GENEVA, September 26. /TASS/. Russian delegation has made a reminder to participants in a session of the UN Human Rights Council that Crimea is a constituent territory of the Russian Federation.
Natalya Zolotova, a representative of the delegation, told the session a review of the situation in the field of human rights in the Republic of Crimea and the federal city of Sevastopol in the framework of a dialogue between the Council and a third party - Ukraine - was illegitimate.
As she spoke about a report on the situation in Crimea in the field of human rights that the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) had presented at the session earlier, Zolotova said Resolutions 68/262 and 71/201 of the UN General Assembly clearly had the character of specially tailored, politicized documents.
"More than two-thirds of UN member-states refrained from supporting these confrontational politicized initiatives and Russia doesn’t recognize them either," she said.
"We’d like to make a reminder that Crimea and Sevastopol became integral parts of the Russian Federation upon the results of a sovereign expression of will of its residents and in full compliance with international law norms," Zolotova said.
She said all the obligations Russia undersigned in the framework of major international treaties covered the entire territory of the country, including the Republic of Crimea and the federal city of Sevastopol.
"Proceeding from it, we find consideration of human rights in Russia as part of dialogue with a third country - Ukraine - to be illegitimate," she said.
Zolotova called on the OHCHR to stay away from manipulating wit facts in a bid to hush up the crimes committed by the authorities in Kiev, as well as from using information supplied by unreliable sources.
The 48-page report, which OHCRH alleges "grave human rights violations" have taken place on the Crimean Peninsula after its people decide to sever allegiances to Ukraine and to reunify with Russia.
The report contains twenty recommendations to the Russian government, "urging it to respect its obligations as an occupying power, uphold human rights for all and effectively investigate" the alleged crimes "involving members of the security forces and Crimean self-defense."
Pursuant to the underlying assumption that Crimea is a temporarily occupied territory, the report "[…] highlights the severe impact of judicial and law enforcement changes introduced under Russian occupation".
As a supposed instance of this, it mentions "[…] the arbitrary implementation of Russian Federation criminal law provisions designed to fight terrorism, extremism and separatism […]."
"There is an urgent need for accountability for human rights violations and abuses and for providing the victims with redress," UN High Commissioner for Human rights Zeid Ra’ad Al-Hussein said.
The documents admits that it "[…] was drafted on the basis of interviews, monitoring and fact-finding missions conducted from mainland Ukraine […]" and not upon the results of any activities rights inside Crimea.
On March 16, 2014, the authorities of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol held a referendum on the issue of reunification with Russia after an interval of 60 years. More than 80% of registered voters came to the polls and of that number, 96.7% in Crimea and 95.6% in Sevastopol voted in favor of reunification.
On March 18, 2014, President Vladimir Putin signed a treaty on accession of the Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol to the Russian Federation, and both houses of Russian parliament ratified it on March 21.
In spite of more than convincing results of the referendum, Kiev and its outside supporters, primarily the U.S. and the EU, refuse to recognize the results of voting.