Thank you.
We are still awaiting an effective investigation into the events around Euromaidan that resulted in the deaths of 114 people. Participants also experienced torture, enforced disappearances, beatings, and falsified criminal cases.
In January, the European Court of Human Rights found that the authorities had used ill-treatment, many of the detention orders had been arbitrary, and that the State was responsible for the murder of a protester. The court found that investigations into the events had been ineffective.
Furthermore, impunity remains a major concern in Ukraine today, not just for killings and violations committed during Euromaidan, but for a failure to bring to justice those responsible for more recent attacks against journalists and human rights defenders. For instance the NGO Zmina documented over 100 cases of attacks against human rights defenders in 2020 alone.
Ukraine must work harder to address such impunity as well as historical injustices.
Madam President.
We continue to raise the more than 100 political prisoners in Crimea that have been documented by Crimean Human Rights Group and others, the majority of whom are Crimean Tartars. There were no releases in 2020.
Access to Crimea by international monitors is critical to help address acute human rights issues faced by Crimeans.
We ask the Deputy High Commissioner if she is aware of any international monitors across the UN system who have been able to visit Crimea since it was occupied?
Thank you.
Top photo: United Nations, Geneva. humanrightshouse.org
