The session was entitled "Six Months Later. Curtailment of Rights and Freedoms in Crimea", which coincided with half a year passing after the so-called referendum that has paved way for unrecognized accession of Crimea to the Russian Federation.

 

The goal of the meeting was to facilitate emergence of a continuous channel for transferring validated and unbiased information on the real situation with human rights and freedoms in Crimea for Ukrainian government bodies and international community with a view of initiating effective and prompt international reaction.

 

"The United Nations Development Programme, through its Democratization, Human Rights and Civil Society project, was one of the first organizations to react to the rapidly evolving environment in Crimea this spring. As the situation surrounding civic activism, including human rights work, began morphing, we could not but stretch out a hand of solidarity to civic activists and groups facing change in Crimea" – noted Mr. Jens Toyberg-Frandzen, UNDP Resident Representative a.i. "Since March 2104 UNDP has supported 8 Crimea-related human rights monitoring and legal aid initiatives, driven by our civil society colleagues. Information gathered through their work over the months has been compiled into reports that will be presented and discussed today", he added.

 

 

 

The information session itself has touched upon the main problems of human rights in Crimea, including violations of political and civil rights and rights of minorities.

 

The event's speaker panel included the Ukrainian Parliamentary Commissioner for Human Rights, Valeriya Lutkovska, Head of the Crimean Field Mission on Human Rights, Andrei Yurov, Head of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People, Refat Chubarov, Head of the Ukrainian Centre for Independent Political Research, Yulia Tyshchenko, Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union lawyer, Daria Svyrydova, as well as Head of the Center of Civil Education "Almenda" and Deputy Head of the Crimean Field Mission on Human Rights, Olga Skrypnyk. The session was moderated by the Board Director of the Human Rights Information Center, Tetyana Pechonchyk.

 

The event itself was organized by human rights organizations that work for the benefit of Crimea in collaboration with the Office of the Ombudsperson and Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People with support from UNDP Ukraine and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark.