On Friday, July 2, an online side event was held on the topic: The introduction of personal sanctions as a mechanism for ensuring the protection of human rights in the occupied Crimea. European and Ukrainian MPs, human rights activists, activists discussed the importance of implementing laws on the model of the Magnitsky Act in Ukraine and in the world.
Speakers were:
Maria Mezentseva – MP of Ukraine, head of the permanent delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
Eskender Bariiev – Head of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center, Head of the Department of Legal and Foreign Affairs of Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People
Zygimantas Pavilionis – Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania
Venera Mustafayeva – mother of political prisoner Server Mustafayev
Nikolai Polozov – lawyer
Yevheniia Kravchuk – MP of Ukraine, Deputy Chairman of the Permanent Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
Antonio Stango – Professor, President of the Italian Federation of Human Rights
The experts discussed the following questions:
1. Laws similar to the Magnitsky Act: implementation experience, challenges and results.
2. The role of laws similar to the Magnitsky Act in the context of human rights violations in the occupied Crimea: implementation mechanisms and prospects.
3. Are the parliaments of the CE member states ready to amend laws to strengthen personal sanctions in the context of human rights violations in Crimea?
4. Are politicians and prominent figures of European countries ready to take political patronage over the political prisoners of the occupied Crimea?
The participants of the discussion spoke about the current situation in the occupied Crimea and stressed the importance of introducing laws similar to the Magnitsky Act in order to ensure the protection of human rights on the peninsula.
Organizers of the event: Crimean Tatar Resource Center, Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, Permanent Representation of the Verkhovna Rada at PACE.
The event was organized with the support of the International Renaissance Foundation as part of the project Public diplomacy as a tool for protecting human rights under occupation. Thoughts, conclusions and recommendations are those of the participants and organizers of this event and do not necessarily reflect the views of IF Renaissance. Responsibility for the content lies solely with the Crimean Tatar Resource Center.