Developing the cooperation with the United Nations’ bodies, our Association sent elaborated proposals to the Draft General Comment 38 on Article 22 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, about the right to freedom of association upon the relevant invitation of the UN Human Rights Committee.
Relevant proposals, done by Borys Babin, Anna Prykhodko, and other experts, and published by the UN Committee now, reminded of the illegal ban by occupiers on the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People and on proceedings regarding its legalization in Ukrainian jurisdiction, on the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights that established the Russian administrative practice of illegal ban on the freedom of association in the occupied Crimea, including interstate cases and individual applications.
The ARC’s proposals reminded of occupiers’ “countering the extremism” and “fighting with terrorism ideology” practices as the form of strong negative impact on associations.
Proposals stressed that Russia illegally extended the action of its own legislation about the associations to the occupied territory, including the illegal fines against associations’ participants and organizers and the oppressions of the civil activists and bloggers, including arrests, raids and criminal proceedings.
The ARC’s proposals supported the presence of the special chapter “Freedom of association in contexts of states of emergency, armed conflicts, occupation, and humanitarian assistance” in the Draft.
But, proposals added, the relevant chapter must reflect the relevant demands of the Rome Statute and of the relevant practice of the international tribunals.
It is connected with the practices of occupying states of the implementation of their own legislation on the registration, control, taxation, ban, and transformation of the associations at the occupied territory, also as with the practices of occupying states of limitations, bans, and repressions against the associations at the occupied territory, the ARC proposals added.
Also, the Draft would pay special attention to repressions against the physical persons for alleged participation in the phantom “banned extremist international organizations”, declared by the aggressor, such as “volunteer battalion named after Noman Chelebidzhikhan,” “International LGBT Movement,” or “International Satanist Movement.”
Also, special attention must be paid to the indigenous rights to association, as in the form of civil society structures, also as in the framework of the indigenous representative bodies, the ARC proposals stressed.
Relevant attention must be paid to the ban of repressions against the indigenous bloggers, journalists, human rights defenders, other NGOs, and indigenous structures that have a goal in supporting and defending the right to association, the ARC’s proposals summarized.
