ZMINA will voice the human rights violations in the occupied Crimea during the UN Human Rights Council

The Permanent Mission of Ukraine to the UN Office and other international organizations in Geneva, Human Rights Centre ZMINA, Crimea SOS and Human Rights House Foundation will hold a side event “Ten Years in an Open-Air Prison: Human Rights in the Occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea” during the UN Human Rights Council 57. It will take place on the 4th of October at 12:00 CET.

The 20th of February 2024 marked ten years since Russia began its occupation of Crimea. In the time since, the situation of human rights on the peninsula has drastically deteriorated, with even greater concentration since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Over the last ten years, residents of Crimea have been subjected to torture, enforced disappearances, extrajudicial punishment, passportization, forced conscription into the Russian military forces, indoctrination, arrests of independent lawyers, journalists and human rights defenders, and religious and political persecution. 

Concerns over gross violations of human rights by the occupying authorities have been continuously voiced in a number of UN General Assembly resolutions as well as reports by the UN Secretary General, OHCHR, UNESCO, Council of Europe, OSCE and other international organizations.

On the margins of the 57th session of the Human Rights Council Ukraine and its partners will organize a Side event which will provide an update on the human rights situation in the temporarily occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol (Ukraine), since 2014. 

Opening Remarks:

• Ambassador Yevheniia Filipenko, Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the United Nations in Geneva
• Ambassador Václav Bálek, Permanent Representative of the Czech Republic to the United Nations in Geneva

Panelists:

• Viktoria Nesterenko, Human Rights Centre ZMINA
• Nariman Dzhelyal, released political prisoner and Deputy Chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar
• Fevzi Mamutov, brother of political prisoner Ali Mamutov
• Artem Oliinyk, Crimea SOS 

Moderator:

• Matthew Jones, Human Rights House Foundation

Contact person: Tetiana Zhukova, Human Rights Centre ZMINA, tz@zmina.ua 

The project is implemented with the financial support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic as part of the Transition Promotion Program. The views expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not reflect the official position of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic.