(September 17, 2014)
Mr. President,
Welcoming today’s discussions preceding the UN World Conference on Indigenous Peoples to be held in New York next week, I would like to address the situation with the human rights of the Crimean Tatars, recognized as indigenous people of Ukraine, that, along with other minorities and ethnical Ukrainians, suffer following Russia’s aggression against our country and the illegal annexation of Crimea.
We consider as inadmissible and unacceptable the numerous and consistent violations of their rights, documented by the international organizations, including the UN Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, such as: searching the offices of the Majlis – the Crimean Tatar Assembly – and homes of its members, arbitrary detentions and ill-treatment, property confiscation, harassments, discrimination, illegitimate forcible deprivation of Ukrainian citizenship, prohibitions of peaceful assembly and association, persecution on religious ground, etc.
It is now prohibited for the Crimean Tatars to celebrate their national holidays and to commemorate victims of political repressions elsewhere in their homeland, except in places of their so-called compact residence, which are at risk of becoming national ghettos. Their democratically elected leaders are banned on entry to the Peninsula.
The very same time earlier today when we once again heard the Russian delegation’s false assurances on protection of Crimea’s population rights, the FSB officials and masked armed men surrounded the building of the Majlis and prepare to seal the property. Representatives of the Majlis regard what is happening as "bullying socially active people, as part of the psychological impact on them".
Unlawful local authorities continue resorting to the above mentioned violations in a systematic way, and the responsibility for these illegal activities rests solely with the Russian Federation. It seems that the purpose of such deeds is to force the indigenous people out of their homeland, as evidenced by the flow of the Crimean Tatars refugees.
Ukraine considers the so-called "elections" that Russia arranged in our State on September 14 in this particular context. They are illegitimate, their results are void and won`t have any impact on the current status of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol within the internationally recognized borders of my country.
Whatever the Russian delegation repeatedly propagates on the status of Crimea, trying to justify the barbaric annexation of the Peninsula, unfortunately, it is obvious that this country is guided in its foreign policy towards Ukraine not by international law but by the "rule of the gun".
Thus, we call on both, the Special Rapporteur and the Expert Mechanism on the rights of indigenous peoples to pay due attention to the issue and contribute to avoiding another forced deportation of Crimean Tatars.
I thank you.