Mr. Chair and members of the House of Commons Subcommittee on International Human Rights, thank you for inviting me to appear before you in view of your study of the current situation of human rights in Ukraine and Russia.
My name is Eugene Czolij. I'm the president of NGO Ukraine-2050 and the honorary consul of Ukraine in Montreal.
Needless to say, my task today was considerably simplified by the unanimous adoption on April 27, 2022, of a motion by the House of Commons of Canada correctly recognizing that the Russian Federation is committing acts of genocide against the Ukrainian people. Genocide is clearly the gravest crime and the worst violation of human rights.
A month and a half ago, on March 16, 2022, the International Court of Justice in The Hague rendered an interim judgment in the case of Ukraine v. Russian Federation, ruling first that both countries are parties to the UN Genocide Convention, and then stating that:
The Court considers that the civilian population affected by the present conflict is extremely vulnerable. The “special military operation” being conducted by the Russian Federation has resulted in numerous civilian deaths and injuries. It has also caused significant material damage, including the destruction of buildings and infrastructure. Attacks are ongoing and are creating increasingly difficult living conditions for the civilian population. Many people have no access to the most basic foodstuffs, potable water, electricity, essential medicines or heating. A very large number of people are attempting to flee from the most affected cities under extremely insecure conditions.
On that basis, the International Court of Justice ordered that: “the Russian Federation shall immediately suspend the military operations that it commenced on 24 February 2022 in the territory of Ukraine”.
Since then, on a daily basis, Russia has been blatantly violating this order of the International Court of Justice as Russian forces relentlessly pursue their vicious bombardment of the civilian population and infrastructure of Ukraine, including hospitals and schools as well as residential buildings, and commit countless war crimes by killing, raping, torturing and starving Ukraine's civilian population and forceably deporting children from the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine to Russia.
There is a saying that a picture is worth a thousand words, so please try to imagine today's reality in Ukraine as you listen to the following statement by Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, Liudmyla Denisova, reported on April 11, 2022, by the BBC.
About 25 girls and women aged 14 to 24 were systematically raped during the occupation in the basement of one house in Bucha. Nine of them are pregnant.... Russian soldiers told them they would rape them to the point where they wouldn't want sexual contact with any man, to prevent them from having Ukrainian children.
If that does not revolt you, nothing will.
With the most sophisticated intelligence reports available to him, about a month ago after this judgment, President Joe Biden qualified these atrocities as genocide. The President of the United States later explained:
I called it genocide because it's become clearer and clearer that Putin is just trying to wipe out the idea of even being able to be Ukrainian. The evidence is mounting.
For the record, one need only recall the gruesome images of Bucha, Borodianka, Irpin, Kramatorsk and Mariupol to name a few that made headlines.
Putin and the Kremlin are obviously aware of the atrocities being committed against the Ukrainian people and, by their conduct, endorse such acts of savagery and ensure that the Russian forces perpetuate them.
For instance—and I will end on this, Mr. Chair—on April 18, 2022, in a presidential decree, Putin honoured Russia's 64th motorized brigade that committed the horrendous war crimes in Bucha, by awarding it the title of “Guards” and stating that “The unit's staff became a role model in fulfilling its military duty, valour, dedication and professionalism”.