Ten years of Crimea occupation by Russia: UN speaks of rights violations

The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine has published a new report documenting massive violations of human rights and humanitarian law in Crimea, the peninsula that has been occupied by Russia since 2014.

This is reported by Ukrinform with reference to the OHCHR press release.

It is emphasized that the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation in 2014 led to the illegal imposition of citizenship, legislation and institutions of the Russian Federation in all spheres of life.

"In ten years of reporting on the human rights situation in the peninsula, the disregard of the Russian Federation for its obligations under IHL has inflicted serious and enduring harm on the people of Crimea. A similar pattern is emerging in other parts of Ukraine: eight years after occupying and illegally annexing Crimea, the Russian Federation proceeded to occupy and then illegally annex areas of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia regions, where OHCHR has documented violations of a similar nature," the report reads.

The authors of the report pay special attention to the oppression of the Crimean Tatars, in particular the Mejlis – their representative body.

As the head of the Monitoring Mission, Danielle Bell, stated, over these 10 years, Russia’s actions aimed at imposing the Russian language, culture and institutional framework on Crimea, and at the same time destroying the rich cultural, linguistic and religious heritage of the peninsula have been thoroughly documented.

Any opposition faces brutal repression, which is often accompanied by human rights violations, abductions, arbitrary detentions and torture, the mission's report notes.

 The report also details the violent and repressive measures against civilians in Crimea throughout the decade of Russian occupation. These violations serve as a grim warning of the devastating and lasting impact that the Russian occupation can have on other captured regions of Ukraine, the Monitoring Mission's press service says.

The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine operates based on an agreement between the Ukrainian government and OHCHR dated July 31, 2014.