Russia violates human rights in Crimea – Human Rights Watch

Tuesday, November 18, 2014 - 15:15 (EET) Section: Latest news

Russian and Crimean authorities have significantly restricted human rights guarantees in Crimea since the peninsula was illegally annexed by Russia.
This is stated in a report by the Human Rights Watch international human rights organization, Deutsche Welle reported.
“Those who oppose Russia’s position in the Ukrainian conflict are intimidated and harassed in Crimea, human rights activists say, noting that this concerns, in particular, the Crimean Tatars, activists and journalists,” reads the report.
According to the document, Russia violated a number of obligations under international humanitarian law, in particular, in the area of ensuring the rights of civilians.
In this case, “the authorities cannot or do not want to curb the arbitrariness” of so-called self-defense units, which, according to HRW, are involved in such violations of human rights as kidnapping. In addition, residents of Crimea who have the passports of Ukrainian citizens are forced to obtain Russian citizenship – otherwise they are considered “foreign nationals without safeguards against possible expulsion.”
Human rights activists called on the international community to use all opportunities to express concern about the situation in Crimea and seek access to the peninsula for independent international human rights monitors.