No international organization has access to occupied areas of Ukraine - ombudsman
The ombudsman spoke at a virtual conference "Battle for Crimea. Battle for Human Rights,” Ukrinform reports.
"Representatives of all continents - more than 61 countries - have joined a virtual conference Battle for Crimea. Battle for Human Rights within the Crimea Platform,” Lubinets wrote on social media, adding that it was organized by his Office together with his Czech counterpart Stanislav Krzecek.
Speaking at the event, the Ukrainian ombudsman discussed the challenges and violations of human rights in the territory of the temporarily occupied Crimea. These include arbitrary detentions and illegal imprisonment of Ukrainian citizens on the peninsula; forced passportization and mobilization of Ukrainians, the use of the territory of Crimea as a bridgehead for warfare; compulsory movement or deportation of Ukrainian citizens from Crimea, including children; oppression of Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar languages, and militarization of the educational process.
According to Lubinets, 186 people are illegally held in prisons across the peninsula.
"Currently, no international organization has access to the temporarily occupied areas of Ukraine. And Russia commits new crimes every day! So I appealed to my colleagues, the ombudspersons from different countries, calling on them to help Ukraine bring back home all deported, illegally displaced Ukrainian children, civilian hostages, and prisoners of war, as well as support the Peace Formula proposed by the president of Ukraine," Lubinets stressed.
The Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Ruslan Stefanchuk, noted that the aggressor neglects even generally accepted values. "And it’s in such reality that the residents of the occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol have been living," Stefanchuk stressed.
The representative of the ZMINA Human Rights Organization Viktoria Nesterenko noted the persecution of the inhabitants of Crimea, in particular over of their beliefs and ethnicity.
According to Ukrinform, the UN Commission has submitted another report on Russian crimes committed in Ukraine.
