Aug 02, 2019

Crimean Tatars: Russia Violates Major International Human Rights Convention in Occupied Crimea


According to a recent report prepared by human rights defenders, Russia has committed major violations of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), one of the most widely ratified human rights treaty, in occupied Crimea. The report called Russia to stop its rampant human rights violations against the Crimean Tatar people including alleged torture, persecution of journalists and the militarization of children in the occupied region.

This article was published by Interfax Ukraine

The Russian Federation violated all the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in the occupied Crimea, according to a report prepared by Ukrainian human rights defenders, who also formulated on its basis a list of 19 items that Moscow must fulfill to remedy the situation.

The report on the implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights by Russia was prepared by the Ukrainian Helsinki Group, the Regional Center for Human Rights, the Crimean Human Rights Group, the Human Rights Center ZMINA with the support of USAID, which also developed a list of recommendations.

"A number of public organizations were working on this report. Perhaps there is no such article of the pact that the invader state didn't violate ... We observed a number of politically motivated lawsuits, prosecutions, repressions," the head of the board of the ZMINA center reported at the press conference in Kyiv on Tuesday.

So, on the basis of the recorded violations, human rights organizations recommend the Russian Federation, in particular, to ensure the treatment of Ukrainian sailors held in the Moscow detention center in accordance with the status of prisoners of war. Also, Russia should investigate the use of lethal weapons against them during an attack on naval vessels of the Ukrainian Navy in the Kerch Strait area at the end of 2018.

The occupation authorities should also stop putting pressure on the believers of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) in Crimea and hand over captured temples to the use of the OCU.

Also, the Russian Federation must ensure that Ukraine's citizens live on the territory of the Crimean Peninsula indefinitely and cease the practice of deportation of citizens of Ukraine.

In addition, Russia should stop the practice of torture in the occupied Crimea, as well as conduct an effective investigation of such facts; stop the practice of persecution of independent journalists, activists, as well as to ensure the functioning of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people.

They also called for an end to the militarization of children in the occupied peninsula.

Photo courtesy Reuters