On Monday, April 6, the 10th Information Meeting on the situation in the temporarily occupied Crimea in UNESCO’s fields of competence took place. The reports noted further deterioration of the situation on the peninsula, cited specific facts of human rights violations, oppression of national minorities, freedom of the press, the safety of journalists, protection of cultural heritage, and obstacles to access to education in one’s native language. This was reported by the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.
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Presentations on this subject were prepared by the offices of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Press, the International Council for the Protection of Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), and Amnesty International.
“The reports noted further deterioration of the situation on the peninsula, cited specific facts of human rights violations, oppression of national minorities, freedom of the press, the safety of journalists, protection of cultural heritage, and obstacles to access to education in one’s native language”,- the message claims.
33 UNESCO member states issued a statement calling on the UNESCO Secretariate to continue the first phase of direct monitoring in order to study the situation in the temporarily occupied Crimea in the areas of competence of the Organization.
“The results of the Information Meeting confirmed the persistence of the problems of the occupied Crimea in the list of UNESCO's priorities and demonstrated further growth in support for Ukraine in the context of consideration of the next decision of the Executive Board of UNESCO “Monitoring the situation in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea (Ukraine)”, scheduled for October 2020”,- the message added.