The 12th Information Meeting on the situation in the temporarily occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea organized by the UNESCO Secretariat on March 31, 2021, once again drew the attention of Member States to the problematic issues of the peninsula. The online meeting was attended by Firmin Eduard Matoko, Assistant Director-General for Priority Africa and External Relations, First Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Chairman of the National Commission for UNESCO Emine Dzhaparova and representatives UNESCO's institutional partners - the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, the ICOMOS International Secretariat, the non-governmental human rights organization Amnesty International, and delegates of the UNESCO Member States.

The participants provided updated information on the current situation in the temporarily occupied Crimea within the competence of UNESCO and noted that the occupying authorities continue to restrict fundamental freedoms, as well as the rights to peaceful assembly and a fair trial, the rights to freedom of expression and religion. Among the examples of violations: the ban on the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, which is not just a violation of rights and freedoms, but also a blatant fact of oppression of one of the indigenous peoples of the peninsula; illegal arrests and harassment of activists and journalists; the decision of the Russian court to allow the demolition of the only church of the Ortotox Church of Ukraine in Eupatoria and the decision to evict the community of the Ortodox Church of Ukraine from the Cathedral of Volodymyr and Olga in Simferopol, etc. In addition, the occupation authorities are using all possible arsenal of measures to restrict access to education in Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar languages. The cultural heritage of the Crimean peninsula suffers from the destructive policy of the occupying power, which results in a partial loss of authenticity of monuments related to the history of the Crimean Tatar people. Numerous archeological excavations are underway and no public information about the destiny of archeological finds is provided.

First Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Chairman of the National Commission for UNESCO Emine Dzhaparova expressed gratitude to the UNESCO Secretariat and institutional partners of the Organization for holding the information meeting and commended the decision of the Executive Board taken by the Member States in January this year "Monitoring the situation in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea (Ukraine)". Emine Dzhaparova stressed on the deteriorating situation on the temporarily occupied peninsula. She highlighed that the occupying power continues to violate the principles of international law and provided concrete facts of militarization of education in Crimea and destruction of the Ukrainian identity of Crimean children and youth. In addition, the First Deputy Minister called on the occupying authorities to provide access to monitoring the situation in Crimea in accordance with the international law. Emine Dzhaparova stressed on the necessity to consolidate international efforts to deoccupy the peninsula and invited the UNESCO Member States to participate in the Crimean Platform summit.

During the meeting, the Permanent Delegate of Poland to UNESCO announced a joint statement of 30 Member States in support of Ukraine's position on the situation in the occupied Crimea, emphasizing the importance of implementing the decisions of the UNESCO Executive Board "Monitoring the situation in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea (Ukraine)" and calling on Russia to ensure continuous access to Crimea by international human rights mechanisms. The statement also highlights that the monitoring should be carried out in accordance with UN General Assembly Resolution A/RES/28/262 of March 27, 2014 "Territorial Integrity of Ukraine".

The Information Meeting on the situation in the temporarily occupied Crimea noted the international support of Ukraine in counteracting Russian aggression and demonstrated the preservation of the monitoring the situation in the temporarily occupied Crimea and Sevastopol on the UNESCO's agenda.