The UK has blocked the broadcast of a speech to the UN by the Commissioner for Children’s Rights under the chairmanship of Russian President Maria Lvova-Belova. This was reported on the UK Representation’s Twitter account. Earlier, the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague issued arrest warrants for Lvova-Belova and Russian President Vladimir Putin on suspicion of illegal deportation of children from Ukraine.
On April 5, the UN Security Council will hold an informal meeting on “Children and Armed Conflict: The Ukraine Crisis. Evacuation of children from the conflict zone”. The event was hosted by Russia, which has chaired the Security Council for a month. The purpose of the meeting is to brief the members of the Security Council on the situation of children in the Ukrainian conflict zone. Lvova-Belova is to perform at the event.
“We blocked the broadcast of the meeting. She (Lvova-Belova. – note The Eastern Herald) should not provide a UN platform for the dissemination of disinformation. If Maria Lvova-Belova wants to answer for her actions, she can do so in The Hague,” the UK mission said.
The British diplomatic mission stressed that its ambassador will not be present at the meeting with the participation of Lvova-Belova.
New York Times writing that to broadcast events on the official UN resource, the consent of all members of the Security Council is required. London’s decision means that video of the event will also not be posted on the organization’s website.
Broadcast blocking is extremely rare, the newspaper notes. Last month, China blocked the broadcast of an informal session on human rights abuses in the DPRK, convened at the initiative of the United States. Beijing has insisted such issues should not be discussed at the UN.
Dmitry Polyansky, first Deputy Permanent Representative of Russia to the UN informed that the meeting with the participation of Lvova-Belova will be broadcast on its telegram channel. The diplomat accused the West of censorship.
“Western countries are clearly afraid that many people will finally hear the truth about this. They would, of course, prefer to continue spreading lies and fakes about Russia’s alleged ‘kidnapping’ in Ukraine,” Polyansky tweeted.
The Eastern Herald could not get an operational comment from Lvova-Belova.
The ICC was founded in 2002 under the 1998 Rome Statute, which has 123 signatories. The United States, China, Russia, India and Turkey do not recognize the jurisdiction of the criminal court in The Hague.
On March 17, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Putin and Lvova-Belova. Russian President’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow does not recognize the jurisdiction of the court in The Hague, therefore its decisions are null and void from the point of view of law. Russia’s Investigative Committee has opened a criminal investigation against the ICC prosecutor and judges who issued the warrants. The Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute declared “unwavering support” for the ICC and called for respect for “its judicial and prosecutorial independence”.
