Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry has welcomed the adoption by the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly of a draft resolution on the situation of human rights in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol. The measure requires Russia to provide international human rights monitoring mechanisms’ access to the peninsula.
“Ukraine’s Foreign Affairs Ministry welcomes approval of the updated and strengthened [draft] resolution ‘Situation of human rights in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, Ukraine’ by the Third Committee of the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly on November 15, 2018. This is an important contribution to the continuation of international pressure on Russia in connection with illegal occupation and attempted annexation of the Crimea,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The Foreign Ministry says the international community continues to strictly adhere to the policy of not recognizing the attempt to annex Crimea and condemns all attempts by Russia to legitimize it, including through the illegal holding of Russian elections in the peninsula.
The draft document is based on the resolutions of the General Assembly of previous years on human rights in the occupied Crimea, as well as on a thematic report by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. “Russia has not complied with any of the provisions of these resolutions, and the situation with human rights on the peninsula continues to deteriorate,” the statement said.
“We demand that the Russian Federation immediately cease gross violations of human rights and ensure unhindered international human rights [monitoring] mechanisms’ access, including the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, on the territory of the temporarily occupied peninsula,” the Foreign Ministry said.
As earlier reported, the draft resolution adopted on November 15 by the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly said since 2014 the Russian authorities have used torture to obtain false confessions in politically motivated processes. It emphasizes the need for the immediate release of Ukrainian citizens who were illegally detained and convicted, as well as those who were transferred or deported across internationally recognized borders from Crimea to Russia. Separately, the document recalled the cases of Ukrainian film director Oleh Sentsov, activist Volodymyr Balukh and Crimean Tatar Emir-Huseyn Kuku.
The resolution calls on all international organizations and specialized agencies of the UN system, when mentioning Crimea in their official documents, messages and publications, to use the wording “the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, Ukraine, temporarily occupied by the Russian Federation,” and “encourages all states and other international organizations to do the same.”
The document calls on the Russian Federation to create and maintain a secure environment for journalists and media workers, human rights defenders and defense lawyers, stop the practice of forcing Crimean residents to serve in the armed or auxiliary forces of Russia, and stop the practice of deporting Ukrainian citizens from Crimea for refusing Russian citizenship and discrimination against residents of Crimea.
In addition, the committee calls on Russia to fully and immediately implement the decision of the International Court of Justice of April 19, 2017 on interim measures in the case concerning the application of the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Ukraine v. Russia).
Russia must take all necessary measures to immediately put an end to the violations and abuses of human rights against the residents of Crimea, as well as respect the laws in force in Ukraine and repeal the laws introduced in Crimea by the Russian Federation and allowing for the forced eviction and confiscation of private property in Crimea in violation of applicable international law.
According to the resolution, the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly also condemns the illegal establishment of laws by the Russian Federation, jurisdiction and administration in the occupied Crimea and demands that Russia abide by obligations under international law regarding respect for the laws in force in Crimea before the occupation.
In addition, the UNGA calls on Russia to immediately rescind the decision to declare the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people an extremist organization along with a ban on its activities, as well as urges to ensure the availability of education in the Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar languages.
The Third Committee of the UN General Assembly in its draft resolution urges Russia to ensure adequate and unhindered access of international human rights monitoring missions and human rights non-governmental organizations to Crimea, including all places where people may be deprived of their liberty, recognizing that the international presence in Crimea is of paramount importance to prevent further deterioration of the situation.
