Human rights activists call on Ukrainian govt, parliament to repeal legal acts violating rights of persons who moved out of Crimea
KYIV. Dec 28 (Interfax) - Human rights activists have once again called on the Ukrainian government and the Verkhovna Rada to amend the legislation restricting the rights of the Ukrainian citizens who moved out of Crimea or remained in the territory of the peninsula.
"In the recent two years the Ukrainian authorities [...] adopted a number of legislative acts that negatively affect the situation with the rights of the Crimeans, impose barriers and shrink the space to realize the rights and freedoms in the Crimean Peninsula, in particular, a freedom of travel and property rights," Tetyana Pechonchyk, chairperson of the Human Rights Information Center, said at a press conference at the Interfax office in Kyiv on Wednesday.
The Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union's lawyer Darya Svyrydova recalled that the order of the Ukrainian government number 1035 "On restrictions of supplies of certain goods (works, services) from the temporary occupied territory to another territory of Ukraine and/or from another territory of Ukraine to the temporary occupied territory" which came into effect on January 15, 2016, violates human rights.
"The state, in fact, interfered with personal property rights of the Ukrainian citizens that stay in that territory or travel from it. This order effectively deprives the citizens of a right to evacuate their property from the territory of Crimea guarantied by the Ukrainian law and the European Convention on Human Rights, blatantly violates the citizens' property rights. Today the Crimeans actually cannot transport their personal belongings, their TV sets, their sofas," Svyrydova said.
Olha Skrypnyk, coordinator of the Crimean Human Rights Group, said that the Crimeans who had moved to the mainland Ukraine are declared "non-residents" in accordance with the order number 699 of the National Bank of Ukraine and their right to receive banking services is restricted.
"We call for the cancellation of this order once again. [...] And the best thing that could be done is to repeal the law ['On the creation of the Crimea free economic zone and on specifics of the economic activity in the temporary occupied territory of Ukraine']," Skrypnyk said.
"We would like to call on the state of Ukraine, - if it truly wants to accommodate Crimea, - to lift these unfounded restrictions and amend the legislation regarding the Crimeans," Pechonchyk said.