The Third Committee of the UNGA adopted a resolution on the situation of human rights in Crimea

On November 15, 2016, the Third Committee (focused on the subject of human rights) of the UN General Assembly adopted resolution entitled "Situation of human rights in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol (Ukraine)", initiated by Ukraine.

73 states voted in support of the document, 23 voted against, and 76 abstained. 41 states joined the list of co-sponsors.

For the first time in official documents of the UN, the Russian Federation is recognized as an occupying power and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol as a temporarily occupied territory. In addition, the resolution confirmed the territorial integrity of Ukraine and reaffirmed the non-recognition of annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula.

The document also urges the Russian Federation to grant international human rights mechanisms, in particular the Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, unimpeded access to Crimea in order to monitor human rights situation and asks the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to prepare a separate thematic report on the situation in the peninsula.

The approved resolution is an important diplomatic, political and legal mechanism by which Ukraine protects the rights of citizens of Ukraine on the territory of temporarily occupied Crimea.

The approval of the resolution is planned at the plenary meeting of the UN General Assembly in December 2016.

The text of the resolution can be found here.