21 April 2016•Update: 26 April 2016
LONDON
The British government has deplored the human rights situation of Crimean Tatars following Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea.
The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s human rights and democracy report released Thursday noted the ill treatment meted out to the minority group in Crimea, which it said was targeted with the knowledge or participation of law-enforcement groups.
“Following Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea... Arrests, torture and other ill treatment, and intimidation against political opponents and minorities persisted, particularly the Crimean Tatar community, with the knowledge or participation of ‘law enforcement’ or other affiliated groups,” the report said.
Crimean Tatar institutions and organizations were being increasingly branded as “extremists” and members arrested as “terrorists”, while access to international monitoring agencies continued to be denied, it said.
The U.K. urged Russia and Russian-backed separatists to respect international law and allow unimpeded access to international human rights monitoring agencies.
“Without improved access for international monitoring agencies and proper accountability for human rights violations and abuses, there is little prospect of the human rights situation improving in Donbas and Crimea during 2016,” the report said.
It also highlighted human rights concerns in several other countries, including Israel and Egypt.
The U.K. expressed concern over Israeli government’s violations of international human rights and humanitarian law in the context of occupation of Palestinian territories.
“Israeli demolitions of Palestinian structures resulted in the displacement of at least 400 Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The U.K. was deeply concerned by advancement of existing settlement plans and ‘legalization’ of existing settlement units.
“We continued to condemn publicly and privately settlement expansion as illegal under international law. We also continued to express our concern over settler violence,” it said.
On Egypt, the report said the country continued to detain activists, journalists and protesters in 2015.
“In February, 230 activists were sentenced to life imprisonment in a mass trial in relation to protests in 2011. In May, former President Mohamed Morsi was sentenced to death in a mass trial with more than 100 others. Pre-trial detention periods were long; photojournalist Mahmoud Abu Zeid [Shawkan] has been in pre-trial detention since August 2013.
“Our focus will be on detentions of political activists, police abuses, and restrictions on civil society. Improving the current trajectory is fundamental to Egypt’s long-term stability,” the report added.
