Joint Statement at the High-Level Meeting of the General Assembly on Improving Global Road Safety on the situation of road safety in Ukraine stemming from the Russian aggression
Joint Statement at the High-Level Meeting of the General Assembly on Improving Global Road Safety on the situation of road safety in Ukraine stemming from the Russian aggression on Thursday, 30 June 2022.
To be delivered by the Delegation of Lithuania on behalf of the European Union and its 27 member States, Albania, Andorra, Australia, Canada, Colombia, Georgia, Guatemala, Japan, Monaco, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Republic of Korea, Republic of Moldova, San Marino, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States.
We take part in the High-Level Meeting of the UN General Assembly on Improving Global Road Safety to reaffirm our commitment for continued action through 2030 on all road safety-related targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
We condemn the unjustifiable, unprovoked and illegal war of aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, which flagrantly violates international law, including the UN Charter. Since the first day of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, the national road infrastructure and the road safety have sustained heavy damage. According to the assessment by the Government of Ukraine, more than 23,000 km of road infrastructure and 300 bridges have been destroyed or damaged, since 24 February 2022. The scale of destruction continues to grow on a daily basis.
In line with UNGA resolutions ES-11/1 of 2 March 2022 and ES-11/2 of 24 March 2022, we urge the Russian Federation to immediately cease its military aggression against Ukraine and withdraw immediately, completely and unconditionally all its forces from Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders, extending to its territorial waters. We also condemn the complicity of the authorities of Belarus in this aggression against Ukraine.
In full support and solidarity with Ukraine and its people, we condemn any indiscriminate shelling and use of explosive weapons by the Russia’s forces in Ukraine that causes damage to and destroys critical civilian infrastructure, including roads, bridges, fuel warehouses and vehicles, indispensable for the delivery of essential services. Likewise, we firmly condemn the destroying civilian vehicles and humanitarian convoys, which violates international humanitarian law and results in killings, casualties and property destruction.
We are alarmed by the fact that Russia’s forces repeatedly blocked traffic of civilian vehicles out of Russia-controlled and conflict-affected territories to safe places. We are equally concerned by reports of fatal traffic accidents caused by Russian soldiers in Russia-controlled territories. All those responsible for such accidents must be held accountable.
We stress with deep concern that the Russian military aggression against Ukraine has already had an extremely negative impact on road safety, undermining Ukraine’s efforts to reach the road-safety-related targets of the 2030 Agenda, and might also slow improvement in the near future elsewhere.
We remain committed to work together to promote the Global Road Safety as an important element of our common efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
