How advocacy for social rights can help fight Russia’s war on human rights in Ukraine

Opening speech at the side event ‘Protecting social rights in wartime in Ukraine’ during the High-Level Conference on the European Social Charter organised in Vilnius under the auspices of the Lithuanian Presidency of the Committee of Ministers as part of the follow-up to the 4th Council of Europe Summit.

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Good morning, Ministers, President of the Committee.

Dear friends,

I am delighted to be invited to speak here and to participate in this important initiative.

Let me first express my sincere solidarity and respect for our Ukrainian friends, many of whom are with us today and all of whom are represented by you, Minister.

The war of aggression has had devastating effects on human well-being and the infrastructure that is essential to people’s lives and well-being.

The figures are well known, but they are worth repeating: around 11,000 civilian deaths, a total of 33,000 civilian casualties, 3.5 million internally displaced persons, 8 million refugees in the EU and elsewhere.

Last month, the United Nations reported that 1,172 educational facilities had been damaged or destroyed, as well as 505 medical facilities. Likewise, as we have just heard, about 70% of electricity capacity has been destroyed, poverty rates have risen alarmingly, from 5.5% to 24.1% in 2022, and food prices have increased by about 40% compared to last year.

These devastating effects on human well-being affect all human rights – civil, political, economic, social and cultural. Yet conflicts are not systematically framed and responded to in terms of social rights.

There are many reasons for this, which I do not need to go into this morning. One of them is a dispute over the relationship between international humanitarian law and human rights law. But whatever the reason for this neglect, it is problematic and any initiative to address it is to be welcomed.

I therefore greatly appreciate this event and the many forms of cooperation between Ukraine and the Council of Europe. I respect the project ‘Enhanced Social Protection in Ukraine’ and in particular the way it draws attention to the Social Charter and the jurisprudence of the European Committee of Social Rights. It is also about what Ukraine is currently doing to defend social rights, for example, and perhaps most importantly, in the context of the EU accession process. I think we can recognise with respect and a certain admiration how Ukraine continues to take seriously its obligations under the European Social Charter, as demonstrated by the recent presentation of its report on the cost of living crisis.

Notwithstanding these successes, we can of course go further to address the needs and gaps in social rights identified in recent years. As for where these are identified, I would suggest some valuable sources. The first is the ongoing work of the European Committee of Social Rights and its engagement in recent years in several reports, analyses and recommendations, which are a very important source for us for a roadmap. I am also thinking of the useful concluding observations of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, adopted just in November 2022, and of course the ongoing UN human rights reporting.

Let me briefly explain four proposals to further strengthen social rights in dealing with the conflict.

First, it remains important for us to distinguish between immediate humanitarian needs and longer-term goals and objectives. I have been to Ukraine twice in recent months, once in my previous role at the EU and once as a Commissioner, and I have noticed that there is important infrastructure in the country that cannot wait for the end of the conflict to be restored. Schools need to be rebuilt so that children can go back to school and internally displaced people need to be housed, especially in the west of the country. We should find all possible international support to address these immediate humanitarian and social needs.

Secondly, we need to maintain human rights monitoring of the situation and also embed a social rights analysis in it. As I said, I believe that this social rights dimension could be developed much further, for example in these very valuable periodic UN reports. We need these records, also for future accountability.

Third, as engagement on social rights, a more explicit engagement on social rights, intensifies, I would encourage greater engagement with civil society. Ukraine is blessed with a strong, resilient, resourceful and competent civil society and I think that closer engagement between the actors providing responses to the social human rights crisis and the NGO representatives could mean mutual benefit or a win-win for society.

Fourth and finally, as Ukraine rightly draws on the expertise of international intergovernmental bodies to assist it in dealing with the current situation, I would like to suggest that these intergovernmental partners could find ways to be more flexible and engaged.

I wonder whether the Committee on Social Rights could consider adapting its own procedures to enable it to be even more involved in real time. I will not go into that in detail because the President is here and I have no doubt that she would comment on issues of this kind. I would like to acknowledge the important statement by the Committee of 24 March 2022, which was in itself quite innovative in terms of working methods.

I would also like to see the United Nations special procedures on social and economic rights engage more with Ukraine. When I was recently looking around at what is going on in this area, I saw that some of the United Nations special mechanisms on issues such as torture, enforced disappearances and executions have come to Ukraine and issued reports, but I have not seen any reports from the UN social and economic side.

Finally, I assure you that I will find ways to contribute to the fight for social rights in Ukraine.

Let me now another dimension of the inclusion of social rights in the context of conflict, namely in the context of peace and reconstruction.

I have followed the conferences on the reconstruction of Ukraine very closely, most recently in Berlin last month, and the results of the summit on peace in Ukraine in Lucerne in June. I am impressed by the way Berlin and Lucerne are addressing substantive issues of social justice. They identify the core issues, but they are very rarely discussed in the context of human rights. The word “human rights” appears very rarely in the final documents of the conferences, and I would like to call for human rights to be more clearly present in the further course of these peace and reconstruction processes.

Why is that? There are a number of very specific reasons why this would add value.

First, by explicitly referring to treaties such as the Charter, we can gain elements of a roadmap for the way forward.

Second, an explicit reference to human rights and the instruments ensures that people and their dignity remain at the centre of efforts. And not just any dignity, but the dignity of those who might otherwise be forgotten, the most marginalised and overlooked people in our societies.

Third, an explicit reference to human rights would ensure that the path of reconstruction, the path of peace, also serves to strengthen human rights institutions as elements of peace and reconstruction.

My friends, in my experience working with conflict and in post-conflict situations, all this would undoubtedly lead to better, more widely accepted and ultimately more sustainable results.

Before I conclude, I would like to say a few words about Ukrainian refugees in the EU and elsewhere. The reception has been generous and much credit must go to those countries that opened their doors to the millions of Ukrainians who came to them seeking help and protection. I would like to recognise the importance of applying the European Union’s temporary protection directive. I would particularly like to acknowledge the special role of towns and cities, and mayors, frankly, even more than ministers, who in many cases took the lead in welcoming Ukrainians into their municipalities.

But I am worried at the moment about what could be called a decline in the level of reception after more than two years. It is so important to reinvest in maintaining decent and respectful conditions for all Ukrainians in the societies of neighbouring countries and EU countries. It is also necessary to invest in integration strategies, assuming that many people who may ultimately go home will stay in these host countries for some time. I also think that investment in integration could be increased.

Finally, I would like to remind you that the Russian war of aggression is a war against human rights. And part of the resistance, part of the fight against this war, is to stand up for human rights, for all human rights, including social rights.

In this spirit, I would like to conclude by quoting the last paragraph of the Committee on Social Rights’ statement of March 2022. It states that, in its view, the current crisis caused by the Russian Federation’s military aggression against Ukraine should not lead to a reduction in the protection of the rights recognised in the Charter both inside and outside Ukraine. States parties to the Charter are obliged to take all necessary steps to ensure that the rights recognised in the Charter are effectively guaranteed at all times, including, if necessary, through international assistance and cooperation.

Thanks for your attention.