Head of the Committee on Human Rights, Deoccupation and Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories in Donetsk, Luhansk Regions and Autonomous Republic of Crimea, National Minorities and Interethnic Relations Dmytro Lubinets met with EU Special Representative for Human Rights Eamon Gilmore. The meeting took place during Mr. Gilmore's working visit to Ukraine in the context of further implementation of the agreements of the EU-Ukraine Summit of October 12, 2021 and his promotion of the initiative to apply the EU Global Sanctions Mechanism for human rights violations in the temporarily occupied territories.
The parties discussed a number of issues related to human rights, including in the temporarily occupied territories; the current human rights situation in Ukraine, topical issues of ensuring the rights and freedoms of victims of armed conflict and temporary occupation of Ukraine, the state of ensuring the rights of national minorities and indigenous peoples, as well as relevant legislative initiatives.
During the meeting, special attention was paid to the discussion of topical issues related to large-scale human rights violations in the territories that are temporarily out of control of the Ukrainian authorities, violations of international law in these territories. In the context of this issue, the Chairman of the Committee stressed the importance of continuing the sanctions policy against the Russian Federation and expressed hope for further cooperation with the EU in these matters.
EU Special Representative for Human Rights Eamon Gilmore noted that the European Community welcomes the changes that are being implemented in Ukraine in terms of respect for human rights, protection of the rights of indigenous peoples and national minorities. The parties expressed hope for the continuation of fruitful, mutually beneficial and long-term cooperation.