On Thursday, October 24, at the Ukrainian Crisis Media Center, the Crimean Tatar Resource Center and the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people presented the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in the Crimean Tatar language. The speakers discussed the peculiarities and importance of this translation, as well as the significance and implications of the translated document for the subjectivity of the indigenous people.
The event featured:
- Eskender Bariiev, Head of the Board of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center, member of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people;
- Borys Babin, Professor, PhD in Law;
- Bekir Mamutov, PhD Candidate in Philology, publicist, editor-in-chief of the newspaper “Къырым”;
- Zera Bekirova, Publicist, editor-in-chief of the newspaper “Яны дюнья” in 2012-2018;
- Tamila Seityagyaeva, PhD Candidate in Philology, Professor at V.I. Vernadsky Taurida National University.
According to Eskender Bariiev, the Head of the Board of the CTRC, a member of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, while the declaration has a world record for the number of translations and is available in more than 500 languages, there has not been an official translation into Crimean Tatar language. He noted that the CTRC set the goal to translate this document into the language of the indigenous people with further official registration at the UN.
“Today is a historic event. It is today that we declare that for the first time, not only in the history of the Crimean Tatar people but also in world history, the text of the fundamental legal document, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, has been translated into the Crimean Tatar language. Further procedures will be carried out so that this text is registered with the UN in the Crimean Tatar language,” said a member of the Mejlis.
The Head of the CTRC also emphasized the relevance of this initiative referring to the fact that the year of 2019 according to UN resolution 71/178 (A / RES / 71/178) is the International Year of Indigenous Languages.
“Registration of this translation at the UN will be a demonstration of the Crimean Tatar people’s subjectivity and their commitment to the rule of law,” Bariiev said.
Borys Babin, Professor, PhD in Law, who was consulting the project, explained the significance of such a document and emphasized that it is important for any people, especially the indigenous people, to have an understanding and vision of the fundamentals of the world order, the fundamentals of human rights in their native language.
To translate the Declaration into the Crimean Tatar language, a working expert group of philologists, publicists and lawyers was formed. According to them, this initiative is very important in the context of the preservation and development of the Crimean Tatar language. Also, the translation of the document will make it possible to rally people around the problem of studying the Crimean Tatar language and give impetus to new scientific research.
To date, the lawyers of the CTRC began the submission process to the competent UN bodies.
The translation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was funded by the Representative Office of the “Friedrich Naumann Foundation” for Freedom in Ukraine.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a document recommended for all UN member states was adopted at the third session of the UN General Assembly by resolution 217 A (III) (“International Covenant on Human Rights”) of December 10, 1948. The text of the Declaration is the first global definition of the rights that all people possess. It consists of 30 articles and is part of the International Bill of Human Rights.
Всеобщая декларация прав человека на крымскотатарском языке (кириллица)
Всеобщая декларация прав человека на крымскотатарском языке (латиница)
Photo: УКМЦ