Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights published the Report on the situation of human rights in the temporarily occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, Ukraine 13 September 2017 to 30 June 2018 dated on 10 September 2018. The Report covers the situation in Crimea on administration of justice and fair trial rights, right to physical and mental integrity, right to liberty and security, particularly it includes freedom from arbitrary arrest or detention; and protection from enforced disappearance under the occupation.

OHCHR highlighted by the examples violations of freedom of movement, thought, conscience and religion, opinion and expression, peaceful assembly, association, violations of right to health, property rights, Right to education in native language. The authors of the Report paid a special attention to forced conscription of Crimean residents into Russian Federation armed forces and Illegal population transfers from and to Crimea, organized by the state-aggressor, highlighted the aspects of access to mainland Ukraine’s public services

Preparing the Report the representatives of the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine actively collaborated with the Mission of the President of Ukraine in ARC. During the reporting period, the Russian Federation continued applying its legislation on the citizens of Crimea contrary to the international humanitarian law obligation. In general, the situation with human Rights in Crimea continued to be characterized by restrictions on the exercise of fundamental freedoms and lack of effective means to ensure respect for human rights and rights to fair trial, as stated in the UN Report.

In order to improve the human rights situation in Crimea, OHCHR recommends to the Government of the Russian Federation:

– uphold human rights in Crimea and respect obligations that apply to an occupying power pursuant to international humanitarian law provisions;

– ensure proper and unimpeded access of international human rights monitoring missions and human rights non-governmental organizations to Crimea, pursuant to General Assembly resolutions 71/205 and 72/190;

– respect the laws in place in Crimea in 2014 before the beginning of the occupation, in particular by refraining from enforcing Russian Federation legislation in Crimea, pursuant to General Assembly resolutions 68/262, 71/205, and 72/190;

– refrain from compelling residents of Crimea to serve in its armed forces; end the practice of deportations and forcible transfers of protected persons, including detainees, outside the occupied territory; refrain from transferring its own civilian population to Crimea and end the practice of encouraging such transfers; e) End discriminatory practices and human rights violations and abuses, including torture, ill-treatment, enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrests and detention;

– refrain from arresting or prosecuting Crimean residents for acts committed or opinions expressed before the occupation and release all Crimean residents who have been arrested or imprisoned for such acts;

– ensure that lawyers are able to perform their duties without intimidation, harassment or improper interference;

– ensure effective investigation of allegations of ill-treatment, torture and enforced disappearances, particularly those involving state agents as alleged perpetrators; ensure accountability and provide redress to victims and their families; i) Stop prosecuting individuals for social media comments or posts that do not constitute calls for discrimination or violence;

– end arbitrary searches of private properties belonging to Crimean Tatars; k) Ensure adequate medical assistance to individuals detained in penitentiary institutions irrespective of their citizenship or any other discriminatory grounds; investigate effectively all deaths in detention;

– ensure unimpeded freedom of movement between Crimea and mainland Ukraine; m) Report the number of individuals transferred from Crimea to the Russian Federation to serve criminal sentences and take immediate actions in order to return such individuals to Crimea;

– take all necessary steps to ensure that freedoms of expression, peaceful assembly, association, thought, conscience and religion can be exercised by all in Crimea, without discrimination on any grounds;

– enable a safe environment for independent and pluralistic media outlets and civil society organizations; ensure unimpeded access of Ukrainian and foreign journalists, human rights defenders and other civil society actors to Crimea;

– respect the right to peaceful assembly; cancel unjustified pre-authorization requirements; end the practice of administrative and criminal prosecution for the exercise of this right;

– allow free manifestation of one’s traditions and cultural identity, including the unimpeded functioning of community organizations and commemoration of important events;

– comply with the Order of the ICJ of 19April 2017; lift restrictions imposed on the Crimean Tatar community to conserve its representative institutions, including the ban on the Mejlis; ensure the availability of education in Ukrainian language;

– restore property rights of all former owners deprived of their title as a result of confiscations carried out in Crimea and Sevastopol; and

– ensure that healthcare services are available and accessible to all residents of Crimea; end the ban on substitution therapy for intravenous drug-users.

Full text of Report in English is available on link:

https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Countries/UA/CrimeaThematicReport10Sept2018_EN.pdf