On November 15, 2018, the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly adopted an updated draft resolution “Situation of human rights in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, Ukraine”. The UN special resolution on the occupied Crimea was previously supported by 67 countries, 35 countries became its co-sponsors
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The draft resolution reiterates its condemnation of Russia’s temporary occupation of part of the territory of Ukraine – the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol and reaffirms its non-recognition of the attempted annexation, and recognizes the seizure of Crimea as illegal and a violation of international law, and states that these territories should be returned to Ukraine.
The participating countries expressed concern that Russia was not complying with the provisions of previous resolutions and relevant decisions of international organizations, specialized agencies and bodies of the UN system and welcomed Ukraine’s commitment to international law.
In addition, the document condemns politically motivated persecution of Ukrainian citizens and discrimination on ethnic grounds, and calls for the release of all Ukrainians illegally detained in the occupied Crimea and on the territory of Russia. In this regard, the names of Oleg Sentsov, Volodymyr Balukh, Emir-Usein Kuku and other political prisoners are mentioned separately.
The draft resolution urges the aggressor state to comply with the decision of the International Court of Justice of April 19, 2017 to restore the rights and freedoms of Ukrainian citizens on the peninsula, to provide access to illegally detained Ukrainian citizens on Russian territory and in Crimea to independent doctors from international medical organizations, as well as Ukrainian officials.
At the same time, the resolution demands that Russia stop the practice of involving Crimean residents in its military operations, and stop deporting Ukrainian citizens from the Crimean peninsula for not having acquired Russian citizenship. The resolution also calls on international organizations and specialized UN agencies to refer to the Ukrainian peninsula in official documents as “the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol (Ukraine), which are temporarily occupied by the Russian Federation.”