Human rights in the occupied territories: the case of Crimea
Was presented an analytical report prepared by a group of lawyers from NewYork and Ukraine. In their report, the authors evaluate the state of human rights in the territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and legal qualification of the offences that take place during its temporary occupation. In addition, they look at ways of protecting human rights and the measures that can be taken for their further protection. Special attention is paid to compliance with international legal obligations of the Russian occupation authorities against the population of Crimea, including Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar communities.
It was also reported many violations of all basic human rights, since the right to life and ending the right to health. The Russian Federation has violated almost all the undertaken international obligations, in particular: the Budapest Memorandum, the United Nations Charter, the Universal Declaration of human rights, and the like. Unfortunately, traditional means of human rights protection, under the existing conditions are or not available, or not effective enough.
Co-authors of the report Ivanna Bilych and Olena Sharvan offer a series of recommendations to the Ukrainian authorities aimed to remedy this situation and ensure the effective implementation of human rights in Crimea in particular:
The collection and storage of data:
- Create a database of violations of human rights in Crimea;
- Create and maintain a hotline for reporting human rights violations in Crimea.
International legal assistance:
- To appeal to the UN with a proposal to create a special international court of justice (for example Lebanon);
- To organize continuous monitoring of human rights violations in Crimea by Parliament authorized on human rights, as well as representatives of Legislative and Executive power.
Communication and media:
- To provide the residents of the Crimea a broadcast of the Ukrainian TV and radio channels;
- To provide mobile communication via satelli;
- Create fresh markets in Kherson oblast.
"Today you can see that in Ukraine there are a growing number of numerous violations against human rights. Since the occupation of Crimea and the military conflict in Eastern Ukraine does not decrease the number of victims of torture, kidnappings, keeping in captivity and offences to the free use of property. Also there is a problem with lighting untruthful information that misinforms and sets people against the Ukrainian government. This report, prepared by a group of lawyers from New York and Ukraine is quite interesting and useful for Ukrainians. It's nice that the problems in Ukraine are interesting for foreign experts, who are trying to help to solve them and to preserve human rights. All concerned citizens, volunteers and NGO’s should insist on better conditions for the protection of human rights, which unfortunately today are not very effective," said Lozynskiy Taras activist of the NGO "Community Development", the political analyst.