The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine expresses a strong protest in connection with the participation of representatives of the russian occupation administration in the temporarily occupied by the russian federation Autonomous Republic of Crimea (Ukraine) in the 12th session of the World Urban Forum (WUF12), conveyed by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), which is taking place in Cairo, Arab Republic of Egypt, from 4 to 8 November 2024.

We emphasize that the participation of representatives of the occupation administration of the russian federation in events organized or held under the auspices of international organizations, in particular, of the UN system, is a blatant violation of the norms of international law and a number of resolutions of the UN General Assembly, in particular, 68/262 “Territorial integrity of Ukraine”.

russia tries to use for the attempts to legitimize the illegal occupation of territories both international platforms and the territory of sovereign states, as it happened this time – with the Arab Republic of Egypt, deliberately provoking the emergence of tensions, including and at the level of bilateral relations.

Despite the numerous insistences of the Ukrainian Side, UN-Habitat failed to ensure proper control and define a clear mechanism for the registration of WUF12 participants, thereby allowing criminals to participate in the event and endangering the reputation of this important event.

We call on the UN Secretary General and the leadership of UN-Habitat to take urgent measures to stop the use of WUF12 universal technical platform and UN-Habitat as a whole for attempts to legitimize the temporary occupation of Ukrainian territories, as well as the spread of propaganda and lies by representatives of the occupation administration of the russian federation.

We are convinced that the persons who committed such criminal negligence and allowed representatives of the occupation administration of russia to participate in WUF12, thus showing disrespect for the Goals and Principles of the UN Charter, can no longer enjoy the trust of UN Member States, and therefore have the honor to work at the UN- Habitat or other organs of the UN system.