ОСНОВНІ СИГНАЛИ:

• the human rights situation in Crimea has been deteriorating significantly;
• the judiciary of the occupying power has failed to uphold the rule of law and exercise proper administration of justice, impunity strengthens, encouraging the continued perpetration of human rights violations and placing victims outside the protection;
• the scale of internationally wrongful acts and offenses committed by the Russian occupation authorities demonstrate the flagrant breach by Russia of its international legal obligations, in particular under the Hague and Geneva Conventions, United Nations treaties, the General Assembly resolutions 68/268 and 71/205 and the decisions of the International Criminal Court, among others;
• Russia as an occupying power failed to ensure respect of international humanitarian law:

-          under the occupation the number of persons of Russian nationality increased by approximately 10 per cent, the Ukrainians dropped by approximately 11 per cent, and the Crimean Tatars decreased by approximately 5 per cent;

-          tens of thousands are impacted by the forcible imposition of Russian Federation citizenship in hindering access to employment, health treatment, property and public services;

-          large-scale nationalization of private, communal and public property, including of most economically valuable assets such as energy companies and mobile operators, is conducted - the list of so called “nationalized” property contains more than 4,600 “nationalized” public and private real estate assets;

-          hundreds of prisoners and pre-trial detainees have been transferred to the Russian Federation, some detainees were ill-treated, and at least three died after they did not receive the medical care they needed. One of the political prisoners - Oleh Sentsov, who was arrested in Simferopol, transferred to Russian prisons and following his trial and conviction on 25 August 2015 - incarcerated in a high security penal colony in the Siberian region of Yakutia;

• up to 60,000 former Crimean residents are internally displaced to mainland Ukraine;
• Crimean Tatars and ethnic Ukrainians are among the most affected by human rights violations:

-          the Mejlis, a representative institution of Crimean Tatars, remains a banned organization, despite the relevant decision of the International Criminal Court;

-          2,500 members of the national and local Mejlis bodies can incur criminal liability and face up to 8 years in prison;

-           former leader of the Mejlis Mustafa Dzhemilev and current head of the Mejlis Resat Chubarov are being banned from entering the territory of Crimea;

-          a court in Crimea sentenced deputy chair of the Mejlis, Akhtem Chyigoz, to eight years of imprisonment on the basis of Russian Federation legislation, illegally incriminating organizing mass protests, which were held in 2014 when the legal framework of Ukraine still  applied in Crimea;

-           Ukrainian Cultural Centre and the Ukrainian Museum were closed, Ukrainian books have been removed from the Franko Library in Simferopol;

-          the situation with education and Ukrainian language is dire. Between 2013 and 2017 the number of students undergoing instruction in Ukrainian language has dropped dramatically – from almost 13 000 to 370 (decreased by 35 times!), the number of Ukrainian schools decreased from seven to one, and the number of classes - from 875 to 28. Ukrainian as a language of instruction has been removed from university-level education. All of these restrictions are happening despite the Order delivered on 19 April 2017 by the International Court of Justice, on provisional measures in proceedings brought by Ukraine against the Russian Federation, concluding unanimously that the Russian Federation must “Ensure the availability of education in the Ukrainian language”;

•     rights to freedom of opinion and expression, association, peaceful assembly, thought, conscience and religion are under attack:

-                        in March 2014, pro-Ukrainian Crimean Tatar activist Reshat Ametov was abducted, tortured and summarily executed by Russia-backed illegal armed group;

-          there are at least 10 disappearances in which the victims remain missing;

-          dissenting opinions are criminalized, forced internment in a psychiatric hospital is used as a form of harassment against political opponents (an emblematic example - deputy Chairman of the Mejlis  Ilmi Umerov, who underwent an imposed 13 court-ordered ‘psychiatric assessment’ for three weeks after being charged in May 2016 with calls to violate the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation);

-          after enforced re-registration 232 media outlets were authorized to work – less than 10% of the approximately 3,000 media outlets previously registered under Ukrainian regulations;

-          almost two-thirds of the religious organizations in Crimea and one third - in Sevastopol seized to operate, all 22 congregations of Jehovah’s Witnesses have been effectively outlawed;

-          the number of registered NGOs dropped from 4,090 to 1,852;

•        only 40 per cent of the medical staff positions are filled in a number of Crimean districts and in the countryside;
•        up to 100 former drug-uses died in Crimea as a result of the termination, according to Russian legislation, of the Substitution Maintenance Therapy.

 

Russia has to:

- ensure the proper and unimpeded access of international human rights monitoring missions and human rights non-governmental organizations to Crimea;

- implement the Order delivered on 19 April 2017 by the International Court of Justice, on provisional measures in proceedings brought by Ukraine against the Russian Federation,

- prevent further deterioration of the situation;

- de-occupy Crimea;

- comply with its obligations as an occupying power, in accordance with international humanitarian law, until Crimea is de-occupied.