Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards

The UN General Assembly on December 18 adopted a draft resolution seeking protection of human rights in Russian-occupied Crimea, according to Ukraine’s permanent mission to the international body in New York. Sixty-five countries voted in favor of the resolution, 23 against, and 83 abstained. The core elements of the most recent UN resolution on Crimea reinforced the body’s definition of “aggression,” which states that “no territorial acquisition or special advantage resulting from aggression is or shall be recognized as lawful.” It “strongly condemns mass detentions on terrorism grounds and other forms of repressions against human rights defenders, including against” Crimean activists. The resolution condemns Russia for changing “the demographic structure of the population of Crimea” and urges Moscow to “stop transferring its own civilian population to Crimea.”