Liberia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Lewis G. Brown II, delivered the country’s position on Monday, November 9, during a United Nations Security Council briefing on the maintenance of peace and security in Ukraine.
Ambassador Brown condemned attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure, urging all parties to respect international humanitarian law. He stressed the need to protect hospitals, schools and other infrastructure essential to civilian survival.
He also called for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to have full access to prisoners of war in accordance with the Geneva Conventions. Humanitarian workers, he added, must be able to operate safely and deliver assistance rapidly and without obstruction to people in need.
Liberia also welcomed the humanitarian cooperation facilitated by United States First Lady Melania Trump, involving Russian and Ukrainian representatives, particularly efforts to reunite children with their families.
Ambassador Brown urged both sides to build on that cooperation through arrangements that can be sustained and repeated, including safe and voluntary civilian evacuations, assistance for people remaining in affected areas, expanded humanitarian access across the front lines, further prisoner exchanges and the release of civilians unlawfully detained.
“The task now is to make such cooperation sustained and repeatable,” he said.
He encouraged Russia and Ukraine, as well as those facilitating communication between them, to use available diplomatic channels to pursue humanitarian agreements and sustained negotiations aimed at ending the conflict.
Ambassador Brown concluded by stressing that civilians in both Ukraine and the Russian Federation affected by the war deserve a future free from repeated loss, destruction and uncertainty. Liberia’s statement comes as the country serves as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for the 2026–2027 term, giving it a direct role in deliberations on international peace and security.
