The Permanent Representative of the President in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea Boris Babin and his  First Deputy Izet Gdanov  together with the chief consultants met with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) delegation led by Maxim Zabaluev, the Head of the ICRC Office in Odessa and Rodger Shelton, the ICRC Economic Affairs Adviser. During the meeting Boris Babin emphasized the urgent humanitarian issues to be solved, in particular issuing the Ukrainian passports to detainees who are the permanent residents of the temporarily occupied Crimea.

A series of humanitarian challenges for the detainees are associated with the inability and difficulty to obtain the passports because they reside in the occupied territory; lack of corresponding with the relatives; some of them lack money for payment of administrative fees. To resolve such  problems it has been developed the mechanism of cooperation and partnership with local authorities of Kherson region. The representatives of ICRC were given the specific examples of situation of people who couldn’t pass through the illegal crossing point of  the occupying power without the appropriate documents of Ukrainian citizenship.

Izet Gdanov focused on the facts of humiliating treatment of the political detainees and lack of medical treatment for them. It was told about the current activity of the Mission in solution to the humanitarian problems and provision of administrative services to the political detainees’ relatives and internally displaced services.

The participants discussed the activity of ICRC in the temporarily occupied Crimea and noted that they were not able to carry out the Mandate of the International Organization because the occupying authorities rejected categorically the representatives of the ICRC to be allowed the occupier controlled places of detention in Crimea.

The representatives of the ICRC emphasized their willingness to do all their possible to fulfill the statute function of their organization according to the standards to help the victims of the conflict as in Crimea so in the mainland Ukraine. Also during the meeting the parties discussed the necessity of technical assistance involving in order to upgrade the “Kalanchak” and “Chaplynka” crossing points after they had been examined by the representatives of the Mission and ICRC before the meeting.

It was contended that such actions as arrangement of the pedestrian zone, installation of overhead covers, lighting, designing the rooms for mother and child, equipping of  health post  etc were necessary to create a secure conditions for the citizens who crossing the administrative line.

At the meeting the issue of humanitarian needs  was discussed including housing for IDPs, especially for those who were at risk: families with many children, people with disabilities, pensioners and the elderly. In particular the range of problems the IDPs faced living in the hostels in Kherson was raised. The representatives of the ICRC outlined their possibilities in supporting the victims of the conflict jointly with the Ukrainian Red Cross Society.

At the end of the meeting the parties agreed to further cooperation and joint solving of problems.