International IDEA's Statement at the 11th Emergency Special Session of the UNGA on 12 October 2022
Channel: International IDEA
Date: 12/10/2022

"International IDEA deplores the illegal and illegitimate holding of referendums in Ukraine's occupied territories on joining the Russian Federation. Staged to imitate the pursuit of self-determination of people, they are an egregious abuse of this direct democracy tool by a hostile occupying power and an illegal attempt to modify the internationally recognised borders of Ukraine.
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International IDEA will continue to do its part, in collaboration with the United Nations, our Member States and other democratic governments and organizations, to protect, in Ukraine and elsewhere, the principle that every country has a right to freely determine its own fate on the basis of the will of the people, freely expressed. Democracy’s institutions and processes, such as free and fair elections and democratic referenda are the best means to protect that right. They must not be manipulated for authoritarian purposes."

Statement made at the 11th Emergency Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly on the illegal annexation of Ukrainian territories by the Russian Federation, by Secretary-General, H.E. Kevin Casas-Zamora, and delivered by Ms. Annika Silva-Leander, Head of North America and Deputy Permanent Observer to the UN.

Read the full Statement: https://www.idea.int/news-media/media/statement-kevin-casas-zamora-11th-emergency-special-session-united-nations-general