Mr. Chairperson,

The Delegation of Ukraine warmly welcomes Representative of the Chair of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs for Security and Multilateral Issues of the Czech Republic Mr. Ivo Šrámek and thanks him for his very interesting information on the current activity of the Council of Europe.

Our two organizations – the OSCE and the CE – enjoy well established and long-lasting relationship, based on the shared values of democracy, human rights and the rule of law.

The current framework of cooperation between the OSCE and the Council of Europe provides a solid basis to generate synergies, to support goals-oriented approaches, and to make the best use of the two organizations’ comparative advantages while respecting their specific mandates, different memberships and working methods as well as the specific international role of each organization.

We stand for the enhancement and deepening of cooperation between the OSCE and the Council of Europe.

Mr. Chairperson,

In the context of shared values and cooperation between the OSCE and the Council of Europe let me draw attention to the latest decision of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers on the situation in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol (Ukraine), which became the first yet benchmarking document of the CE Committee of Ministers on the subject.

The CE Committee of Ministers has reiterated its firm position regarding the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine in its internationally recognized borders.

The Committee of Ministers recognized the responsibility of the Russian Federation under the international humanitarian law and international human rights law and called the Russian Federation to full adherence to its international commitments.

Despite this the occupying power continues gross violation of human rights in Crimea such as suppression of the rights to freedom of speech and freedom of assembly, religion and belief, committing systematic acts of oppression against the national minorities, in particular the Crimean Tatars.

One of the central provisions of the decision is the call to the Russian authorities to provide unhindered access to human rights mechanisms of the Council of Europe, in particular its Human Rights Commissioner to the occupied Crimean peninsula for monitoring human rights situation. We firmly believe that the presence of Council of Europe conventional and institutional monitoring mechanisms, in particular in the fields of torture prevention and national minorities rights on the territory of the occupied Crimea is vital and crucial in the present conditions of rapidly deteriorating human rights situation on the ground.

Ukrainian side also believes that the aforementioned decision is a highly important contribution of the Council of Europe to ensuring democracy and security in Europe and defending the fundamental principles and values of both our organizations – protection of human rights, democracy and the rule of law.

Thank you, Mr. Chairperson.