In a Decision adopted on Wednesday 15 June and based on a report by Marija Pejčinović Burić, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, the Committee of Ministers condemned “the human rights violations committed by the Russian occupying authorities against ethnic Ukrainians, Crimean Tatars and other residents of temporarily occupied Crimea”.
These violations include reported cases of arbitrary arrest and detention, unlawful searches, premeditated killings, enforced disappearances, summary executions, torture, harassment, intimidation, persecution, discrimination and undue restrictions on the basis of ethnicity, religion or beliefs, unlawful transfers of detainees and convicts, repressive measures against dissidence and human rights defenders and forced recruitment of Ukrainians into the Russian army.
These violations have not been promptly and effectively investigated.
The Committee of Ministers expresses its “grave concern” about Russia’s refusal to give the Commissioner for Human Rights and representatives of human rights organisations safe access to Crimea. It asks the Secretary General to take all necessary steps to obtain such access for Council of Europe bodies.
It also calls on Russia to withdraw from Ukraine and participate in peace talks to put an end to the “unjustified armed aggression by the Russian Federation against Ukraine”, which the Committee of Ministers once again “strongly condemns”, as well as reaffirming its non-recognition of the illegal annexation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol by the Russian Federation.
It also calls on Moscow to repeal the decision declaring the Mejlis (assembly) of the Crimean Tatar people an extremist organisation whose activities are prohibited.
Link to the Committee of Ministers’ Decision: https://aeur.eu/f/25n
Link to the Secretary General’s report: https://aeur.eu/f/25o (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)