On 13 November 2020, First Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Emine Dzhaparova took part in the Sixth Meeting of the Ukraine-EU Association Committee, which was held in the format of a video conference.
During the discussion of the agenda item on the political dialogue between Ukraine and the EU, concerning the situation in the territories of Ukraine temporarily occupied by the Russian Federation, the First Deputy Minister thanked the EU for its adherence to the policy of non-recognition of the attempted annexation of Crimea and support of Ukraine's territorial integrity. She also briefed on human rights violations and ongoing militarization in the temporarily occupied peninsula.
Emine Dzhaparova presented concrete facts of human rights violations by the occupying authorities, including persecution of political activists and representatives of national minorities, repressions against citizen journalists, compulsory military conscriptions of Crimea’s residents to the Russian army in violation of the norms of international humanitarian law (more than 25,000 Crimeans have been drafted into the Russian military service; 2500 more are to be drafted by the end of the year), violation of the right to education in native language, change of the demographic situation in the occupied Crimea, etc.
Emine Dzhaparova emphasized systemic repressions against the Orthodox Church of Ukraine in Crimea.
She also drew attention to the fact that the Russian forces in Crimea increased more than twofold, they are equipped with all kinds of weaponry, including nuclear capable ones.
The First Deputy Minister called for an increased political and diplomatic pressure on the Russian Federation, including through expansion of sanctions, in response to holding by the Russian occupation authorities of so-called “elections” in the temporarily occupied territories of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol.
During the meeting Emine Dzhaparova presented to the European partners the Crimean Platform, thanked for the EU’s support of this initiative аnd expressed expectations that EU’s member-states and institutions will actively engage in the Platform’s activities and the EU’s leaders will participate in the Summit to be held in May 2021.
She added that the Platform’s ultimate goal is de-occupation of Crimea and outlined priority areas of its activities, in particular coordination of international partners’ actions on sanctions regimes’ consolidation, strengthening the non-recognition policy, countering security threats, drawing attention to economic and environmental challenges stemming from the Russian occupation. Among the Platform’s key tasks will be protection of victims of human rights violations in the occupied territories.
The current situation in the temporarily occupied territories of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions was presented by Deputy Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine Ihor Yaremenko.
For Reference: the Ukraine-EU Association Committee is the highest body on association on the expert level holding annual meetings alternately in Kyiv and Brussels. It is composed of representatives of Ukraine’s ministries at the level of deputy ministers for European integration. From the EU side representatives of the EU External Action Service and respective Directorates General of the European Commission participate in its work.
The Committee provides continuity of the dialogue in the association framework, implementation of the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement and preparation of the Association Council meetings by submitting its proposals and draft decisions or recommendations.
The Committee meetings are held every year starting from 2015. The previous meeting was held on 5 November 2019 in Brussels.