UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon meets leaders of Ukrainian civil society

Oleksandr Sushko, Ukrainian National Coordinator of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum together with the number of civil society leaders from the National Platform met with the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon during his visit to Kyiv last week.

During the meeting UN Secretary General reported on his visit to Moscow and his view of the situation in Ukraine. The discussion was focused on the challenges to international security and law that have emerged as a result of Russia's annexation of Crimea. The participants warned the UN Secretary General of the threat of a humanitarian catastrophe in Crimea as a result of gross human rights violations following the de facto occupation of the region by the Russian military and stressed that the Russian media is spreading blatantly manipulative anti-Ukrainian propaganda.

They cautioned that Ukraine and the international community could soon face problems with refugees and displaced persons from Crimea due to the creation of intolerable conditions for the indigenous Crimean Tatars and Ukrainians, who will face political persecution for attempting to preserve their Ukrainian identity.

The UN Secretary General assured the audience that the UN is ready to expand its diplomatic and mediation efforts to resolve the crisis. The participants welcomed the UN Secretariat's consistent efforts to assist Ukraine and advised on how to improve the UN response and reform UN institutions to achieve sustainable results.

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