Open Letter to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe
Dear Mr. Thorbjørn Jagland,
We express our gratitude to you for organizing a special human rights monitoring mission in the temporarily occupied Crimea. The Russian Federation is consistently pursuing a policy aimed at isolating the peninsula and is denying access there to international intergovernmental organizations, in particular, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission, the mission of the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, the OSCE Human Rights Assessment Mission on Crimea, etc. It has been more than a year and a half since the last visit of the representatives of an international intergovernmental organization. That is why we consider the efforts of the Council of Europe on attracting international attention to the human rights situation in Crimea to be extremely important.
For more than two years, we have been continuously monitoring respect for human rights in Crimea. That is why we are well aware of the difficult working conditions and the significance of your contribution. At the same time, we would like to draw your attention to the fact that a good number of issues which are quite important in the light of implementation of the European Convention on Human Rights remained undescribed in the report of the special mission headed by Ambassador Gérard Stoudmann.
Occupation of the peninsula by the Russian Federation led to systematic violations of human rights and freedoms, purposeful discrimination aimed against the Crimean Tatar people, as well as to the development of an organized system of political persecution. Persecution of this kind has quite an extensive arsenal. Both legal mechanisms (illegal arrests and interrogations, fabricated criminal and administrative cases, ban on peaceful gatherings, etc), and non-legal methods (intimidation, beating, abduction, torture) are applied.
It is important to note that any person attempting to exercise his or her rights and freedoms can become a victim of this persecution regardless of whether this person has any oppositional views or not. This is also confirmed by the recent crackdown on a peaceful protest against the closure of the Cadet Corps; participants of the protest were holding flags of the Russian Federation and posters with appeals to Vladimir Putin.
Therefore, the conclusion in the report of the special mission that “cases of repression mostly target individual opponents” contradicts the assessment of international and local human rights organizations. On the contrary, Russian human rights activists point out that the occupation authorities apply all tools available in the legislation and practice of the Russian Federation in order to suppress any alternative point of view and completely cleanse the independent civil society on the peninsula.
We would like to particularly draw your attention to the fact that victims of human rights violations, who went against the agenda of the Russian side by taking courage to meet the members of the special mission and to give evidence, exposed themselves to a serious risk. It is not incidental that after the visit ended, a number of participants were subjected to searches; and a member of the Crimean human rights contact group who met with the mission separately, Emir-Usein Kuku, was arrested on fake criminal charges and is still kept in custody.
In general, the situation around the world is leading us to a serious discussion regarding challenges that arise while organizing international presence on the occupied territories by efforts of the Council of Europe. The challenges include providing full and unrestricted access to the occupied Crimea for all human rights agencies of the Council of Europe so that they can perform their monitoring activities without hindrance and in compliance with their mandates; manning the missions with people possessing extensive experience in human rights work and competence in the international human rights law; ensuring access for international experts to various sources of information with its further verification; planning secure contacts for victims of human rights violations with view of intimidation and possible further persecution, etc.
Therefore, we send you our proposals on the human issues that we recommend for the Council of Europe to pay special attention to. We are ready to provide comprehensive support, in particular, the necessary documents and contacts, to the activities of the Council of Europe regarding human rights and fundamental freedoms monitoring in the in the occupied Crimea. We consider it extremely important to ensure participation of the human rights conventional mechanisms of the Council of Europe and the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights in monitoring Crimea as a part of Ukraine.
We are well aware of all the threats that members of international missions have to deal with just to carry out their work. In fact, after the report by the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights was published in 2014, the Russian Federation made it impossible for him to further visit Crimea.
But we are in a situation where approximately two and a half million people de facto have become hostages of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation that annexed Crimea with the help of its army, that suppresses and consistently purges the civil society, conducts systematic attacks on human rights and freedoms, endangers the very existence of the Crimean Tatar people, and in general, with its actions has destroyed the existing system of post-war peace and security. Caution and evasiveness in statements and assessments in such a situation should be left to diplomats.
The language of human rights is different; it provides for honesty, uncompromising integrity and ability to call things by their names even if there remains nothing but words and one’s individual example.
With deep respect and hope to be heard,
Chairperson of the Board
of the Center for Civil Liberties
Co-ordinator of Euromaidan SOS Initiative
Oleksandra Matviychuk
