France, Paris, 14 Avenue de l’Opera, 75001  
Ukraine, Kyiv, 56 Kharkivske highroad, 02175
arcconstructionofcrimea@gmail.com
04.08.2023 № 571/2023
Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
General Recommendation N° 37 on racial discrimination in the enjoyment of the right to health and ongoing Russian aggression issues
Our Association of Reintegration of Crimea (ARC), is non-governmental expert and human rights organisation, our expert researches are related with human rights and humanitarian issues, including their fundamental rights, informational rights, right to development, also as with issues of the transitional justice for Crimean peninsula, with relevant humanitarian, informational, economic, social and financial impacts. 
Since 2020 we sent more than 70 submissions and proposals to UN, CoE, OSCE and EU human rights’ strictures, major part of them were published in the official web-sources. Our experts researched the issues of terroristic aspects of the Russian aggression against Ukraine, including activities of Russia-financed and Russian-controlled terroristic groups on the Russia-occupied territories and related war crimes, committed against Ukrainian non-combatants and prisoners of war and against their rights, including right to health. 
Here are Association’s proposals for CERD Recommendation N° 37 on racial discrimination in the enjoyment of the right to health protection against racial discrimination, including special measures (Article 2(2)).
1. Description of Russian aggression’s negative consequences against right to health
As it is well-known, since 24^th of February 2022 Russia committed broad and open military aggression to all Ukraine’s territory. Due last eight months of fights Russia occupied some territories of Donetzk, Kherson, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhya and other regions and strong fights are going near cities with total population more than 4 millions persons near the frontline 
Russia-controlled troops and mercenaries committed in Ukraine, during this invasion, gross violation of international humanitarian law and international human rights’ law already, including broad crimes against fundamental human rights, attacks on medics, teachers, and journalists, social, medical, educational and informational infrastructure, including common and psychiatric clinics and ambulances in Kherson, Kharkiv etc. . 
Russian occupying ‘administrations’ provide access to medic services in Russia-occupied Crimea, only for persons who were forced to get illegal “Russian passports and certificates”, with clear discrimination of ethnic Ukrainian and indigenous Crimean Tatars in the Crimea. It is clear discrimination on Ukrainian citizens that have active pro-Ukrainian position.
Right to privacy in medic issues is not guaranteed at all by Russian illegal “administrations” on Russia-occupied territories of Ukraine, as on mainland, so in AR Crimea and Sevastopol, Ukraine.
All war crimes, committed by Russian invaders, including actions of the so-called Russia-controlled terroristic structures during ongoing hostilities, are connected with absolutely clear Russia’s war targets in maximal destruction the population and civil infrastructure, including objects, essential for all Ukrainian ethnic and social groups and their right to health, that is a clear terroristic activities. 
Those issues now are the subject of the investigation the International Criminal Court Due to gross violation the human rights Ukraine filed an application to the European Court of Human Rights also. Russian government refused to execute the demand of the ECtHR and the order of ICJ to immediately suspend the military operations that it commenced on 24 February 2022. 
On March 16 2022, Russia was excluded from the Council of Europe and refused officially to execute the demands of European Convention on Human Rights that guarantees rights to life. UN Human Rights Council (HRC) adopted its resolution 49/1 on 4 March 2022 where it expressed grave concern at the documented harm to the enjoyment of many human rights, resulting from the aggression against Ukraine by Russia. 
On 8 March 2022 UN human rights experts called on Russia to immediately end its invasion of Ukraine to avoid further bloodshed; experts recalled that intentional attacks against civilian objects amount to war crimes, which are terroristic by their nature. In other UN experts’ statements the negative impact of Russia’s aggression on persons was condemned, and relevant risks for right to life were pointed.
 UN Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing expressed on 9th of March the grave concerns about the serious violations of the right to adequate housing in Ukraine that is directly connected with activities of Russia-controlled fake terroristic structures. UN General Assembly in its resolution ES-11/1 on 2 March 2022 recognized that the military operations of Russia inside the sovereign territory of Ukraine are on a scale that the international community has not seen in Europe in decades and that urgent action is needed to save this generation from the scourge of war.
UN General Assembly in its resolution ES-11/2 on 24 March 2022, demanded again that Russia immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw all of its military forces from the territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders. 
On 7 April 2022 the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution ES-11/3 calling for Russia to be suspended from the Human Rights Council. The UN Human Rights Council adopted on 12th of May a resolution on the deteriorating human rights situation in Ukraine where pointed that Russia should immediately cease its aggression, withdraw all its forces from the whole territory of Ukraine.
Those decisions are not executed by Russian troops, Russia-controlled mercenaries and terroristic groups, which established policy or terror and repressions over the Russia-occupied territories of Ukraine, including AR Crimea and Sevastopol, including direct and public violation of rights of Ukrainians to health. 
2, Association’s proposals for CERD Recommendation N° 37
Draft of CERD Recommendation N° 37 in its point 10 recognizes that “A priori exclusion from access to documents or identification required to exercise the right to health on an equal footing, in line with the Convention, constitutes direct discrimination. Conflicts, disasters, and development-induced internal displacement, often result in forced movement, loss of documents and legal status, depriving individuals, and groups from the regime of regime of protection against racial discrimination, including special measures (Article 2(2))”.
Our Association supports such Draft’s position regarding above pointed negative examples of Russian aggression in Ukraine
But we think that the issues of elimination the racial discrimination in issues of the right to public health, medical care, social security and social services must be reflected in Draft separately, regarding situations of conflict in framework of relevant provisions of international humanitarian law and international criminal law including Roma Statute. Also international standards of indigenous right to health must be reflected in Draft.
Special attention must be aid to article 6 “Genocide” of Roma Statute regarding issue of deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; and to article 7 “Crimes against humanity” of Roma Statute regarding “Extermination” that includes the intentional infliction of conditions of life, inter alia the deprivation of access to food and medicine, calculated to bring about the destruction of part of a population.

4^st of August, 2023                                                                        Representative of the ARC
Dr. Borys Babin