UKRAINE: OSCE Monitoring Mission needed to calm tensions and prevent further human rights violations

13 Mar 2014

[International Secretariat]

Region: UKRAINE

Topic: Regional conflict

On 5 March, 100 men who identified themselves as the Crimean Self Defence League forced some 40 women to end their peaceful protest in Crimea’s capital, Simferopol. (C) VOLODYMYR PETROV/AFP/Getty Images

The last few days have seen a growing number of threats and intimidation of human rights monitors, independent observers, journalists and pro-Ukrainian protestors in Crimea.

On 6 March, representatives of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Tim Guldimann, Personal Envoy of the Swiss OSCE Chair in Office, and Astrid Thors, High Commissioner for National Minorities, were forced to cut short their visit to Crimea due to security concerns. On both 6 March and again on 7 March, a team of observers from the OSCE was prevented from entering Crimea by unidentified armed personnel.

Amnesty International has spoken to a number of journalists and human rights defenders in Crimea.

Journalists and human rights defenders trying to document the events and report violations have been confronted by aggressive groups, some of them armed, including military units.  For example, on 5 March, a group of human rights monitors from EuroMaydan-SOS travelling from Simferopol to Evpatoriya tried to follow a column of around 20 military vehicles that had no number plates and no markings that would indicate which forces they belonged to. Their car was stopped, and all those inside ordered to get out at gunpoint. The military personnel ordered the activists to stop following them and go back. They refused to explain who they were and what they were doing in Crimea. When the activists insisted on their right to travel freely in Ukraine and refused to drive away, the men punctured the tires of their car and left.

In the atmosphere of growing tensions and conflicting allegations, there is an urgent need for international human rights monitors and for an independent fact-finding mission in Crimea but also in other parts of Ukraine where tensions remain high. Such a mission has been proposed by a number of OSCE member states, but is reportedly opposed by Russia and the new de facto authorities in Simferopol, the capital of the Republic of Crimea, loyal to them.

Amnesty International calls on the de facto authorities in Crimea and the Russian forces present there to:

• respect and protect the rights to freedom of expression and assembly, in order to ensure that  those who are opposed to the new authorities and Russia’s military presence in Crimea can express their views peacefully;
• ensure that nobody is subjected to discrimination because of their ethnic origin or political views; 
• ensure that journalists, human rights defenders and international observers are protected from attacks by third parties and that they are able to carry out their work without hindrance or intimidation;
• give full and unimpeded access to Crimea and any communities and groups within it to independent observers and international human rights monitors, and ensure their safety;
• instruct all armed units under their effective control to comply fully with international standards as set out in the UN Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials and the UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials and thereby respect and protect the right to life, liberty and security of person;
• respect and protect the right to freedom of movement of anyone within and between the Crimea and the rest of Ukraine.

Amnesty International calls on the Ukrainian authorities to ensure compliance with its international human rights obligations elsewhere in Ukraine and in particular to:

• ensure that the rights to freedom of expression and assembly are guaranteed so that those who are opposed to the new authorities can express their views peacefully;
• ensure that nobody is subjected to discrimination because of their ethnic origin or political views;
• ensure that the police comply fully with international standards as set out in the UN Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials and the UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials and thereby respect and protect the right to life, liberty and security of person.

Amnesty International calls on the OSCE Permanent Council to take a prompt decision on sending a Monitoring Mission with a strong human rights component to Ukraine, including Crimea, and for all authorities to ensure that they have unimpeded access to all parts of the country.

7 March 2014
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC STATEMENT