The resolution ‘Situation of Human Rights in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol, Ukraine’ adopted by the UN General Assembly today, on December 16, 2020, emphasizes that the RF keeps on violating the human rights on the peninsula. Comparing to the previous year, a new information was presented into the document, including that one submitted by the Crimean Human Rights Group (CHRG).
For instance, the CHRG experts’ suggestions were taken into account in the following resolution sections:
– Being concerned about additional difficulties of the Crimean residents with exercising the human rights and fundamental freedoms as a result of unnecessary and disproportionate restrictive measures imposed by the occupying Power under the pretext of combating the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19), and inadequate measures to ensure and maintain public health and a proper sanitary and hygienic situation in Crimea, including measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19, that the occupying Power must take in accordance with international humanitarian law.
– Expressing serious concern about inadequate conditions of keeping in the penitentiary establishments, including overcrowding and lack of adequate medical care, that puts detainees at risk for the spread of diseases, including COVID-19.
– Condemning a continuing pressure on religious minority communities, including frequent police raids, demolition and eviction of religious buildings, inappropriate registration requirements affecting legal status and property rights, and threats and harassment of adherents of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, the Protestant church, mosques and Muslim religious schools, Greek Catholics, Roman Catholics and Jehovah’s Witnesses, and condemning the unjustified persecution of dozens of peaceful Muslims for their alleged affiliation with Islamic organizations.
– Expressing concern about the militarization and assimilation of youth in Crimea by the Russian Federation and its blocking of access of Crimean people to Ukrainian education
– Strongly condemning, in this context, a constant pressure, mass detentions on charges of terrorism, extremism and espionage and other forms of repression against human rights defenders and civil society activists, including activists of the Crimean Solidarity civil initiative, which documents abuses on the peninsula and supports the families of victims of politically motivated persecutions
Urges the Russian Federation to:
- respect the laws in force in Ukraine, repeal the laws introduced in Crimea by the Russian Federation and allow for forced evictions and confiscation of private property, including land, in Crimea in violation of applicable international law rules, and respect the property rights of all former owners affected by previous confiscations;
- create and maintain a safe and conducive environment for journalists, media workers, civic journalists, human rights defenders and defense lawyers so that they can carry out their work in Crimea independently and without undue interference, in particular by refraining from travel bans, deportations, arbitrary arrests, detentions and prosecutions and other restrictions on their rights;
- stop the practice of deportation of Ukrainian citizens from Crimea for refusing to accept a Russian citizenship, including on the basis of the provisions of migration and penitentiary legislation of the Russian Federation, and discrimination against Crimean residents for lack of identity cards issued by the Russian Federation and use of Ukrainian identity cards, to stop the relocation of their own civilian population to Crimea and to end the practice of encouraging such relocation.
