Skopje, 31 October 2024 (MIA) – Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Timcho Mucunski is taking part Wednesday and Thursday in the Ministerial Conference on Human Dimension of Ukraine’s Peace Formula by President Volodymyr Zelensky, held in the Canadian city of Montreal. As a co-partnership, the conference is organized by the foreign ministries of Canada, Norway and Ukraine. 

The event’s focus is on the treatment of political prisoners and POWs, illegally detained civilians and forcefully deported children, the Foreign Ministry said today.

Addressing a plenary session opening the conference, Minister Mucunski said that the essence of the conference touches upon not only the framework of international humanitarian law, but also the essence of “our common humanity.”

“We strongly condemn Russia’s aggressive war against Ukraine, which has caused irreparable loss of human lives and destruction. Russia’s full invasion of Ukraine is an attack of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine and blatant violation of the basic principles of international law, and first and foremost, the values of humanity,” stated Mucunski. 

Our country, he stressed, strongly condemns the continuing violation of international humanitarian law and human rights by Russia in Ukraine, which is a direct violation of international law and the Geneva Conventions. 

“All instances of violation and abuse of human rights and of international humanitarian law must be investigated and perpetrators must be brought to justice in line with international law,” the Minister said in his address.  

Honoring of democratic principles, human rights and dignity as well as rule of law are the only universal values that everyone should respect, Mucunski added. 

“Every moment we spend in this room reminds us that behind every statistic there is a human story – children separated from their families, a mother looking for their loved ones forced to leave their home,” he said. 

Concluding his address, Minister Mucunski reiterated the support for Ukraine’s efforts to establish a just and permanent peace based on the key principles and goals through Ukraine’s Peace Formula. 

Photo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade