Excellencies,  

I echo the UN Secretary-General in calling for the violence in Ukraine to end.

People’s lives, their dignity and human rights must be protected, and international human rights law and international humanitarian law must be respected.  

For three decades in Ukraine, UNDP has worked with local communities, helping them to exercise their rights, including in conflict-affected areas.

This week, UNDP joined the rest of the UN system, under the Flash Appeal, to ensure livelihood support, community and social cohesion, and emergency response.

UNDP works with government entities, civil society organizations, human rights defenders, and the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights which is the national human rights institution of Ukraine. 

To date, we continue to work with these partners to ensure inclusive, sustainable, and rights-based human development.

They are at the forefront of this crisis -- making a vital contribution to promote and protect human rights and support accountability and justice in Ukraine.

In these unprecedented circumstances, UNDP will continue to promote peacebuilding through local development and the promotion of human rights in Ukraine.

The UN family will stay and deliver for the people of Ukraine in their hour of need.