CoE intends to introduce permanent human rights monitoring mission in Crimea

The Council of Europe (CoE) intends to introduce a permanent human rights monitoring mission in the territory of the Russian-occupied Crimea.

As Ukrinform Ukrainian news agency reports, Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjorn Jagland said this, answering the question by a member from the Ukrainian delegation, Ukrainian MP Serhiy Sobolev during the PACE session in Strasbourg.

“The trip [of the CoE special monitoring mission] was carried out in order to prepare the conditions for work of the permanent monitoring mission in the territory of Crimea. We consider unacceptable the situation when the representatives of the Council of Europe are not allowed to visit the areas, especially those where the unresolved conflicts are still ongoing,” Jagland said.

The Secretary General of the Council of Europe also stressed that all the inhabitants of the European continent had the right to the protection of human rights.

“The residents of Crimea, the residents of Donbas, and the residents of Nagorno-Karabakh have the right to complain about the violation of human rights with the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg,” Jagland said.

According to him, for the residents to be able to exercise their right, special monitoring units should work in the areas of conflict and the Council of Europe is working to create the appropriate conditions for this.

However, the implementation of this task is extremely difficult due to “legal regime” and “political problems.”

Jagland reminded that the Council of Europe was the only institution of the European level, which had been present in Crimea over the past two years.

“No other European institution has managed to send a monitoring mission there. We succeeded in holding talks with Russian and Ukrainian authorities to send there a delegation of human rights activists, including me and ambassador [Gerard] Stoudmann, who prepared the detailed 20-page report,” he said.

According to Jagland, 15 meetings of different levels were held during the 8-day visit, including with representatives of civil society and the Crimean Tatars.

Jagland also praised the work of the mission, which included a group of experts headed by Ambassador Gérard Stoudmann, who previously headed the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and worked there as an expert for five years. The CoE mission prepared the report, which was heard at the meeting of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers. However, the report was not included in the annual human rights report of the Council of Europe.

At the same time, Ukrainian MP Iryna Herashchenko wrote on Facebook that the Ukrainian delegation to PACE is outraged by the fact that the annual human rights report of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe contains no references to human rights violations in the annexed Crimea and the occupied Donbas.

According to her, the Ukrainian MPs already prepare an appropriate letter of indignation.

“MP Serhiy Sobolev asked Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjorn Jagland how it happened that the annual 104-page human rights report of the Secretary General contained not a single word about the violation of fundamental human rights in the annexed Crimea and the occupied Donbas, no mention of torture and arrests of the Crimean Tatars, hostages, violations of the right to life, freedom of expression, safety,” she noted.

According to her, Jagland replied that the report included the information received from the special monitoring missions of the Council of Europe, while no missions had been allowed to Crimea and Donbas last year.

“It turns out that if the Russian Federation closed the occupied territory from the world, the Council of Europe would keep silent about violations of human rights of Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars? It’s a shame. My delegation is preparing a letter of indignation with this position,” Herashchenko said.

As a reminder, Ukrainian NGOs Centre for Civil Liberties and EuromaidanSOS prepared their proposals on human rights monitoring in Russian-annexed Crimea, which should be paid special attention to in the Council of Europe.

The Council of Europe delegation of four people headed by Swiss diplomat, Ambassador Gérard Stoudmann was in Crimea on January 25-31.