What are the mechanisms and practical cases of protection of the rights of the civilian population in the conditions of occupation? What modernization do the Geneva Conventions need? What is the current human rights situation in Crimea?

This was discussed at the meeting of the Expert Council under the Representative of the Commissioner for the Rights of Residents of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol in the Office of the Ombudsman.

The head of the legal department, Kateryna Levchenko, participated from the NGO Association of Relatives of Political Prisoners of the Kremlin. "We discussed the need to make changes to the additional protocols to the Geneva Conventions, the procedure for making such changes and the corresponding changes in national legislation. And they also talked about the role of the Red Cross in matters of releasing civilians. An important question here is about the mandate of the Red Cross: it would be good to listen to the representative of the ICRC, so that all NGOs have a better understanding of where the ICRC is underperforming, and where the Russian Federation is really hindering them. Because the activities of the ICRC, in particular, regarding illegally imprisoned civilians, are opaque and unaccountable."

The next meeting of the Expert Council should take place taking into account all the discussions.