According to Ukrinform's correspondent in New York, Latvia's Permanent Representative to the UN, Sanita Pavlyuta-Deslandes, said that the purpose of the meeting was to focus on people who were supposed to be protected by international humanitarian law and international human rights law, but whose rights Russia violated every day.

According to her, the meeting was initiated by Latvia, the United Kingdom, and Ukraine with the aim of drawing attention to violations of the Geneva Conventions involving thousands of arbitrarily detained Ukrainian civilians and discussing ways to ensure their protection.

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Pavlyuta-Deslandes identified systematic torture, cruel treatment, conflict-related sexual violence, and the execution of Ukrainian prisoners of war in Russian captivity as the second issue to be discussed.

The third issue, she said, was the participation of foreign fighters in the war.

She also said that many governments in Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America had expressed concern and called on Russia to stop the illegal recruitment of their citizens into its armed forces and military industry.

According to Pavlyuta-Deslandes, members of the Security Council must determine what they can do to put an end to such violations of international law.

As Ukrinform reported, participants in the meeting include Crimean Tatar human rights activist Lenie Umerova; Ukrainian Armed Forces Junior Sergeant Juan Alberto Leyva Garcia, who defended Mariupol in 2022 and spent more than three years in Russian captivity; Ukrainian lawyer and legal expert at the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War Oleh Hushchyn; and British-Turkish-Iranian documentary filmmaker Sheida Kiran.

Photo: video screenshot