Lithuania holds informal meeting of UN on situation in Crimea, eastern Ukraine

“The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights submits regular reports on the situation in Ukraine. Ironically, the protection of human rights of minorities has served as an excuse for the annexation of Crimea. However, there have never been so many grave human rights violations in Crimea before,” said Lithuania’s Permanent Representative.

Crimean Tatar leader Mustafa Jemilev and Andriy Zubariev, representative of the Crimean Human Rights Field Mission shared their experiences and impressions about the human rights situation in Crimea and eastern Ukraine with members of the UN Security Council.

According to the ambassador, the testimonies heard during the event once again confirmed that there was a need to continue to monitor the human rights situation in Crimea and eastern parts of Ukraine, which have been under separatist control; to grant full and unimpeded access to all parts of Ukraine, including Crimea, to international human rights monitoring missions.

This was the second informal meeting of the Security Council Lithuania has organised to discuss the situation in Crimea and Ukraine. Many members of the Security Council have accepted the invitation to hear the first-hand testimonies on the human rights situation, the situation of minorities and media in Crimea and eastern Ukraine, showing interest in the situation in annexed Crimea and eastern parts of Ukraine.