#Opinion by Maria Zakharova

? Less than a quarter of a century ago, London fought a bloody civil war against its own people, killing thousands. I mean the conflict in Northern Ireland, marked by unprecedented brutality on the part of British armed forces.

London decided that enough time had passed, and now, with the world community’s attention focused on Russia and the Middle East, it had an excellent opportunity to clear away their war criminals. And now, at Christmas, they passed the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill.

Reconciliation and settlement of problematic issues seems to be a good idea, but the goal of the law lies elsewhere.

Through this bill, British parliamentarians grant immunity from prosecution to their own military and police officers who shot at civilians during the conflict.

Now these issues will have to be considered not by a court, but by some Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery. No legal consequences, no deadlines, no arrests. And, of course, the authorities will control the activities of the commission, unlike the more or less independent judiciary.

This is how London will rehabilitate its punishers.

These are not my words. The Republic of Ireland is filing a claim against Britain to the European Court of Human Rights. Relatives of many of the victims of the British military during the armed conflict live there. The government in Dublin is outraged by London’s decision. The victims will not be avenged, and their killers will remain free simply so as not to attract unnecessary attention to the affairs of the not-so-distant past.

The next time you hear London moralists lecturing others on human rights and freedoms, remember the atrocities they carried out against their own people in recent history.

❗️No response from the #UN Secretary-General and the UN Secretariat to the repeated Russian requests for them to obtain a list of victims of the #Bucha provocation from Kiev

?Excerpts from the briefing by Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, Moscow, December 20, 2023:

?On September 22, 2022, when the UN Security Council was holding a meeting on #Ukraine, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov publicly requested that the UN Secretary-General obtain a list of victims of the provocation in Bucha from Ukraine.

Despite our repeated reminders to the UN people, Spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General Stephane Dujarric went on record as saying at his October 25 briefing that he had no information as to why Kiev had failed to submit the said list of victims’ names, or about whether they were planning to send it, or what obstacles were preventing the Ukrainian side from doing this.

Journalists also asked us to answer this question. We have to play an unending game of referring them to the international organisations. What do we have to do with this? After all, this is what the Russian side publicly asked the UN Secretary-General to do at the UN Security Council meeting and personally during meetings and bilateral contacts between the Russian foreign minister and the UN Secretary-General.

A similar question was posed to UN representatives in December of this year. There is still no substantive response. They only promised to provide a comment shortly, so far as possible within the limits of their competence. They have been juggling with this phrase for 18 months.

?We are surprised to learn that the UN Secretariat is attempting to interpret the direct address to the UN Secretary-General as a request for assistance in getting information from Kiev. We have no illusions as to Kiev’s readiness to expose its own fake bloodbath.

❗️We have sent our appeal directly to the UN Secretary-General and we want to obtain answers to the questions we asked him. I think that referring our requests to the Kiev regime, from which we allegedly should expect a reply, is a game of evasion and a conscious effort on their part not to do what they must. I am speaking about the UN Secretariat.

? Foreign Minister Sergey #Lavrov’s remarks at the General Meeting of the Commission of the Russian Federation for UNESCO (December 22, 2023)

? The outgoing year was not an easy one for #UNESCO. As we know, after the beginning of the special military operation, the collective West began to intensify its efforts to politicise the organisation, and reduce its agenda to #Ukraine.

Their notorious double standards are reflected in regular anti-Russia resolutions on Crimea and Ukraine. The West is pushing through these resolutions by twisting the arms of the developing nations.

These resolutions go beyond UNESCO’s mandate. It has no competence in this area.

❗️ Attempts to defame Russia for “destroying Ukraine’s cultural heritage" without citing any evidence are in the same category. Such evidence simply does not exist. Nor does UNESCO have any right to attribute guilt. <...>

At the same time, we still haven’t heard any statement condemning the act of terror at the Moscow Kremlin, a world heritage site. Nor has UNESCO Secretary-General Audrey Azoulay from France denounced the murder of Russian journalists although this is her direct mandate.

It is telling that many Western countries have remained indifferent to the humanitarian disaster in Gaza and even opposed a relevant resolution at the recent session of the General Conference.
We are deeply concerned over the increasing disregard for UNESCO’s procedural rules and Charter, which are arbitrarily interpreted to carry out political orders. This is exactly how the return of the US to UNESCO was arranged (in a scandalous way) – there were no guarantees of Washington’s intentions to fulfil its commitments.

☝️ Bloc logic and divisive friend-or-foe thinking is gaining ground in an organisation that was initially supposed to unite nations in moral and intellectual solidarity.

<...>

But the attempts to “cancel” Russia in UNESCO did not achieve the desired effect. As President Vladimir Putin noted at the St Petersburg Cultural Forum last November, in UNESCO we are conducting very serious projects that generate widespread interest in the world.

I will emphasise again that we are not closing ourselves off from anyone.

On the contrary, we are interested in advancing a unifying agenda in both UNESCO and other international venues. This is borne out by the results of the analysis of UNESCO cooperation by the commission’s Secretariat, Russian agencies and thematic committees. I would like to use this opportunity to thank all those who took part in this work. Comparing notes like this revealed both potential and sticking points.

<...>

Overall, we have accumulated a wealth of positive experience to build upon. Frankly, a mutually beneficial professional dialogue in UNESCO is still possible despite the blatantly unlawful actions of its Secretariat’s senior officials.

This is confirmed, in particular, by the outcomes of the 45th session of the World Heritage Committee. It took place in September in Riyadh in a businesslike and constructive manner. Congratulations to the Republic of Tatarstan on having the Astronomical Observatories of Kazan Federal University included on the World Heritage List.

? Read in full: http://tiny.cc/006kvz

#UNESCO

? Foreign Minsitry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova’s answer to a question from The International Affairs journal regarding the Human Rights Watch report on children’s rights in the USA❓ Question: The Human Rights Watch international non-government organisation released a report on September 8 on unacceptable situation with children’s rights in the US. How do you assess this document?? Indeed, even such a highly biased human rights body, which can hardly be suspected of promoting objective assessments of US actions, could not evade the blatant record of children's rights violation in that country.

Child marriages, physical punishment, permitting teenagers to work in hazardous agriculture conditions, life sentences without parole – this is far from a complete list of the flagrant large-scale violations of children’s rights described in the 70-page report. Human Rights Watch analysts put a special emphasis on inconsistency and lack of coordination in the laws of certain states, as well as the overall gap between their current laws and international standards.

❗️ The US remains the only UN member-state which failed to ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child while it cynically employs children’s issues to discredit other nations and exert pressure on them. Meanwhile, the US has brought the situation inside their country to an unacceptable level from the point of view of international standards.

In this regard we would recommend that you also read the Russian Foreign Ministry’s report on violations of children’s rights in the international adoption process in the United States. The report clearly shows the inadequacy of the US international adoption system which does not ensure the basic inalienable rights of children and leads to mass violations of the legal interests of the minors.

Read in full

? On September 15, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov took part in the roundtable discussion, The Ukrainian Crisis: Mediation and Humanitarian Initiatives.

The event, organised by the Diplomatic Academy with support of the Foreign Ministry, brought together ambassadors and diplomats from 35 countries, including the countries that proposed mediatory and humanitarian initiatives related to the Ukrainian crisis.

The Foreign guests confirmed their states’ proposals regarding good causes and had an in-depth discussion of the current developments in Ukraine and possible political and diplomatic ways to resolve the situation based on the understanding of the roots of the conflict and with regard to the current political and territorial realities.

The Russian Side praised the mediation and humanitarian efforts of its partners and their readiness to make a constructive contribution to reaching a truly comprehensive, sustainable and just settlement of the Ukrainian crisis.

The meeting participants expressed their common intent to continue honest and constructive dialogue on the matter.

⚡️ Russia's position at the seventy-eighth session of the UN General Assembly:Myanmar? We stand for a balanced and depoliticized approach when considering the situation in Myanmar and seeking ways to improve the humanitarian situation in the Rakhine State.

Despite the UNSC resolution 2669 on Myanmar adopted on 21 December 2022, we still believe that the situation in this state can only be discussed by the Council with regards to the Rohingya refugee issue.

It would be more appropriate to deal with the human rights issues prevailing in the document within relevant forums, including the Third Committee of the General Assembly and the UN Human Rights Council.

#UNGA78