Ukraine fighting for freedom, democracy

No one will deny that democratic values are universal for any country in the world, for all continents. Democracy, as a way of governing, chosen by the nations, can be an important topic of conversation between Botswana, one of the most democratic African countries, and Ukraine, where the traditions of a democratic system go back to the 17th century.

Today, Ukraine is fighting for its freedom and democracy, at the same time being a shield for universal human values for the whole world. Speaking to the African audience, I usually emphasise, that the Russian invasion of Ukraine is an act of flagrant imperialism.

Hardly anywhere else in the world do people understand this concept so well, and all African nations will agree with me that the return of imperialism is a global disaster. Intimidation, blackmail, wars and conflicts remain one of the imperial essences of Russian Federation, which has always sought to expand its spheres of influence everywhere in the world, including in Africa. Russia claims that it is increasingly investing in African countries, although this was not yet fully captured in the dataset, which show that only one percent of total foreign investments in Africa, was made by Russia.

My working visit to the Republic of Botswana comes at a time of trials and especially difficult decisions over the globe. The war waged by Russia against Ukraine reverberates far beyond the borders of my country and even beyond Europe. While Russian troops systematically violate the norms of international humanitarian law and international human rights law in Ukraine, deliberate and indiscriminate attacks on civilians, use them as hostages and human shield, carry out executions and commit acts of rapes forcefully conscript and kidnap, attacks on medical personnel and facilities, use of banned weapons etc., millions of African families are at the risk of starvation.

I urge Batswana to believe: Russia’s statements that Ukrainian agricultural products directed only to European countries are fake. Ukraine continues working with the UN World Food Programme to increase the amount of food sent to the countries, which need it most.

While this brutal war’s one single objective is to conquer Ukraine, at the same time it brings so much suffering to the world, being a source of threat to such things crucial to humanity as the system of international law, food security and the development of democratic and humanistic values.

Under such conditions, when it is difficult to talk about the observance of human rights, we must prioritise this topic and keep it on the agenda. Thus, I want to share some facts with you. Nearly 20% of Ukraine’s territory remains temporarily occupied by Russia. In the recently occupied areas, Russia reproduces the same patterns it has been using in Crimea and parts of Donbas since 2014: appoints occupation administration, forcefully imposes Russian passports and Russian legislation.

Responding to Ukrainian counter offensives progress, Russian occupation administration is further restricting the movement of civilians across the occupied areas and especially out of them to the Ukrainian government-controlled territories. Following the illegal attempted annexation of the newly occupied parts of Ukraine, Russia started their integration into political field: ruling in Russia “United Russia” party announced the establishment of regional party branches and make public employees to join its ranks. Education in Russian and according to the Russian standards is being introduced as a part of wider brainwashing campaign aimed at strengthening occupational control and elimination of Ukrainian identity.

Many active schools are used by Russian forces as human shield. Russia terminated Ukrainian TV and radio broadcasting, replaced Ukrainian mobile operators, Internet and fixed telephony services by those controlled by Russia.

I especially want to draw your attention to such crimes of the Russian army and occupying forces as kidnappings and deportations. While destroying civilian infrastructure and blocking evacuation of civilians from the temporarily occupied territories to the government-controlled parts of Ukraine, Kremlin practices forcible deportation of Ukrainian citizens to the territory of Russia (more than 1.6 million people as of October 6, 2022). Children from the occupied territories are transferred to Russia and illegally given up for adoption. The forcible transfer of children of one group to another “with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group” is a violation of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

Kidnappings and abductions are increasingly taking place in the occupied territories. Their residents are subjected to the so-called “filtration camps”, in which families are separated, and those who are deemed “unreliable”, disappear. We expect international organisations to do everything possible to gain access to such places of detention and force Russia to comply with the relevant conventions.

The mobilisation campaign in Crimea targets specifically Crimean Tatars, indigenous people of Crimea, who have proved to be non-loyal towards the occupying administration. The number of Crimean Tatars among those who are planned for the mobilisation is approximately 27%. On September 21, the occupying administration in Crimea issued the shameful “sentences” to First Deputy Head of the Mejlis of Crimean Tatar People Nariman Dzhelyal as well as brothers Asan and Aziz Akhtemov, to 17, 15 and 13 years in prison. It is yet another testimony of the politically motivated persecution by the Russian authorities of the representatives of the Crimean Tatars held hostage by the criminal Putin regime due to their disagreement with occupation.

Today, the world rallied around Ukraine to fight back against Russian aggressor. Militarised Crimea was used by Russia for a fullscale invasion of Ukraine. The peninsula still serves as a logistics hub for the transfer of Russian troops and weapons for the war against Ukraine. The waters of the Black

Sea and the territory of Crimea are used for Russian missile attacks on Ukraine’s civilian population and civilian infrastructure.

We are grateful for the position of the Republic of Botswana in support of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine. At the same time, Ukraine counts on Botswana’s valuable support to Ukraine at the 215th session of the UNESCO Executive Board (5-19 October 2022, Paris) during the discussions on the items concerning Ukraine: “Follow-up of the situation in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea (Ukraine)” and “UNESCO’s actions and emergency assistance programme for Ukraine”.We are witnessing that the most loyal allies of the Russian federation are dictatorial and autocratic regimes. In this regard, we expect that Botswana, as one of the beacons of democracy in Africa, would avoid participation in such events as «Russia-Africa» Forum, which is scheduled for next year.

Putting new bridges between Ukraine and Botswana, I would emphasise how important for our countries is this conversation about human rights and democracy, in other words – about the future of our planet. Africa has always been and will forever remain in the focus of Ukraine’s foreign policy. Even during the war, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy to improve the coordination of cooperation with African countries, recently established an office of Special Representative of Ukraine for Africa. I am honoured to be the first envoy representative for this direction of Ukrainian foreign policy, feeling at the same time huge responsibility on the development relationships between Ukraine and African countries.

It is principle to note that the presidents of our countries had a telephone conversation on August 8 this year. Before, in July last year, our countries established contact at the level of Foreign Ministers. Ukraine attaches great importance to development of trade, economic and investment cooperation with Botswana. Ukraine may offer Botswana high quality goods and services at competitive prices, such us fertilisers, mining and construction equipment, ferrous metallurgy products, machinery products, veterinary drugs, wheat, flour, sunflower oil, poultry, dairy, season fresh fruits and vegetables, technologies for agriculture, construction, water purification, construction of transport and energy infrastructure. We may also help Botswana to develop its agriculture by providing modern technologies for growing sowing material. Ukrainian national seed producer «EVROSEM» offers seeds of sunflower, corn, soybeans, peas, lentils, chickpeas, as well as bacterial preparations and organic micronutrients.

We see a lot of prospects in establishing and developing mutually profitable cooperation in education. Ukrainian universities may offer to Botswana youth high-quality educational services in healthcare, agriculture, engineering, IT, aviation etc.

We would like to raise a question of the cooperation in the field of digital transformation. Ukraine pays special attention to implementing digitalisation reform that aims to make 100% of all public services online. The Ukrainian IT sector employs almost 300,000 professionals and growing by 25-30% annually. It already tops the list of service exporters (over $5 billion per year) and generates more than four percent of Ukraine’s GDP. The IT sector in Ukraine is growing steadily despite the war, so customers can be sure of the reliability of Ukrainian companies. Ukraine became the first country in the world where digital passports are considered legally equivalent to ordinary ID documents.

We see many prospects in establishing and developing mutually profitable cooperation in education. Ukrainian universities may offer to the South African youth high-quality educational services in healthcare, agriculture, engineering, IT, aviation etc. Soon after the outbreak of war, the competent Ukrainian authorities facilitated the evacuation of South African students to the neighbouring countries. After the end of this war, they will be able to continue their studies in Ukraine. Fortunately, nowadays many Ukrainian universities offer students possibility of distant learning.

However, the development of cooperation in these directions relates to the course of democracy and ensuring international security in general. Whenever we talk about democracy, we mean human rights, the fundamental issue for both our countries.