STATEMENT

by H.E. Ambassador Oleh Shamshur,

the Permanent Delegate of Ukraine to UNESCO

at the 9th Information Meeting with the Permanent Delegates and Observers to UNESCO

on the situation in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol (Ukraine)

First of all, let me thank the Secretariat of UNESCO for organizing this meeting, and UNESCO partners (Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Amnesty International and ICOMOS) for their participation and their valuable inputs.

I would also like to draw your attention to the information document  submitted to the Secretariat of UNESCO by Ukraine upon request of the ADG Mr Matoko and available online as an integral part of the respective Director-General’s report to the 207th session of the Executive Board.

I would like to stress that the facts provided by Ukraine and the institutional partners of UNESCO are consistent with the latest Report of the Secretary-General of the United Nations to the 74th session of the UN General Assembly on the situation of human rights in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, Ukraine published on 2 August 2019. The human rights situation on the peninsula has an obvious tendency towards further aggravation.

Even the following non-exhaustive list of serious violations of human rights perpetrated by the Russian occupying authorities in Crimea reveals the growing political repression on the peninsula leading to extreme limitations of rights and freedoms promoted by UN system in general and UNESCO in particular:

- the restriction of virtually all fundamental human rights, including the right to life, liberty and security of person, freedom of thought, conscience and religion, freedom of peaceful assembly and association, rights to fair justice and to free expression of views, as well as rights to maintain one’s identity, culture and traditions, to attain  education in native language;

- systemic harassment of those who disagree with the occupation by the Russian Federation of the Crimean peninsula, especially Crimean Tatars and Ukrainians, as well as journalists and human rights defenders;

- in spite of the recent exchange of prisoners that enabled liberation of 35 Ukrainian citizens, the overwhelming majority of whom were arrested and detained in Crimea, 86 political prisoners are still being held in prisons in Russia and occupied Crimea on trumped-up charges of plotting "sabotage", "terrorist attacks" etc. People are being persecuted for their religious and political views, their worldview and public activity;

- regular violation by Russia of international humanitarian law, including the mass transfer of its civilian population to the peninsula, and the creeping deportation of Crimeans, first of all Crimean Tatars, from the occupied territory;

- Russia's failure to comply with the International Court of Justice's Order of 19 April 2017, which in particular obliges it to lift the ban on the Mejlis and to provide an opportunity to study the Ukrainian language;

- total ban of any peaceful protests against the Russian occupation and continuing prohibition of assemblies of Crimean Tatars in commemoration of the deportation of 1944;

- shutdown of all non-Russian media outlets, including Ukrainian and Tartar television channels and complete control of the internet on the peninsula;

- degradation of the state of conservation of the cultural heritage and its ongoing misappropriation, illegal excavations and illicit trafficking in the valuable objects of art in total disrespect to the Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property (1970).

All these forms of abuse were caused by the total lack of international accountability of the occupying power due to Russia’s continued refusal of free access to the peninsula by established international and regional human rights monitoring mechanisms.

This is exactly why the activities of UNESCO Secretariat aimed at establishing an efficient comprehensive monitoring of the situation, including its direct monitoring activity, are of primary importance. We welcome the upcoming programmatic visit of the experts of the Secretariat that will cover the topic of communication and information. Total absence of freedom of press and safety of journalists, massive impunity for perpetrated violations and crimes against media representatives, misappropriation of invaluable archives, severe internet limitations are the key pain points in today’s Crimea that need an urgent remedy.

I would also like to express my gratitude to the delegations of the member states that continually support Ukraine in its efforts aimed at redressing the situation in Crimea and restoring the rule of law in this part of the Ukrainian territory. The ever-growing number of the co-signers of the joint statements at our Information meetings attests to broad approval of the expediency and urgency of the work UNESCO Secretariat is doing in compliance with the decisions of the Executive Board on the follow-up of the situation in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea (Ukraine).

On behalf of my country, I would like to assure you that Ukraine remains open to further dialogue with the Secretariat, members of the Executive Board, member States of UNESCO in order to fully implement the relevant decisions of the Board, and to find the practical ways to redress the situation in Crimea (Ukraine) within the spheres of this organization’s competence.