On Monday, May 18, the first international mourning rally was held in the memory of the victims of the genocide of the Crimean Tatar people. The rally was watched all over the world, and representatives of the Parliament of Canada, the Parliament of Lithuania, the President of Turkey, the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, as well as activists, politicians, diplomats and representatives of the Crimean Tatar and Ukrainian diasporas from around the world joined in showing solidarity with the Crimean Tatars.
Participants in the International online rally addressed the UN, the European Parliament, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the OSCE, NATO and BSEC, as well as the governments and parliaments of the world with an appeal:
– to urgently apply additional measures of pressure on the aggressor state – the Russian Federation, using sanctions, political, diplomatic and economic mechanisms to stop Russia violating fundamental principles of international law and fulfilling the requirements of the international community, in particular, the de-occupation of Crimea and the restoration of state sovereignty of Ukraine over Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, as well as over the adjacent waters of the Black and Azov Seas;
– to seek from the Russian Federation, as the occupying state, compliance with international humanitarian law, ending human rights violations in Crimea, immediately releasing Crimean political prisoners, enforcing an order of the UN ICC regarding the lifting of illegal restrictions on the right of the Crimean Tatar people – as the indigenous people of Crimea – to operate their representative institutions – Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people and Qurultay of the Crimean Tatar people;
– to provide access to the temporarily occupied Crimea of the Convention and monitoring bodies of the UN, the Council of Europe, the OSCE, UNESCO, etc.
– to recognize the deportation of 1944 as an act of genocide of the Crimean Tatar people.
The resolution also emphasizes the need to amend the Constitution of Ukraine, which will establish the national-territorial status of Crimea as an integral part of Ukraine.
We remind that according to the Decree of the President of Ukraine of May 16, 2014, May 18 is annually celebrated as the Day of Struggle for the Rights of the Crimean Tatar People. According to the Decree of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of November 12, 2015, “On the Recognition of the Genocide of the Crimean Tatar People,” May 18 was also recognized as the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Deportation of the Crimean Tatar People, and the deportation of 1944 was recognized as an act of genocide.
The ZOOM platform was provided by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom in Ukraine.