On Thursday, October 15, representatives of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center met with the Ambassador of Pakistan to Ukraine Zahid Mubashir Sheikh. The diplomat was presented with the album “Hostages of the Occupation”, which tells about 20 life stories of Crimean Tatar families who became hostages of the occupation of Crimea, and also offered a number of initiatives for further cooperation.
The participants of the meeting were the Ambassador of Pakistan Zahid Mubashir Sheikh, the Head of the Board of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center, a member of the Presidium of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people Eskender Bariiev, the manager of the CTRC Zarema Bariieva.
Representatives of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center informed the ambassador about the situation with human rights violations in the occupied Crimea. In particular, Mr. Zahid Mubashir Sheikh was told about the systemic repressions against the indigenous Crimean Tatar people, persecutions on ethnic and religious grounds. Eskender Bariiev drew the diplomat's attention to the prohibition by Russia of the activities of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people and the failure to comply with the decision of the UN International Court of Justice on ensuring the work of the representative body of the Crimean Tatars.
The Ambassador of Pakistan, in turn, drew parallels between the situation in Kashmir and Crimea, and assured of support for the territorial integrity of Ukraine.
The parties discussed a number of initiatives for further cooperation. Key aspects include:
– the possibility of opening an exhibition "Hostages of the Occupation" in Pakistan;
– visit of a delegation of the members of Mejlis and MPs of Ukraine – Crimean Tatars to Pakistan, holding meetings with parliamentarians of Pakistan and representatives of the public sector;
– support for families and children of political prisoners in Crimea;
– The possibility of Pakistani politicians joining the “Atalık” (adoptive father) initiative, which provides for political patronage over the political prisoners of Crimea and their families;
– preservation and development of the Crimean Tatar language;
– Carrying out advocacy campaigns aimed at protecting human rights in the occupied Crimea.
Representatives of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center handed over to the Ambassador a package of documents recognizing the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people as an act of genocide, which includes:
An appeal of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people to all parliaments of the UN member states; an appeal of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center to the Speakeer of the Parliament of Pakistan; a copy of the resolution of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine “On the recognition of the genocide of the Crimean Tatar people”, resolutions of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine “On the appeal of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to the UN, the European Parliament, PACE, OSCE PA, NATO PA, PA BSEC, governments and parliaments of the countries of the world on respecting the victims of the genocide of the Crimean Tatar people and condemnation of violations by the Russian Federation as an aggressor state of rights and freedoms of the Crimean Tatar people”, statements of the Saeima of the Republic of Latvia “In memory of the 75th anniversary of the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people and support for the policy of not recognizing the illegal annexation of Crimea”, statements of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania “On recognizing the destruction of the Crimean Tatar people by the Soviet Union as an act of genocide”, the legal qualification of the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people as an international crime against the indigenous people.
The album was developed in the frame of the "Hostages of the Occupation" project with the support of the Democracy Grants Program of the US Embassy in Ukraine.