HRC61 - EU Statement - Item 4 | EEAS 2 of 9 https://www.eeas.europa.eu/delegations/un-geneva/hrc61-eu-statement... Geneva, 16 March 2026 HRC61: Item 4 General debate; Human rights situations that require the Council’s attention Mister President, I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union. Albania, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Ukraine align themselves with this statement. The EU follows developments in Iran and the Middle East with utmost concern. We call for maximum restraint, protection of civilians and full respect of international law, including the principles of the United Nations Charter, and international humanitarian law. With regard to the situations in Belarus, DPRK, Iran, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Syria, and Venezuela, we would like to refer to our statements during the respective interactive dialogues. During this HRC session, we also address other human rights situations, including in the General debate on item 2. We reiterate our condemnation in the strongest possible terms of Russia’s illegal, unprovoked and unjustified war of aggression against Ukraine that grossly violates international law, including the UN Charter. Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and its repercussions for European and global security in a changing environment constitute an existential challenge for the European Union. We condemn in the strongest possible terms Russia’s continuing violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law in Ukraine, such as summary executions of prisoners of war and civilian detainees, arbitrary detention, systematic and widespread use of torture and other forms of ill-treatment, including rape and other conflict-related sexual and gender-based violence. The EU is deeply concerned about the increasing number of civilians killed and injured, due 25/03/2026, 16:51