63rd session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, Item 4: General Debate – Statement delivered by H.E. Ambassador Riia Salsa-Audiffren, 21 September 2026
Mr. President,
High Commissioner,
Estonia aligns with the EU statement.
Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine continues with dramatic increase of long-range missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian cities and civilians far from the frontline, inflicting widespread damage on critical civilian infrastructure, and also impacting global food security. July marked a month with the highest number of civilians killed since May 2022.
Russia’s violations extend beyond the battlefield. Thousands of Ukrainian civilians remain in Russian detention, facing torture, enforced disappearance, sexual and gender-based violence and death in custody. The systematic deportation and forcible transfer of Ukrainian children, coupled with attempts to erase their Ukrainian identity, is a grave violation of international law. No child should become a weapon of war.
Within Russia, the Kremlin has criminalised dissent, dismantled civil society and weaponised counter-terrorism and “extremism” laws to silence critics and human rights defenders. At the State Duma elections held this week-end, all opposition forces were excluded thought internal and transnational repression. All those opposed to Russia’s illegal war of aggression were eliminated by extensive misuse of administrative and judicial measures and procedures. Estonia unequivocally condemns the illegal organisation of so-called “elections” in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, namely the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol, as well as in parts of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions.
In Belarus, repression is a method of governance, used to silence political opponents, journalists and human rights defenders through arbitrary detention, prosecution and ill-treatment. Repressions go beyond borders: released political prisoners are forcibly deported without official pardoning, their passports are invalidated and they are sentenced in absentia.
In conflicts across the Middle East, civilians – particularly women and children – face immense human suffering. We call all parties to respect international human rights and humanitarian law.
We express our concerns over the serious human rights situations in Burundi, Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Iran, and refer to respective Nordic-Baltic statements.
I thank you.