Human Rights House Foundation statement
HRC62 – Item 10 – Interactive Dialogue – HC Ukraine (& SG Crimea)
3 July 2026
Secretary General’s report on Crimea
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Thank you, Vice-President.
The Secretary-General’s report on Crimea reminds us that occupation is sustained through fear, coercion, and the deliberate removal of people from the protection of the law.
The latest joint reporting coming from Crimean Process, Human Rights House Crimea and the Educational Human Rights House Chernihiv, identify enforced disappearances as a systematic and coordinated practice. They describe a pattern of abduction, incommunicado detention, torture, concealment of information, and then the attempted “legalisation” of detention through fabricated criminal cases.
This practice targets not only activists, journalists, and Crimean Tatars, but also ordinary civilians: people with pro-Ukrainian views, relatives of service members, workers in critical infrastructure, and those refusing to cooperate with the occupying authorities.
Families are also victims. They are left without information, legal certainty, or meaningful access to remedies.
We remain deeply concerned for all civilians unlawfully detained by Russia, including Crimean artist and activist Bohdan Ziza, sentenced to 15 years after his public protest against Russia’s aggression.
Vice-President,
We ask the High Commissioner’s office: pending access to occupied territories, what further practical steps can be taken to strengthen tracing, documentation, and follow-up on enforced disappearance cases?
Thank you.
