Third-country ombudsmen can be involved in solving problems of human rights violations in Crimea - rapporteur from Ukraine on results of OSCE meeting
Third-country human rights ombudsmen can be involved in issues related to human rights violations in Crimea occupied by the Russian Federation, said rapporteur from Ukraine at the OSCE Human Dimension Implementation Meeting in Vienna, dedicated to multilateral cooperation of ombudsmen, ex-Permanent Representative of the president in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea Borys Babin has said.
He noted the importance of ombudsmen's actions in the absence of justice in Crimea and the bar independent from the occupation authorities, non-admission to international missions in Crimea and eliminating the ICRC from performing functions. At the same time, Babin stressed that the bilateral dialogue on this issue by Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation Tatyana Moskalkova and Commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine for Human Rights Liudmyla Denisova is ineffective, he wrote on his Facebook page on Wednesday following the OSCE meeting.
"Of course, I do not expect effective steps to prevent persecution of the Crimean Tatar activists and other victims of the political pressure of invaders in the framework of the bilateral dialogue of the Ombudswomen of Ukraine and the Russian Federation. I have already written about transforming this interaction into a "battle of ladies" that even went beyond the framework of an interstate conflict. Such an improvement in humanitarian negotiations is possible, in my opinion, primarily because of the involvement of third-country ombudsmen as participants or mediators of a dialogue. Indeed, as yesterday's meetings of ombudswomen of Ukraine and the Russian Federation in Kyiv testify, among other things, the other format has exhausted itself," he wrote.
According to him, adviser to the European Network of National Human Rights Institutions (Ombudsmen), the principal speaker at the last OSCE meeting on cooperation of Ombudsmen, Pavlo Khatsuk, recognized the need to involve third-party Ombudsmen in issues related to human rights violations in Crimea occupied by the Russian Federation. He came to this conclusion taking into account the information about Moskalkova's involvement in holding hostages on the occupied peninsula.
"I reported to OSCE representatives and state delegations about the aggressor's involvement of the Russian ombudswoman Moskalkova as an accomplice in holding hostages in Crimea, in particular, in the case of the abducted Ochakiv fishermen from the vessel 0041, and provided relevant documentary evidence. The proposals I voiced following the discussions were fully supported by the key speaker, adviser to the European Network of National Institutions for Human Rights (Ombudsmen). He recognized the need for a multilateral dialogue of ombudsmen in the Crimean dimension," Babin said.
At the same time, he quoted Khatsuk: "There can be no vacuum in the sphere of the protection of human rights."
Babin also noted that at the OSCE meeting in Vienna devoted to multilateral cooperation of ombudsmen, there were no representatives of the office of the Ukrainian ombudswoman, including her representative in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.