European Network of National Human Rights Institutions (ENNHRI)

On the occasion of its General Assembly Meeting at the UN Office in Geneva, the European Network of National Human Rights Institutions (ENNHRI) made the following Statement on the Human Rights situation in Ukraine

The European Network of National Human Rights Institutions (ENNHRI) comprises National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) from across wider Europe. NHRIs are state funded institutions, independent of government, with a broad mandate to promote and protect human rights. They are accredited by reference to the United Nations Principles on the Status of National Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights (the Paris Principles) to ensure their independence, plurality, impartiality and effectiveness.
As a NHRI, the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights is playing a crucial role in the protection and promotion of human rights, in particular through fact finding and monitoring of human rights violations in the territory. It is also working constructively with civil society and international organisations in an effort to promote and protect human rights throughout Ukraine under challenging circumstances.
ENNHRI calls on the international community, including all of those engaged in fact finding and monitoring within Ukraine, to engage with and support the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights in her work so as to ensure accountability for human rights violations by all actors, in particular of the right to life.
ENNHRI supports the continued statements by the Secretary-General of the United Nations and other international bodies, such as OHCHR, OSCE and Council of Europe, calling for the full respect for and preservation of the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. ENNHRI calls for an immediate restoration of calm and direct dialogue between all concerned to solve the current crisis in accordance with the principles of international human rights law.

March 2014