The Secretary General of the Community of Democracies states his support for the decision of UN General Assembly President, Csaba Kőrösi, to hold an emergency special session Monday to begin debate on the unprecedented violation of international law by Russia against the territorial integrity of Ukraine.

Speaking yesterday to the Warsaw Dialogue for Democracy, the Secretary General noted that at the June 2000 founding of the Community of Democracies, 106 nations adopted the Declaration, with its 19 principles of human rights, democracy, and the rule of law. Among the 106 countries were the Russian Federation and Ukraine. Since then, their respective adherence to the Warsaw Declaration has sharply diverged. For 22 years, Ukraine has followed a path of democracy, with starts and stops but always while seeking a commitment to democratic values. The Russian Federation has spent the past two decades repressing its citizens’ universal human rights and freedoms and has invaded Ukraine.

“Ukraine’s borders, and those of any nation today, should not be altered by military invasion or fraudulent elections. Next week, the debate before the General Assembly is one of defense of the rule of law against authoritarian claims of might makes right,” said Secretary General Thomas E. Garrett.

The Secretary General urges the Member States of the Governing Council of the Community of Democracies to support an UNGA resolution, in an open and transparent vote, which firmly opposes Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and rejects the highly questionable “referenda,” at times enacted at gunpoint, in the regions of Ukraine seized in 2014 and earlier this year.