Human Rights House Foundation statement
HRC54 – Item 10 – Interactive Dialogue with the High Commissioner – Ukraine
9 October 2023
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Thank you.
The UN Monitoring Mission in Ukraine identifies the ways in which new restrictive legislation passed in Russia, is being used to target civil society in Crimea and in the newly occupied territories of Ukraine. Crimean residents now face five to seven years imprisonment for discrediting the Russian military forces, even as they suffer under years of occupation.
We continue to draw the Council’s attention to those unjustly detained or imprisoned in Crimea, including the journalist Vladyslav Yesypenko and human rights defender Emir-Usein Kuku and call for their immediate release. We bring particular attention to the case of Iryna Danylovych, who is in urgent need of medical attention.
Speaking recently with HRHF, Iryna Danylovych’s lawyer Serghiy Zayets commented on the broader situation, stating that, “Russia acts through constant escalation… each subsequent event pushes the previous one into the background. We must not let the persecuted be forgotten.”
HRHF believes that no country responsible for such severe and unrelenting human rights violations should be a member of the Human Rights Council. We remind and urge all States to reject Russia’s bid to join the Council tomorrow in New York.
President.
We ask the Deputy High Commissioner what more can be done to monitor and document the status of civilian detainees and prisoners in the occupied territories of Ukraine, including in Crimea, as well as those who are forcibly moved into territory of the Russian Federation?
Thank you.
