“The ban by the Russian Federation of activities of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people attests to the inability and unwillingness of the current de facto authorities in Crimea to guarantee the respect for human rights on the peninsula,” said Krivas.
The UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Ivan Šimonović presented the findings made in the report of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine and outcomes of his visit.
“Since the ceasefire of 1 September 2015, civilian casualties have substantially decreased. This shows that a ceasefire can work, but must be fully implemented,” said Šimonović. However, the UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights drew attention to the fact that the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine was slowly re-escalating again. Weapons, which are used in the conflict zone, are prohibited by the Minsk agreement. Freedom of movement of civilians continues to be severely curtailed when they are trying to cross the contact line. These restrictions have an impact on a daily life of civilians who face difficulties having access to proper services and are subject to regular shelling. Šimonović concluded that on both sides of the contact line leaders should listen to their people as they wanted peace.
Lithuania’s Foreign Vice-Minister expressed his appreciation to the UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Šimonović for his regular periodic oral updates of the situation of human rights in Ukraine to the Human Rights Council and expressed his support to the work of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine.
Krivas agreed with the UN official’s call for an immediate implementation of the Minsk agreements based on respect for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity with Crimea as its integral part.
In response to Lithuania’s question at the end of the discussion, Šimonović stressed that the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission had repeatedly asked the de facto authorities in Crimea to access Crimea, but this had been denied. Therefore, the mission will continue doing long distance monitoring in Crimea.
Other speakers included representatives from the majority of the EU member states, the U.S.A., Russia, China, Australia, Canada, Japan, other countries, as well as representatives of non-governmental organizations.
