Russia violating int'l law in Crimea: UN
Report says people are forced to renounce citizenship
The UN human rights office said in a report yesterday that Russia is violating international law in Crimea, including by imposing Russian citizenship on its people and deliberately transferring hundreds of prisoners and detainees to prisons in Russia.
The report, drawn up under an existing request from Ukraine's government, chronicles alleged rights violations and abuses in Crimea since Russia annexed the peninsula from Ukraine in 2014. Russia has refused to budge despite international outrage and biting US and European Union sanctions against Moscow.
A Russian diplomat in Geneva insisted that the UN rights mission didn't have competency to examine the situation in Crimea, insisting that the peninsula was part of Russia now.
“It is strange that the human rights mission in Ukraine assesses the situation in the Russian Federation,” the diplomat said on condition of anonymity because any official declaration can only come from Moscow. “This is un-mandated work.”
The report urges Russia to “effectively investigate” alleged torture, abductions and killings in the peninsula, while decrying denials of access to its own team.
“A key finding of the report is the grave deterioration of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in Crimea over the past 3-1/2 years,” said Fiona Frazer, head of the UN human rights monitoring mission in Ukraine.