On Friday, October 16, representatives of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center met with the Ambassador of Montenegro to Ukraine Dragica Ponorac. The interlocutors discussed the situation in the occupied Crimea, the CTRC presented the main directions of the organization’s activities, and the parties also agreed to jointly hold a number of events.
The participants of the meeting were the Ambassador of Montenegro to Ukraine Dragica Ponorac, Head of the Board of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center, member of the Presidium of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people Eskender Bariievand manager of the CTRC Zarema Bariieva.
Representatives of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center informed the diplomat about the situation with human rights violations in the occupied Crimea, about political prisoners, the missing and the killed during the occupation of the peninsula. There were presented clickable charts “Victims of the occupation of Crimea”, developed by the organization, which are permanently available on the organization's website in 4 languages and reflect the actual number of political prisoners, the missing and the abducted during the occupation of Crimea.
The CTRC also spoke about the humanitarian situation in the occupied Crimea. The Ambassador was handed a report on the topic “The Influence of the Irrational Policy of the Occupational Authorities of Russia on the Water Balance of Crimea”, which was sent to the OHCHR office. The document contains detailed information about how inexpedient the occupiers are while using water on the peninsula.
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Ms. Dragica was presented with the album “Hostages of the Occupation”, which bringsto the attention 20 life stories of 2Crimean Tatar families who became hostages of the occupation of Crimea: 10 are internally displaced, 10 are families residing on the peninsula. They also handed over the booklets prepared by the Crimean Tatar Resource Center about the political prisoners of Crimea who disappeared and were killed during the occupation of Crimea, the booklet “My dad is a hero!”, The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in the Crimean Tatar language.
The parties agreed to jointly hold a number of events in an online format, given the coronavirus pandemic.
“It will be possible to combine several events. For its part, the CTRC is ready to inform the deputy of the Assembly (parliament) about the situation in the occupied Crimea, provide more complete information about political prisoners and hold an exhibition “Hostages of the Occupation.” As part of the meeting, we are ready to involve the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, and also directly victims of the occupation (relatives of political prisoners, abducted and those who died during the occupation)”,- said Bariiev.
CTRC representatives also voiced a number of proposals for further joint cooperation:
– implementation of the Atalık initiative (adoptive father), which provides for political patronage over the political prisoners of Crimea and their families;
– The adoption in Montenegro of the analogous law to Magnitsky Act, which provides for the introduction of personal sanctions against persons responsible for human rights violations in the occupied Crimea.
– assistance in the recognition by the Parliament of Montenegro of the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people as an act of genocide.
“This would be a very important step if Montenegro recognized the deportation of the Crimean Tatars as genocide. Thus, it would make it clear that sooner or later it is necessary to answer for those crimes that are committed against entire peoples”,- Bariiev explained.
The Crimean Tatar Resource Center handed over 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 Parliament of Montenegro; 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.
“I am very close to the activities of your organization, since I am not a classical diplomat. I had a lot of experience in human rights work”,- she explained.
The diplomat thanked the representatives of the CTRC for the information provided, as well as for the documents handed over and assured in the support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. She also stressed that Montenegro will never recognize the illegal annexation of Crimea.
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.