UNSC to Hold Informal Meeting on Human Rights in Crimea Next Week - Source

UN Security Council members will hold an informal meeting on the human rights situation in Crimea on March 18, a UN source told RIA Novosti.

UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) – According to the source, the meeting will be open to non-governmental and public organizations and will be organized by the Ukrainian delegation. It will be attended by former chairman of the council of Crimean Tatars (the Mejlis) Mustafa Dzhemilev.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR) Zeid Ra'ad Hussein has also been invited to attend the informal meeting, the source told RIA Novosti.

Crimea, which has a predominately ethnically-Russian population, seceded from Ukraine to rejoin Russia in March 2014, following a referendum in which over 96 percent of voters supported the move. The Ukrainian government and many Western nations refused to recognize the legality of the vote and introduced sanctions against the region and Russia.

A human rights mission of the Council of Europe visited Crimea on January 25-31, 2016, holding more than 50 meetings with residents of the peninsula, including the vice chairman of the Mejlis.

The goal of the mission was to objectively assess the situation involving human rights and the rule of law in Crimea and to prepare a report containing recommendations in a number of key areas.