinated State policy, have engaged in widespread and systematic torture,
_______________
35 See Official Records of the General Assembly, Seventy-ninth Session, Supplement No. 4 (A/79/4),
chap. V, sect. A.
36 Ibid.
A/RES/80/223
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including sexual violence, against civilians and prisoners of war, amounting to war
crimes and crimes against humanity,
Reiterating its concern regarding military use of the temporarily occupied
territories of Ukraine and their infrastructure, including civilian, in the war of
aggression by the Russian Federation against Ukraine, which entails considerable
long-term negative environmental consequences in the region, impacting civilians’
enjoyment of their human rights,
Recalling that the Russian Federation bears legal responsibility as the occupying
Power for the occupied territory, and deploring the destruction of the Kakhovka
hydroelectric power plant, which has had catastrophic long-term humanitarian,
economic, agricultural and environmental consequences in the region, and severely
impacts civilians’ enjoyment of their human rights, and also strongly condemning the
refusal of the request of the United Nations for humanitarian access across the Dnipro
River to the affected residents in the areas under the temporary occupation of the
Russian Federation,
Condemning the continuous use of the temporarily occupied territories of
Ukraine for missile and drone strikes across Ukraine, causing numerous civilian
casualties and impacting civilian objects, including deliberate attacks against critical
energy infrastructure and attacks impacting medical facilities,
Gravely concerned that attacks on Ukrainian civilian port infrastructure, means
of navigation and grain terminals and the intended blockade of the ports of Ukraine,
as well as threats of use of force against civilian and merchant vessels in the Black
Sea heading to and from the ports of Ukraine, undermine critical global food supply
routes, in particular to the most vulnerable regions, thus threatening global food
security and access to affordable, safe and nutritious food for all those in need,
Welcoming the continued efforts of the Secretary-General, the United Nations
High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe, the Council of Europe, the Independent International Commission of
Inquiry on Ukraine and other international and regional organizations to support
Ukraine in respecting, protecting and fulfilling human rights, and expressing concern
over the lack of safe and unfettered access by established regional and international
human rights monitoring mechanisms and human rights non‑governmental
organizations to the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine,
Strongly condemning the forcible transfer of Ukrainian children and other
civilians within the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine and their deportation
to the Russian Federation, and the separation of families and of children from legal
guardians, and any subsequent change of children’s personal status, adoption or
placement in foster families, and efforts to indoctrinate them, which have been carried
out as part of violations of international human rights law and international
humanitarian law, and calling upon the Russian Federation to work with humanitarian
actors to ensure the safe and timely return of all Ukrainian children,
Welcoming the efforts undertaken within the framework of the International
Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children, aimed at consolidating international
support, fostering coordinated action and dialogue among States, relevant
international and regional organizations and humanitarian actors, and contributing to
ensuring the prompt, safe and unconditional return of children unlawfully deported or
forcibly transferred within the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, including
the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, in accordance with
obligations under international law, including the Convention on the Rights of the
Child, and recalling the need to ensure accountability for such violations,
Situation of human rights in the temporarily occupied territories of
Ukraine, including the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the
city of Sevastopol
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Noting the issuance of warrants of arrest by the International Criminal Court for
Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, and Maria Lvova-Belova,
Commissioner for Children’s Rights in the Office of the President of the Russian
Federation, on the basis that there are reasonable grounds to believe that they are
responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation of children and that of unlawful
transfer of children from temporarily occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian
Federation,
Noting also the issuance of warrants of arrest by the International Criminal
Court for Sergei Shoigu, Minister of Defence of the Russian Federation at the time of
the alleged conduct, and Valery Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff of the Armed
Forces of the Russian Federation and First Deputy Minister of Defence of the Russian
Federation at the time of the alleged conduct, on the basis that there are reasonable
grounds to believe that they are responsible for the war crime of directing attacks at
civilian objects and the war crime of causing excessive incidental harm to civilians,
or damage to civilian objects, and the crime against humanity of other inhumane acts,
Noting further the inclusion for the third consecutive year of the Russian armed
forces and affiliated armed groups as a persistent perpetrator of grave violations
against children in an annex to the annual report of the Secretary-General on children
and armed conflict,37 specifically for the killing and maiming of children and attacks
on schools and hospitals in Ukraine,
Expressing deep concern at the full range of threats and human rights violations
and abuses experienced by women and girls affected by the war of aggression by the
Russian Federation against Ukraine and under the temporary occupation of the
Russian Federation, and recognizing that women and girls are particularly at risk and
are often specifically targeted and at an increased risk of violence under occupation,
and in war and post-war situations,
Commending the efforts of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General
on Sexual Violence in Conflict on the prevention of and response to conflict-related
sexual violence in Ukraine,
Recalling that the Russian armed and security forces and affiliated armed groups
have been listed in the 2025 report of the Secretary-General on conflict-related sexual
violence38 in the appendix concerning parties on notice for potential listing in the next
report to the Security Council,
Acknowledging the importance of the investigation conducted by the Independent
International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine and emphasizing the role played by
the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in
contributing to an objective appraisal of the situation of human rights in Ukraine, and
in this regard welcoming the investigation by the International Criminal Court,
Strongly condemning violations of the rights of Ukrainian prisoners of war,
including those documented by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry
on Ukraine and the mission of experts under the Moscow Mechanism, through the
widespread and systematic use of torture and other forms of ill-treatment, including
those involving sexual and gender-based violence, the degrading conditions of their
detention and the failure to provide adequate medical care,
Gravely concerned that the temporary occupation of Crimea became a blueprint
for a grave human rights crisis in other territories of Ukraine under temporary
occupation by the Russian Federation,
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37 A/79/878-S/2025/247.
38 S/2025/389.
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Affirming that the seizure of territories of Ukraine, including Crimea, by force
is illegal and a violation of international law, and affirming also that control of all of
the territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders, extending to its
territorial waters, must be immediately restored to Ukraine,
1.
Condemns in the strongest terms the war of aggression by the Russian
Federation against Ukraine in violation of Article 2 (4) of the Charter of the United
Nations, and the use of temporarily occupied Crimea for this and to support the
attempted illegal annexation of the Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Luhansk
Oblasts;
2.
Demands that the Russian Federation immediately cease its war of
aggression against Ukraine and unconditionally withdraw all of its military forces
from the territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders, extending
to its territorial waters;
3.
Strongly condemns the continuing and total disregard by the Russian
Federation for its obligations under international law, including the Charter of the
United Nations, regarding its legal responsibility for the temporarily occupied
territory, including the responsibility to respect Ukrainian law and the rights of all
civilians;
4.
Condemns the failure of the Russian Federation to comply with the
repeated requests and demands of the General Assembly, as well as with the orders of
the International Court of Justice;
5.
Also condemns violations and abuses of human rights law and international
humanitarian law perpetrated by the Russian occupying authorities against the
residents of the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, including discrimination
against Ukrainians, Crimean Tatars and persons belonging to other ethnic and
religious groups;
6.
Demands that the Russian Federation respect obligations under
international law with regard to respecting the Ukrainian legislation in force prior to
the temporary occupation;
7.
Urges the Russian Federation:
(a)
To uphold all of its obligations under applicable international law;
(b)
To fully and immediately comply with the order of the International Court
of Justice of 16 March 2022;
(c)
To take all measures necessary to bring an immediate end to all violations
and abuses of international human rights law and violations of international
humanitarian law against residents of the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine,
in particular reported discriminatory measures and practices, arbitrary detentions and
arrests, violations and abuses within the framework of the filtration procedures,
enforced disappearances, torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment,
sexual and gender-based violence, including to compel apprehended persons to self-
incriminate or “cooperate” with law enforcement, ensure fair trial, revoke all
discriminatory legislation and hold accountable those responsible for those violations
and abuses by ensuring the independent, impartial and effective investigation of all
allegations;
(d)
To halt arrests and prosecutions of residents of the temporarily occupied
territories of Ukraine for non‑criminal acts committed or opinions expressed,
including in social media comments or posts, and release all residents who have been
arrested or imprisoned for such acts;
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(e)
To respect the laws in force in Ukraine, repeal laws unlawfully imposed
by the Russian Federation in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine that allow
for forced evictions and the confiscation of private property, including land, as well
as the natural and agricultural resources of Ukraine, in violation of applicable
international law, and respect the property rights of all former owners affected by
previous confiscations;
(f)
To provide reliable information on the whereabouts of forcibly
disappeared and missing Ukrainian citizens, as well as civilian detainees, transferred
and deported children, and prisoners of war, so as to ensure their communication with
their families, lawyers and relevant international actors, including the International
Committee of the Red Cross, and to immediately release and allow the return to
Ukraine, without preconditions, of Ukrainian citizens who were unlawfully detained,
as well as those transferred or deported by the Russian Federation;
(g)
To disclose the number and identity of individuals deported from the
temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine to the Russian Federation and take
immediate action to allow the voluntary return of such individuals to Ukraine;
(h)
To end the practice of placing detainees in solitary confinement cells,
punitive isolation or other severe conditions as a method of intimidation;
(i)
To monitor and accommodate the medical needs of all Ukrainian citizens
in detention, including prisoners of war, those unlawfully detained and convicted on
politically motivated grounds in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine and
in the Russian Federation and allow the monitoring of those detainees’ state of health
and conditions of detention by independent international monitors and physicians
from reputable international health organizations, including the European Committee
for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
and the International Committee of the Red Cross, as well as to release detainees in
critical health condition, especially if their illnesses are mentioned in the list of
diseases that prevent detention, and investigate effectively all deaths in detention;
(j)
To uphold the rights, in accordance with international law and until their
release, of Ukrainian prisoners and detainees in the temporarily occupied territories
of Ukraine and in the Russian Federation, including those on hunger strike, and
encourages it to respect the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the
Treatment of Prisoners (the Nelson Mandela Rules) 39 and the United Nations Rules
for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial Measures for Women
Offenders (the Bangkok Rules);40
(k)
To address ongoing impunity and ensure that those responsible for
violations and abuses of human rights law and violations of international
humanitarian law are held accountable before an independent and impartial judiciary;
(l)
To create and maintain a safe and enabling environment for journalists and
media workers and citizen journalists, human rights defenders and lawyers to perform
their work independently and without undue interference, including by refraining
from travel bans, deportations, arbitrary arrests, detention and prosecution, and other
restrictions on the enjoyment of their rights;
(m) To respect, protect and fulfil freedom of opinion and expression, which
includes the freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any
media and regardless of frontiers, and ensure a safe and enabling environment for
independent media pluralism and for civil society organizations;
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39 Resolution 70/175, annex.
40 Resolution 65/229, annex.
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(n)
To respect freedom of thought, conscience and religion or belief, without
discrimination on any grounds, to lift discriminatory regulatory barriers prohibiting
or limiting the activities of religious groups in the temporarily occupied territories of
Ukraine, including but not limited to parishioners of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine,
Muslim Crimean Tatars and Jehovah’s Witnesses, and to permit unimpeded access,
without any undue restrictions, to places of worship as well as gatherings for prayer
and other religious practices;
(o)
To restore enjoyment of the rights of all individuals, without any
discrimination based on origin, revoke the decisions that banned cultural institutions
and restore enjoyment of the rights of individuals belonging to ethnic communities in
the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, in particular ethnic Ukrainians and
Crimean Tatars, including the right to freely participate in the cultural life of the
community;
(p)
To respect, protect and fulfil the right to be free from arbitrary or unlawful
interference with a person’s privacy, family, home or correspondence;
(q)
To ensure that the right to freedom of opinion and expression and the rights
to peaceful assembly and freedom of association can be exercised by all residents of
the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine in any form, including single-person
pickets, without any restrictions other than those permissible under international law,
including international human rights law, and without discrimination on any grounds,
to end the practices of abusing requirements of prior authorization for peaceful
assemblies and issuing warnings or threats to potential participants in those
assemblies and to lift bans on the activities of non‑governmental organizations,
human rights organizations and media outlets;
(r)
To refrain from imposing criminal penalties on individuals for exercising
the rights to freedom of expression and to peaceful assembly, and to quash all
penalties imposed on residents of the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine for
expressing dissenting views, such as regarding the status of temporarily occupied
territories of Ukraine and the war of aggression by the Russian Federation against
Ukraine;
(s)
To ensure real and effective conditions for education in the Ukrainian and
Crimean Tatar languages, and end all legislative and other practices aimed at blocking
access to Ukrainian education, which constitute a pattern of racial discrimination;
(t)
To respect the rights of the Indigenous Peoples of Ukraine set out in the
United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, revoke immediately
the decision declaring the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People an extremist
organization and banning its activities, repeal the decision banning leaders of the
Mejlis from entering Crimea, repeal the sentences, including in absentia, against
Crimean Tatars and their leaders and immediately release those arbitrarily detained,
and refrain from maintaining or imposing limitations on the ability of the Crimean
Tatars to conserve their representative institutions;
(u)
To stop the illegal drafting and mobilization of residents of the temporarily
occupied territories of Ukraine into the armed forces of the Russian Federation, stop
pressure aimed at compelling residents of the temporarily occupied territories of
Ukraine to serve in the armed or auxiliary forces of the Russian Federation to
participate in hostilities against their own State, as well as using propaganda, also
targeted at children and through the education system, and ensure strict compliance
with its international obligations as an occupying Power;
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(v)
To end also the practice of criminal prosecution of inhabitants who resist
conscription and mobilization into the armed or auxiliary forces of the Russian
Federation;
(w) To end the practice of deporting Ukrainian citizens from the temporarily
occupied territories of Ukraine for not taking Russian citizenship, stop transferring
its own civilian population to these territories and end the policy of forcibly altering
the demographic composition, including the ethnic composition, by encouraging or
facilitating the migration and settlement of Russian citizens in these areas;
(x)
To immediately and unconditionally reverse the decision to simplify the
procedure for obtaining citizenship of the Russian Federation for Ukrainian orphans
or children left without parental care;
(y)
To provide to the relevant international and humanitarian organizations
full information on the current whereabouts of and access to all Ukrainian children
who were forcibly transferred within the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine
or deported to the Russian Federation, including those subsequently adopted or placed
within Russian families, in order to ensure that these children are provided protection
and care in accordance with international law, including the right to return to Ukraine;
(z)
To cease forcible transfers or deportation of Ukraine’s children and other
civilians and take all necessary steps with a view to their safe return and family
reunification in line with the best interests of the child and in accordance with
international law;
(aa) To cooperate fully and immediately with the Office of the United Nations
High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe and the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine,
which must have safe, secure and unhindered access to the entire territory of Ukraine,
including the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, and the Council of Europe
on the situation of human rights in the territories of Ukraine temporarily occupied by
the Russian Federation;
(bb) To create the conditions, as well as provide the means, to allow for the
voluntary, safe, dignified and unhindered return to their homes of all internally
displaced persons and refugees affected by the temporary occupation of territories of
Ukraine by the Russian Federation;
(cc) To secure appropriate conditions for the detention of Ukrainian prisoners
of war in accordance with the requirements of the Geneva Convention relative to the
Treatment of Prisoners of War, of 12 August 1949,41 including through the setting up
of a mixed medical commission, and to ensure the complete exchange of prisoners of
war;
(dd) To ensure compliance with obligations under international law, including
humanitarian law and the 1954 Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in
the Event of Armed Conflict,42 regarding the preservation of monuments of the cultural
heritage of Ukraine in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, in particular
regarding the Khan Palace in Bakhchysarai and the monument “The ancient city of
Chersonese and its Chora”, to prevent and stop reported illegal archaeological
excavations in Crimea and other temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, and the
illicit transfer of cultural property of Ukraine outside the territory of Ukraine;
8.
Calls upon all parties to the conflict to uphold their obligations under
international human rights law and international humanitarian law, to ensure the
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41 United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 75, No. 972.
42 Ibid., vol. 249, No. 3511.
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protection of civilians and vulnerable populations and to take all measures necessary
to prevent violations and abuses of human rights and violations of international
humanitarian law, including those involving arbitrary detention, torture, enforced
disappearance and discrimination;
9.
Calls upon the Russian Federation to address the substantive concerns and
all recommendations highlighted in the reports of the Secretary-General and the
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the situation
of human rights in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, including the
Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, as well as previous
relevant recommendations from reports on the situation of human rights in Ukraine
by the Office of the High Commissioner based on the work of the human rights
monitoring mission in Ukraine established to prevent further deterioration of human
rights in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine;
10. Supports the efforts of Ukraine to maintain economic, financial, political,
social, informational, cultural and other ties with its citizens in the temporarily
occupied territories of Ukraine in order to facilitate their access to democratic
processes, economic opportunities and objective information;
11.
Calls upon all international organizations and specialized agencies of the
United Nations system, when referring to the temporarily occupied territories of
Ukraine, including the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol,
in their official documents, communications, publications, information and reports,
including with regard to statistical data of the Russian Federation or provided by the
Russian Federation, as well as those placed or used on official United Nations Internet
resources and platforms, to refer to “the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city
of Sevastopol, and certain areas of the Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Luhansk
Oblasts, Ukraine, temporarily occupied by the Russian Federation”, and to refer to
bodies of the Russian Federation and their representatives in the temporarily occupied
territories of Ukraine as “occupying authorities of the Russian Federation”, and
encourages all States and other international organizations to do the same;
12. Calls upon Member States to support human rights defenders in the
temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine and across Ukraine and to continue
advocacy at bilateral and multilateral forums for the upholding of human rights,
including by condemning the violations and abuses committed by the Russian
Federation in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine;
13. Also calls upon Member States to engage constructively in concerted
efforts, including within international frameworks and the International Crimea
Platform, aimed at improving the human rights situation in the temporarily occupied
territories of Ukraine, as well as to continue to use all diplomatic means to press and
urge the Russian Federation to comply with its obligations under international human
rights law and international humanitarian law and to grant unimpeded access to the
temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine for established regional and international
human rights monitoring mechanisms, in particular the human rights monitoring
mission in Ukraine and the Ukraine Monitoring Initiative of the Office for Democratic
Institutions and Human Rights of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe;
14. Condemns all attempts by the Russian Federation to legitimize or
normalize its attempted illegal annexation of the territories of Ukraine, including the
mandatory issuance of citizenship of the Russian Federation to residents of the
temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, election campaigns and voting,
population census, forcible change of the demographic structure of the population and
suppression of national identity;
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15. Calls upon the international community to continue to support the work of
the United Nations to uphold international human rights law and international
humanitarian law in the territories of Ukraine temporarily occupied by the Russian
Federation;
16. Requests the Secretary-General to continue to seek ways and means,
including through consultations with the United Nations High Commissioner for
Human Rights and relevant regional organizations, to ensure safe and unfettered
access to Crimea and other territories of Ukraine temporarily occupied by the Russian
Federation by established regional and international human rights monitoring
mechanisms, in particular the human rights monitoring mission in Ukraine and the
Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine, to enable them to carry
out their mandates;
17. Urges the Russian Federation to ensure the proper and unimpeded access of
international human rights monitoring missions and human rights non‑governmental
organizations to the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, including all places
where persons may be deprived of their liberty, recognizing that the international
presence and monitoring of compliance with international human rights law and
international humanitarian law are of paramount importance in preventing further
deterioration of the situation;
18. Decides to include the item entitled “The situation in the temporarily
occupied territories of Ukraine” in the annual agenda of the General Assembly;
19. Requests the Secretary-General to remain actively seized of the matter, and
to take all steps necessary, including within the Secretariat, to ensure the full and
effective coordination of all United Nations bodies with regard to the implementation
of the present resolution;
20. Also requests the Secretary-General to continue to provide his good offices
and pursue his discussions relating to the matter, involving all relevant stakeholders
and including the concerns addressed in the present resolution;
21. Further requests the Secretary-General to report to the General Assembly
at its eighty-first session on the progress made in the implementation of all provisions
of the present resolution, including options and recommendations to improve its
implementation, and to submit for consideration an interim report to the Human
Rights Council at its sixty-second session, to be followed by an interactive dialogue,
in accordance with Council resolution 59/22 of 8 July 2025;43
22. Decides to continue its consideration of the matter at its eighty-first
session under the item entitled “Promotion and protection of human rights”.
69th plenary meeting
18 December 2025
_______________
43 See Official Records of the General Assembly, Eightieth Session, Supplement No. 53 (A/80/53),
chap. VI, sect. A.
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