UNITED NATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL
32th session
Interactive Dialogue on HC oral update on Ukraine
29 June 2016
Statement of the Czech Republic
The Czech Republic supports the EU statement.
We thank Assistant Secretary-General Ivan Simonovic for his update.
We remain troubled by the reports of ongoing hostilities and casualties in Ukraine. We are particularly alarmed by the massive human rights abuses that take place in the unrecognized detention facilities run by the illegal armed groups in Eastern Ukraine. We also remain concerned by human rights violations perpetrated on the Government-controlled territories.
The further deterioration of the human rights situation in Crimea is worrisome. We deplore the systematic human rights abuses by the de facto authorities targeting Crimean Tatars, including the recent ban of the Mejlis. The de facto authorities must grant unhindered access for international observers to the illegally annexed peninsula.
In absence of that, we encourage the Mission to continue monitoring the situation in Crimea from outside; here, one possible source of information is the interactive Map of human rights violations in Crimea created and regularly updated by Ukrainian NGO “Crimea SOS”.
While acknowledging the release of Nadia Savchenko, Gennadyiy Afanasyev and Yuriy Soloshenko, we urge the immediate release of Oleg Sentsov, Stanislav Klykh and others whose trials in Russia are in breach of international law and elementary standards of justice.
Ukraine should be commended for her exemplary cooperation with the OHCHR and for the efforts to strengthen the human rights protection in the country; at the same time, however, we remain troubled by the slow progress regarding the investigation of the Maidan killings and other emblematic cases of violence.
In conclusion, I would like to ask you, Mr. Simonovic, about the OHCHR plans and strategies for protecting the endangered independent civil society actors, in particular in the illegally annexed Crimea and in Eastern Ukraine.
Thank you.