UN Deploys Human Rights Monitors Throughout Ukraine
Ukraine: UN Deploys Human Rights Monitors amid
‘Troubling’ Signs in East, Crimea
New York, Mar 14
2014 – United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Human
Rights, Ivan Šimonović, announced
today the immediate deployment of a UN monitoring team
throughout crisis-torn Ukraine to help establish the facts
surrounding alleged human rights violations, including in
Crimea, and serve to de-escalate tensions in the
country.
Speaking via video conference from Kyiv,
Mr.Šimonović told reporters in New York that during his
short visit to Ukraine, he had identified chronic human
rights violations; some dating from the Soviet era, and
others, such as excessive use of force and arbitrary
detentions, having taken place in the wake of the popular
protests that erupted in the country a few months ago.
The
newly deployed human rights monitoring team, which will be
headed by Armen Harutyunyan, who is also the UN Regional
Representative for Central Asia, will focus on current
violations and, in that regard, he said “the situation is
particularly troublesome in the eastern part of the country
and in Crimea” he said.
“It also seems particularly
dangerous that there are rumours about large-scale human
rights violations,” said Mr. Šimonović, noting that such
innuendo was stoking concerns regarding outside military
intervention.
He emphasized therefore that the UN
monitoring team will investigate violations as they occur
and prevent any cover up. It will also aim to prevent the
use of rumours “or any incidents for manipulation,
promotion of political agendas or to spread fear and
insecurity in the country.”
In an earlier press
conference in Kyiv, he said that what became clear very
quickly during his discussions in Ukraine was the
preponderance of competing narratives about what exactly has
transpired in the country since November last
year.
“Warning signs about systemic human rights
violations were neglected for many years, including the
concerns and recommendations of international human rights
bodies,” he said.
Initially due to return to New York
over the weekend, Mr.Šimonović, who has been in Ukraine
for the past nine days, was asked by UN Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights,
Navi Pillay to extend his mission through Tuesday, 18
March.
“Without an independent, objective establishment
of the facts and circumstances surrounding alleged human
rights violations, there is a serious risk that these
competing narratives could be manipulated for political
ends, leading to divisiveness and incitement to hatred,”
he said, stressing that the UN human rights monitoring team,
as an impartial player, would serve to establish the facts,
thus helping prevent such manipulation and de-escalate
tensions.
The deployment of the monitors comes as senior
UN officials have been appealing to all parties for weeks to
de-escalate tensions and to engage in direct and
constructive dialogue to forge a peaceful way forward in
Ukraine, which has been witnessing unrest for several
months.
Tensions heightened last week as lawmakers in
Crimea, where additional Russian troops and armoured
vehicles have recently been deployed, voted to join Russia
and to hold a referendum on 16 March to validate the
decision.
Mr.Šimonović himself has been travelling
through the country with a team from Geneva-based human
rights officers for the past nine days, holding meetings
with political officials and prominent religious figures.
However, local authorities denied his access to Crimea,
citing the lack of readiness to receive him and inability to
provide security.
However, he said that denial of access
did not prevent the team from assessing the human rights
situation in Crimea. The team had access to several reliable
sources and extensive one-on-one discussions with
individuals who are in and from Crimea.
“I am gravely
concerned about the situation in Crimea, where there appears
to be no rule of law at present, and therefore a drastic
deterioration in the protection of human rights, as well as
rampant fear and insecurity due to misinformation, blocking
of information and total uncertainty about what is coming
next,” he said.
Mr.Šimonović went on to highlight the
cases of several activists who are unaccounted for,
including Andrey Shchekun, Anatoliy Koval’skiy and his son
Sergey Koval’skiy, Mr. Taneev and Mikhail
Vdovchenko.
“I have also met with activists and
journalists who were stopped at paramilitary check points,
detained between 9 and 11 March, interrogated, beaten,
robbed of their equipment, harassed, humiliated and subject
to mock executions, allegedly by a Berkut unit officer,”
he said.
“I have been informed about cases of arbitrary
arrest and detention, torture and ill-treatment, and other
human rights violations committed by members of unidentified
armed groups. Paramilitary forces must be disarmed and the
rule of law must be re-established in Crimea by those who
have the power to do so.”
Mr.Šimonović noted that the
situation of minorities and indigenous peoples in Crimea, in
particular the Crimean Tatars, was very vulnerable. He
stressed that the human rights of all must be respected
throughout Ukraine, including in Crimea, particularly the
right of all to participate in public affairs and political
life without discrimination.
For more details go to UN
News Centre at http://www.un.org/news
ENDS
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