The European Union continued to raise concerns about on-going serious human rights violations and abuses in Georgian regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali/South Ossetia, – This is stated in the 2019 Annual Report on Human Rights and Democracy in the World adopted today by European Council.

As noted in the 142-page document, in 2019, the European Union (EU) actively engaged in calling those exercising effective control to grant unimpeded access for international human rights mechanisms to these regions.

“The EU continued to raise concerns about the grave human rights situation and prevailing impunity, including continuous systematic persecution of Crimean Tatars and persons belonging to Ukrainian speaking communities, in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol illegally annexed by the Russian Federation, as well as about on-going serious human rights violations and abuses in areas of eastern Ukraine and in Georgian regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali/South Ossetia, not controlled by the respective governments. The EU actively engaged in calling those exercising effective control to grant unimpeded access for international human rights mechanisms to these regions of Ukraine and Georgia”- reads the reports.