Human Rights House Foundation statement
HRC55 – Item 10 – Interactive Dialogue – Ukraine
2 April 2024
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Thank you Vice President.
For more than ten years, the Russian Federation has illegally occupied and attempted to annex Crimea.
In the time since, the situation of human rights on the peninsula has drastically deteriorated. Today, the human rights situation in Crimea is a blueprint for how Russia seeks to transform the newly occupied territories of Ukraine.
One of our Ukrainian partners, Crimean Human Rights Group, has this to say about the situation:
“Over the last ten years, the Russian Federation has established a repressive machine in Crimea, aimed at politically motivated persecution, the destruction of independent media – which now can only operate underground, and the total militarisation of consciousness – including aggressively among children. Since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, this situation has only deteriorated.
“We also see that attacks on civilian objects are being launched from the territory of Crimea, despite its protected status under international humanitarian law. This is… what a totalitarian regime can do in a very short time in the absence of an appropriate international response.”
Vice President.
Given the scale of this growing issue in occupied Ukraine, we ask the Deputy High Commissioner what more can be done to facilitate the return of civilian detainees and hostages from the Russian Federation and from the occupied territories of Ukraine?
Thank you.
