Since the occupation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and city of Sevastopol by the Russian Federation in breach of the norms of international law, Ukraine constantly urges the Russian Federation as an occupied power to allow access of international organizations to the occupied peninsula for monitoring human rights situation in view of the ongoing gross violations of fundamental freedoms and human rights in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.

Gerard Stoudmann’s visit to the illegally occupied peninsula is the result of ongoing consultations between the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine and the Council of Europe’s Secretariat on possible ways to ensure unfettered access to Crimea of the relevant conventional and monitoring mechanisms of the Council of Europe and of other international organizations.

The above-mentioned visit takes place following Gérard Stoudmann’s visit to Kyiv, where he had a number of meetings, in particular with top-level officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine. The dialogue on the parameters of the mandate of the Secretary General’s Special Representative for Human Rights in Crimea is currently in progress.

During 2014 -2015 the Committee of Ministers and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe approved a number of decisions on the status of the occupied Crimea and the human rights situation in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. These decisions set an important basis for the activities of the Secretary General’s Special Representative for Human Rights in Crimea.