Czech support: Ambassador of Czech Republic meets with Ukrainian human rights defenders

On December 9, on the eve of international Human Rights Day, the representatives of human rights organizations met with Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Czech Republic to Ukraine Radek Matula. 

During the meeting, human rights defenders from Human Rights Centre ZMINA, EastSOS, CrimeaSOS, “Almenda” Civic Education Center, and others spoke about the situation with harassment of active Ukrainians under the occupation, abductions, and illegal adoption of Ukrainian children. The activists also touched upon the violation of access to education, the situation with humanitarian aid, environmental problems caused by the war, and mass repressions in Crimea. 

“Such diplomatic meetings allow us to report firsthand to the Ambassador and other representatives of the Czech Republic about the effectiveness of their assistance and the situation in the occupied territories. Because human rights defenders and activists are the ones who directly provide help to people, who document Russia’s war crimes and collect testimonies of victims. It is important for us to coordinate efforts from time to time during face-to-face meetings as the Czechs are great friends of Ukrainians and they support us much given their historical context,” said Liudmyla Yankina, project coordinator at Human Rights Centre ZMINA. 

As a reminder, the Czech Republic is the fifth largest contributor assisting Ukraine with arms supplies and combating humanitarian problems. This country has been backing Ukraine on the path towards European integration and NATO membership for many years and also fully supports Ukraine on all possible international platforms regarding the issues of human rights violations committed by the Russian Federation in the occupied territories.