On May 21, during the meeting of the Conciliation Board, the First Deputy Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Iryna Herashchenko called on Ukraine’s international partners and leaders of international organizations and missions accredited in Ukraine to take an activer position on the release of Ukrainian hostages and political prisoners.
"We are deeply concerned about the situation when international partners of Ukraine, international organizations - the UN, the OSCE and, in particular, the International Committee of the Red Cross, having no access to either the temporarily occupied Crimea or the occupied Donbas, do not make any public statements regarding the gross violations of the human rights there,” said Iryna Herashchenko.
The politician is convinced that the international organizations and international partners of Ukraine should take a more energetic position in the field of the human rights protection and appeal to the president of the Russian Federation directly.
In addition, the representative of the TCG’s humanitarian subgroup Iryna Herashchenko called on Ukrainian parliamentarians and representatives of non-governmental organizations to inform Ukrainian international partners about the gross violations of the human rights, in particular, non-admission of international missions, consular and medical staff to the above said Ukrainian hostages and political prisoners, the extensive use of torture and various forms of physical and psychological violence applied.
In her speech, the high-ranking Ukrainian politician appealed to the head of the parliamentary Committee on Human Rights, National Minorities and Interethnic Relations Hryhorii Nemyria invoking him to undertake a prompt committee consideration of a cluster of the laws regarding hostages, missing persons, political prisoners and their social protection.