The UN Security Council on Friday, March 6, will consider the situation of human rights violations in temporarily occupied Crimea and ways of its de-occupation.
"On the sixth anniversary of the Russian occupation, on Friday, March 6, at the initiative of Ukraine and its partners – Estonia, the U.S., Germany, France, UK, and Belgium – the UN Security Council will hold the Arria-formula meeting regarding the situation in Crimea and Sevastopol," Vice-Chair at the UN Committee of Information Oleg Nikolenko wrote on Facebook.
The meeting will be attended by the permanent representative of the president of Ukraine in Crimea, the leadership of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, and representatives of Ukrainian non-governmental organizations, the diplomat notes.
Nikolenko says the meeting is aimed at briefing the international community on ongoing human rights violations in the Crimean peninsula; discussing ways to enhance interaction between the Secretary General, the Security Council, UN specialized agencies and civil society to stop the occupying authorities from restricting fundamental human rights and freedoms; familiarizing members of the Security Council with the steps that Ukraine leadership is taking in the context of protecting the interests of compatriots and de-occupying the Ukrainian territories.
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The meeting will begin at 17:00 Kyiv time.
UNIAN memo. The "Arria-formula meeting" is one of the practices exercised by Security Council members. Like the informal consultations by the entire composition of the Security Council, they are not envisaged in the Charter of the United Nations or the Security Council's provisional rules of procedure.
The "Arria-formula meetings" are very informal, confidential gatherings which enable Security Council members to have a frank and private exchange of views, within a flexible procedural framework, with persons whom the inviting member or members of the Council (who also act as the facilitators or convenors) believe it would be beneficial to hear and/or to whom they may wish to convey a message.
They provide interested Council members an opportunity to engage in a direct dialogue with high representatives of governments and international organizations – often at the latter's request – as well as non-state parties, on matters with which they are concerned and which fall within the purview of responsibility of the Security Council.
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Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea in March 2014 after its troops had occupied the peninsula. An illegal referendum was held for Crimeans to decide on accession to Russia. De-facto Crimean authorities reported that allegedly 96.77% of the Crimean population had voted for joining Russia.
On March 18, 2014, the so-called agreement on the accession of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol to Russia was signed in the Kremlin.
The West did not recognize the annexation in response to which sanctions against Russia were introduced.
Ukraine's parliament voted to designate February 20, 2014, as the official date when the temporary occupation of Crimea began.
