“I remain ready to visit Ukraine at any moment”, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatović, said repeatedly when presenting her 2021 annual report to the plenary session of the Parliamentary Assembly on the afternoon of Tuesday 26 April. A visit that had been hoped for and even requested for 3 weeks, but which, she says, has still not received the green light from the national authorities.
Referring to the wave of solidarity that has responded to the exile of millions of Ukrainians since the outbreak of the Russian-led war, Dunja Mijatović saw it as proof that it was “possible to put the protection of human dignity and the observance of international obligations at the centre of state action”. She therefore called for “urgent and concerted action” to stop the illegal practice of pushback of other asylum seekers and migrants.
“You have the important role of preventing any attempt to legalise or facilitate these practices”, she told parliamentarians from the 46 Council of Europe member states.
Other concerns raised in the Chamber included the sustainability of humanitarian aid to Ukrainian refugees, which must be accompanied by an “effective integration” to which states must make a clear and joint commitment, the persistence of prejudice against Roma, LGBTI+ and Africans in the reception of these same refugees and the risk of human trafficking, especially for women and children.
In her report, the Commissioner also expresses concern about the persistence of human rights violations in other areas: freedom of the media, protection of journalists and rights defenders, freedom of peaceful assembly, transitional justice, the right to health and the fight against racism.
“What is particularly alarming”, she points out, “is the scale of retrogression on many human rights principles and the widespread undermining of the rule of law, which is a precondition for human rights protection”.
Ms Mijatović also called on Member State governments to continue to “support the Ukrainian justice system as well as the International Criminal Court, so that they can deliver a measure of justice and reparations to the victims”.
Link to the Annual Activity Report: https://aeur.eu/f/1dp (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)