Being part of the
huge international community of indigenous peoples we are certainly
happy with the success of each indigenous people and are sincerely
concerned with the fate of those indigenous peoples whose rights and
interests are being continuously ignored. The success of our joint
work on ensuring the rights of indigenous peoples in UN framework is
obvious. However we are facing new challenges and new threats to
development and future of indigenous peoples.
Crimea Tatars are
the people who suffered total deportation from their native land in
1944, their return to the native land became possible on the eve of
the Soviet Union collapse and coincided with establishment of
independent Ukraine. At the same time our return and settlement were
taking place under extremely complicated and controversial conditions
in the past 23 years but we were full of hopes. As part of the
Ukrainian political nation jointly with Ukrainian citizens of
different nationalities, Crimean Tatars spoke up in November 2013 –
February 2014 against political and economic corruption, supported
the demands of the Ukrainian society for European integration.
Our hopes to restore our
rights were wiped out at the end of February – March 2014 as a
result of the events that shocked the whole world – occupation and
annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation.
It is very hard to
count on ensuring the rights of indigenous peoples in case when the
whole international legal framework and the power of multilateral and
bilateral agreements and accords came under threat of complete
destruction.
Crimean Tatars, the
indigenous people of the peninsula, by speaking up openly against
Crimea’s occupation, have now become the most vulnerable group.
De-facto the so-called Crimean authorities started systematic
discrimination of Crimean Tatars by racial and ethnic origin,
religion. Repressions are gaining the scale and character threatening
life and safety of the Crimean Tatars. They include abductions of
people, people going missing, bandits’ attacks on Crimean Tatars
and Ukrainian civil activists, mass searches in private houses of the
citizens, mosques, madrasah (Islamic colleges), libraries and
schools.
De-facto the
so-called Crimean authorities aim to destroy national institutions of
the Crimean Tatars – Kurultai (congress) and Mejlis (executive
body) of Crimean Tatar people, both institutions operate in full
accordance with the principles of the UN Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples.
It would not be an
exaggeration to say that in relation to the Crimea and Crimean Tatars
the Russian Empire doctrine “Crimea without Crimean Tatars” is
being implemented again, but this time in the XXI century. Moreover,
it’s done by UN member state, the Russian Federation.
Our suggestions:
1. We join the
requests of other indigenous peoples on granting the status of
permanent observers across the whole UN system to the institutions
representing indigenous peoples.
2. We support the
suggestion on setting up a special UN agency with the mandate to
assist, protect and report on activities of the states as to their
implementation of indigenous peoples’ rights. However, in case of
Crimea and in regard to the circumstances threatening the life and
safety of Crimean Tatars we cannot wait until such agency is created.
That’s why we call on the UN to establish a special mission on
Crimea having set legal and other mechanisms of its permanent
presence in Crimea.
We are grateful to
the Parliament of Ukraine for adopting the decisions for Ukraine to
join the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and for
recognizing the Crimea Tatar people’s status of indigenous people
of Crimea.
Thank you for attention.
