As part of an official visit to the Republic of Austria, Chief Consultant of the Crimea Platform Department Nelia Hrynyshyn delivered remarks at the OSCE’s Second Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting on the Protecting Civic Space: the Role of Human Rights Defenders and Freedom of Peaceful Assembly topic.
During the plenary sessions, she emphasized the systematic human rights violations in occupied Crimea, including the ban on peaceful assemblies and the ongoing pressure on human rights defenders and citizen journalists. Nelia Hrynyshyn also stressed that despite repression and intimidation, Ukrainian citizens continue to resist the occupation, demonstrating daily through their actions a clear message to the occupiers: Crimea is Ukraine.
The importance of the 2023 judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in the case Ukraine v. Russia (regarding Crimea) was highlighted, as it held the Russian Federation accountable for systemic human rights violations in the occupied Crimea.
As part of the official visit, Chief Consultant of the Crimea Platform Nelia Hrynyshyn also spoke at the side event Voices in the Darkness: Civil Society Resistance and Losses during Russia’s War against Ukraine, organized by the ZMINA Human Rights Center. She emphasized that in the 11 years of Russia’s occupation, Crimea has been transformed into both a military base and a prison for its residents. As of today, at least 223 Ukrainian citizens are held as political prisoners — 133 of them are Crimean Tatars. A significant number of those detained are human rights defenders and citizen journalists. The crucial role of women in resisting the occupation was also underscored.
She also participated in the OSCE gender equality conference Building Resilience through Inclusion and Empowerment, organized by the Permanent Mission of Finland to the OSCE. During her intervention from the floor, Nelia Hrynyshyn emphasized that Russia is normalizing violence, and nearly every second person persecuted in occupied Crimea for their pro-Ukrainian stance is a woman.