Russia wisely refuses to admit UN ‘human rights’ envoy to Crimea – a Croat no less!

Right from the horse’s mouth – the UN itself:

Ivan Ṡimonović, Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights. UN Photo/JC McIlwaine

12 March 2014 – The United Nations said today that in addition to logistical challenges that hindered Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Ivan Šimonović from traveling to the autonomous Ukrainian region of Crimea this week, he was informed by authorities that he could not be received there.

“The reasons given were the complex situation on the ground as well as the impossibility of providing security for his delegation,” UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric told reporters in New York.

Mr. Šimonović, who was dispatched by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to continue the UN’s high-level engagement with the country and to assess the human rights situation, had hoped to travel to Crimea during his week-long mission.

“As in all areas where access is denied, Mr. Šimonović will report on human rights challenges in Crimea based on sources including the diplomatic community and international and national organizations,” Mr. Dujarric stated.

Mr. Šimonović continued his mission today with a visit to Lviv, where he met with local authorities, the Ombudsperson and representatives of civil society.

Senior UN officials have been appealing to all parties to de-escalate tensions and to engage in direct and constructive dialogue to forge a peaceful way forward in Ukraine, which has been witnessing unrest for several months.

Tensions heightened last week as lawmakers in Crimea, where additional Russian troops and armoured vehicles have recently been deployed, voted to join Russia and to hold a referendum on 16 March to validate the decision.

The UN Security Council is scheduled to hold a public meeting on Ukraine tomorrow and hear from a senior Government official.

Wondering about Croatia and Nazism? If you have a strong stomach, we have the facts:

• Bloody neo-Nazi Croatian generals acquitted by Hague tribunal to fight for Ukraine coup leaders
• Croatian Nazis – The Worst Monsters The World Had Known – Still Persist
• Now this is TRULY disgusting: Roman Catholic Pope intends to canonize a Nazi war criminal
• Balkans For Dummies history supplement: Documentary on the death Camps in Nazi Croatia

The UN being the den of iniquity that it is…

…we should not be surprised that the UN would install a Croatian national as its human rights rapporteur/enforcer in a situation involving a neo-Nazi putsch.

Again from the UN itself: Ivan Šimonović

Ivan Šimonović assumed his functions as Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights on 17 July 2010, heading OHCHR’s New York Office.

Before joining the United Nations, from 2008 he held the position of Minister of Justice of Croatia. Previously Mr. Šimonović was Deputy Minister in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York, where he served as Senior Vice-President and President of the Economic and Social Council from 2001 to 2003.

A Croatian national, Mr. Šimonović worked as a professor at the Faculty of Law at the University of Zagreb, where he served as Head of the Legal Theory Department, Vice-Dean and Vice-Rector for international cooperation. He has experience and has published extensively in the fields of international relations, law, human rights, and development of national institutions. In an expert capacity, he has been a member of the Council of Europe’s Commission for Democracy through Law (i.e. the Venice Commission) and the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), as well as the Agent of the Republic of Croatia before the United Nations International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Mr. Šimonović has a graduate degree in law, a master’s degree in public administration and politics, and a Ph.D. from the University of Zagreb and was a visiting scholar at the Universities of Graz and Yale. Mr. Šimonović was born in 1959 in Zagreb, Croatia. He is married with two children.