UN appoints a Bulgarian to monitor human rights in Russia

The UN Human Rights Council appointed the Bulgarian human rights specialist Mariana Katsarova to monitor the situation in Russia. In September, the Council decided that it was necessary to appoint a special rapporteur on Russia due to the intensification of repression in the country.

The text was adopted by 28 votes in favour, with 17 abstentions. Two countries voted against - China and Eritrea.

According to Kiev, 16,221 children had been deported to Russia by the end of February, but the UN Commission was unable to verify these figures.

The UN Human Rights Council has asked Russia to allow international organizations to visit Ukrainian children and other civilians "who have been forcibly deported" to Moscow-controlled territories, according to AFP.

The resolution adopted last night called on Moscow to "put an end to the unlawful forcible transfer and deportation of civilians and other protected persons within Ukraine or the Russian Federation, in particular children, including those in institutions, unaccompanied and separated children."

Furthermore, the resolution calls on Russia to grant representatives and assistants of international humanitarian and human rights organisations 'unimpeded, immediate, sustained and safe access, to provide reliable and complete information on the number and whereabouts of these civilians, and to ensure their dignified treatment and safe return'. Moscow is also urged to provide "unimpeded, immediate and sustained" access to all prisoners of war and other "unlawfully detained" persons.

"The scale and brutality of the Russian atrocities in Ukraine are simply beyond human comprehension. The most horrific of these is the forced transfer (...) of children to Russia for rehabilitation and adoption," Ukrainian representative Yevgenia Filipenko told the Council.

The text also extends by one year the mandate of the UN Commission of Inquiry into human rights violations committed in Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion on 24 February 2022.

Source: BTA