Global human rights committee to be founded in Crimea

KIEV (AA) - An international committee aiming to protect human rights in Crimea will be established amid increasing violations of such in the peninsula, a Ukrainian politician announced on Tuesday.

Refat Chubarov, the incumbent Chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People, said the principles of the committee would be shared "in a short amount of time".

Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula in March 2014 following a contested referendum. Since then, the region’s Tatar minority has regularly denounced its increasing repression including arbitrary arrests and detentions.

The International Committee of Human Rights Protection will "definitely benefit from the experience of Crimean Tatar Mejlis, which has worked on the violations of human rights for two years," Chubarov said.

The assembly of Crimea’s Tatars, known as the Mejlis, was banned by the Supreme Court of Crimea in late April as an "extremist organization" following a prosecution application lodged in February.

Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry, as well as the Turkish Foreign Ministry, described the move as a "violation of human rights" and part of a continued campaign of "intimidation and oppression."