42nd session of the UN Human Rights Council
Agenda items 3&5
Clustered interactive dialogue with theSpecial Rapporteur onthe Rights of Indigenous People and the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous People
September 18, 2019
Mr. President,
Ukraine’s commitment to protection of indigenous people has been affirmed in the Constitution of Ukraine. The Parliament of Ukraine endorsed the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People and recognized the Crimean Tatars as indigenous people.
Today Crimean Tatars suffer severely under Russia’s occupation of Crimea.
Russia continues to neglect three UN GA resolutions and an ICJ Order, and upholds its ban on the activities of the Mejlis – the representative body of Crimean Tatars.
Intimidation, arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances, extrajudicial executions, denial of the right to peaceful assembly and freedom of speech continue to be widely used by the occupation administration in Crimea, while the Crimean Tatars are specifically targeted.
This pattern is clearly reflected in the recent report by the UN Secretary General on the situation in Crimea, among other relevant documents on the matter.
More than 100 Ukrainian citizens illegally detained by Russian authorities, including Crimean Tatars, must be released without delay.
We wish to thank the international community for its assistance in responding to the human rights situation in Crimea and hope that the Special Rapporteur as well as the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous People would at last find it possible to join the efforts.
One more point. Russia likes to portray itself as an advocate of indigenous peoples’ rights. Yet, the scope of rights enjoyed by the indigenous peoples in Russia itself is constantly shrinking. A few days ago, on 10 September in Udmurtia, in a courageous display of dissent with Moscow’s ethnic policies, a scholar set himself on fire in protest against continuous discrimination of the Udmurt language.
We call on Russia to end its policy of systematic violation of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People and its international legal obligations.
I thank you.