‘Canada Votes Yes – for Humanity’: Bob Rae to the UNGA Special Session on Ukraine

Mr. President. Mr. Secretary-General. Distinguished delegates.

This has been a defining time for the United Nations.

The Russian Federation is continuing its illegal invasion of Ukraine, an unprovoked aggression against its neighbour.  Russia has expressed no repentance and has carried on unabated since we last met to condemn its actions as a serious violation of the UN Charter. 

In the last few days the International Court of Justice has also ordered that Russia immediately suspend its military operation in Ukraine. Yet, a permanent member of the Security Council, creator of the Nuremberg process, signatory to the creation of the International Court of Justice, and to the Geneva Conventions, carries on as if there is no law, and no rules above them.  

Mr. President,

The humanitarian situation in Ukraine is grave. Scores of innocent civilians, including children, have been killed and injured. And it is worsening by the hour.

We are witnessing before our eyes the premeditated destruction of entire cities. What is happening in Mariupol right now tells you everything you need to know about Russia’s cruel war of aggression.

Russia is laying siege to the city and its people, bombing hospitals and schools, and flatting entire apartment complexes. Expectant mothers, children, and the medical staff at the children’s hospital and maternity ward were slaughtered in a particularly gruesome attack on the 9th of March. This is part of a horrific trend: in just 25 days, the UN has verified 52 attacks against health care in Ukraine.

Let me be clear: medical personnel and facilities are protected under international humanitarian law. These attacks, and all attacks against civilians and civilian areas, must stop.

Mr. President, there is no justification for these attacks, and there is nothing “special” about Russia’s military operation in Ukraine.  It is directed at whole cities, where they call home. But let us remember that this is an armed conflict which gives rise to obligations for all parties under international humanitarian law.

These laws are designed to protect civilians, limit suffering, and ensure those in need of aid receive it. These obligations cannot be willed or bargained away. They apply to Russia, and to Ukraine. And they must be observed.  

The resolution before us – Humanitarian consequences of the aggression against Ukraine, co-sponsored by more than 80 countries – affirms this by demanding full compliance with international humanitarian law, and for desperately-need humanitarian access.

Mr. President,

More than 10 million Ukrainians have been forced to flee their homes. Ten million. That is more people forcibly displaced by Russia’s military in Ukraine than the entire population of more than 100 states represented in this Assembly.

Well over three million refugees have fled Ukraine since the start of this war. This is creating huge strains on neighbouring countries – and adding unnecessarily to the already record numbers of refugees and displaced persons globally who have fled from Afghanistan, from Venezuela, the Sahel region, Syria, Myanmar, and other conflicts.

While we are focused today on Ukraine, we cannot not neglect these and other situations. Humanitarian needs everywhere deserve as much care and attention. Canada will continue to respond to those needs, just as we respond to catastrophe unfolding in Ukraine.

Mr. President,

The socio-economic impacts of Russia’s war of aggression are devastating Ukraine. But they are also felt outside of the region – in least-developed countries, and by vulnerable populations, around the world.  

Rising energy prices. Supply chain disruptions. Impacts on food security.

Food shortages in particular lead to higher prices, to hardships, to instability, and to malnutrition, starvation, and even famine.  

These impacts of Russia’s war of choice threaten hard won progress on development, distract the world from its recovery from the COVID pandemic, and undermine efforts to combat climate change and achieve the SDGs.  

But let us be clear: these impacts, these crises, as serious as they are can all be reduced tomorrow if Russia ends its war of aggression. Russia must end this war before more damage is done.

The General Assembly, in its first resolution from this Emergency Special Session, deplored Russia’s actions as a violation of the Charter of the United Nations, its purposes, and its principles.

Russia’s war is not just against Ukraine. It is against the principles and commitments we have collectively taken by signing up to the UN Charter. It is a war against peace, against progress, against the freedom of nations and peoples to choose their own destinies.  We are the United Nations, not Empires at war.

Mr. President, colleagues, this is a war that President Putin cannot win.

Russia has blocked the Security Council from discharging its fundamental duty: to protect the peace and security of the world. It has likewise blocked the Council, through the threat of a veto from adopting a humanitarian resolution.

So, it again falls to the General Assembly to defend the rules-based international system, with the UN and its Charter at the center.

We have before us today a resolution that we believe should earn the support of every country.  Canada commends it to you for your support.  

We have listened very carefully, in this Assembly and in our conversations, to the concerns expressed by all Member States. All have proclaimed a concern for civilians, for women, for children, for students, for refugees.   

We were asked to address concerns about impacts on Least Developed Countries; discrimination against any refugee fleeing Ukraine; the safety of foreign students; food security; and the need to fully fund the UN’s Global Humanitarian Response Plan.  

The resolution tabled by Ukraine does just that – in addition to demanding the protection of civilians, and safe and unhindered humanitarian access.

There has been a suggestion that a humanitarian resolution should not say anything about the immediate cause of the crisis, or ascribe responsibility to any one party.  Mr. President, this is not a natural disaster.  A humanitarian crisis of this type is not a spontaneous event. It is the direct result of a deliberate decision by one country, the Russian Federation, to invade another, Ukraine.

We cannot be expected to discuss Moby Dick with talking about the whale. If we do not identify the aggressor and do not insist that it uphold its obligation to fully respect international law and comply with the legally binding order of the International Court of Justice, then we have failed to do our job.  A ceasefire and a withdrawal of occupying troops is necessary to take the next steps.

Le fondateur suisse de la Croix Rouge International Henri Dunant fut si touché par la dévastation humaine sur le champ de bataille à Solferino qu’il a commencé son travail exemplaire menant aux principes fondateurs de l’aide humanitaire et aux obligations de tous en temps de guerre.

On dit que ses dernières paroles avant sa mort ont été “où est l’humanité?”

Nous devons aujourd’hui répondre: “nous sommes ici “

Canada votes yes today on resolution L.2 for this reason – for humanity.

We vote yes for humanity not in the name of being able to solve all the problems of the world, but rather because we have to take the footsteps to peace, truth, justice, and reconciliation.  As the Canadian poet Leonard Cohen put it:

“There are no perfect offerings

There is a crack in everything

That’s where the light gets in”

Let us keep our eyes on the light, and face the time ahead in love and solidarity with one another.  

Thank you, Mr. President.

Bob Rae is Canada’s ambassador to the United Nations.