Norway aligns with the statement by the European Union. Allow me a few remarks in my national capacity.
We thank the Chairpersonship for placing the Code of Conduct on our agenda, and the speakers for their insightful presentation. As we are all aware of, the Code is not a declaration. It is a working document.
In Norway it works like this. Every soldier including every conscript receives instruction in the law of armed conflict before deployment or exercise. The Judge Advocate General investigates and prosecutes breaches within the armed forces. A parliamentary ombudsman scheme reports on the armed forces directly to Parliament. We answer the annual Code of Conduct questionnaire in full and the answers are public.
We apply the same approach abroad. Norwegian instructors train Ukrainian soldiers under Operation Interflex and in Nordic frameworks. International humanitarian law is part of the syllabus and not an annex to it. Through national and international training, Ukrainian units meet the Code in practice before they meet the front.
Accountability is treated the same way. Norway has joined successive invocations of the Moscow Mechanism. We fund the documentation of violations in Ukraine. We support the Register of Damage in The Hague and the Office of the Prosecutor General in Kyiv. The report discussed in the Permanent Council last week will have its full impact once it ends up in a courtroom.
Russia's war of aggression shows what happens when armed forces answer to no one. The Code describes the alternative. Democratic control. Trained forces. Consequences for violations.
The Code of Conduct is not an ideal. It is a method. Norway will keep applying it.
Thank you.