The PABSEC Cultural, Educational and Social Affairs Committee has supported the amendment offered by the Ukrainian delegation to the Recommendations of the Committee. The Recommendation envisions efforts aimed at prevention from elimination of cultural heritage in the areas of armed conflict or on occupied territories in compliance with the terms of the international law, in particular, provisions of the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict.
Head of the permanent delegation of the Ukrainian Parliament to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (PABSEC) Liudmyla Denisova told this to the Information Department of the Verkhovna Rada today after the meeting in Tirana (the Republic of Albania).
The meeting participants were the members of the Ukrainian delegation — people's deputies Olena Masorina and Oleksii Kyrychenko.
The said amendment to the Recommendations of the Committee was passed with editorial corrections of the Turkish delegation.
In her speech, Liudmyla Denisova noted that the topic of the meeting — the fight against illegal use of cultural property in the PABSEC region — was very important not only for Ukraine (the Autonomous Republic of Crimea temporarily occupied by Russia), but also for a part of the Republic of Moldova (Transnistria), Republic of Azerbaijan (Nagorno-Karabakh) and Georgia (Abkhazia and South Ossetia). "Illegal appropriation and use of cultural heritage of these BSEC regions by other states entail considerable concerns," she said.
She also said that the Ukraine is concerned over the decision of the Government of the Russian Federation to appropriate the property of the Chersonesus national nature reserve located on the Crimean peninsula.
"We note that the status of the cultural heritage objects located on the territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol cannot be changed, as so-called agreement between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Crimea on Crimean Republic's joining the Russian Federation and creation of new subjects in the structure of the Russian Federation adopted in Moscow on March 18, 2014 doesn't create any international legal consequences," Liudmyla Denisova said.
From different news sources the Ukrainian citizens get to know about exportation of cultural collections from Crimea to the Hermitage Museum, including unique collections from Chersonesus, Sudak, Tavrida Central Museum in Simferopol, etc.
The head of the permanent parliamentary delegation to the PABSEC drew attention to the fact that the resolution of the UN General Assembly entitled Territorial Integrity of Ukraine calls on specialized establishments of the UN, in particular UNESCO, not to acknowledge any changes in the status of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol.
"We demand immediate termination of international violations on the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine and put responsibility, inter alia the material one, on the Russian Federation and on illegal authorities of Crimea," she said.
She also reminded about illegal use and elimination of cultural heritage in other BSEC member countries on whose territories there are unrecognized republics.
In particular she said that the eastern part of the Ukrainian-Moldovan border had a number of historical monuments such as the small town of Rascov, Cetatea Bender, Noul Neam? Monastery in Chi?cani, etc. "Official Azerbaijan has several times reported on actions aimed at the elimination and falsificationthe cultural heritage of Nagorno-Karabakh acknowledged declared by international conventions as crimes against humanity. At the same time, the Georgian authorities consider the Georgian historical monuments on the territory of self-proclaimed republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia are in danger," Denisova noted.
At the end of her speech the head of the permanent delegation said that mass elimination and classification of historic cultural monuments contradict the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict passed in 1954. Besides the elimination, appropriation of historical cultural elements on the occupied territories goes in violation of the UNESCO World Heritage Convention.