UN General Assembly Urges Russia To End Abuse In Occupied Crimea

The United Nations General Assembly has adopted a resolution put forward by Ukraine, urging Russia to stop the violation of human rights on the occupied Crimean peninsula.

Seventy states voted to in favour of the resolution while 26 –including Russia-voted against. A further 76 states abstained from voting.

The resolution was co-sponsored by 42 states, including the US, Canada, Australia and Turkey.

Following its adoption, Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a statement, said Russia’s “systemic non-fulfillment” of the previous UN General Assembly resolution as well as its prevention of international monitoring mechanisms on the peninsula has lead to “a significant deterioration of the human rights situation in the occupied Crimea.” 

The ministry also welcomed the General Assembly’s support for the efforts to liberate Crimea from Russian occupation.

The resolution not only condemns Moscow’s occupation of the peninsula and the human rights violations committed against Crimeans, which include extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances and arbitrary detentions, but also puts pressure on Russia to repeal its laws there.

It calls for Russia to revoke its ban on the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People and allow the leaders of the representative body to enter Crimea.

Furthermore, it urges Russia to comply with provisional measures ordered by International Court of Justice, under which the federation must refrain from maintaining or imposing limitations on the ability of the Crimean Tatar community to conserve its representative institutions.

The resolution also urges Moscow to ensure education in Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar languages is available on the peninsula as well as ensure there “unimpeded access” to Crimea for international human rights monitoring missions and NGOs.

The resolution comes amid a spate of politically motivated cases on the peninsula, which saw Kremlin-controlled authorities place more than 70 Crimean Tatar activists on trial on Monday after they staged individual pickets across the peninsula earlier this year.

/By Natalie Vikhrov