The House of Commons of Canada recognized the total deportation of the Crimean Tatars in 1944 as an act of genocide. This was announced by the Ambassador of Ukraine to Canada Yuliia Kovaliv on her Facebook page.
We would like to note that the Crimean Tatar Resource Center and the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people are systematically working with the national parliaments of different countries to recognize the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people as an act of genocide. Such work was carried out with the Parliament of Canada. In June 2019, the CTRC sent a letter urging the country to recognize the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people as an act of genocide.
The Crimean Tatar Resource Center, together with the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, provided a package of documents recognizing the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people as an act of genocide, including:
– Appeal of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people to all parliaments of the UN member states to recognize the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people as an act of genocide;
– Appeal of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center to the Senate of Canada;
– copies of the resolution of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine On the recognition of the genocide of the Crimean Tatar people;
– legal qualification of the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people as an international crime against the indigenous people.
Such a package of documents was sent to more than 40 countries of the world. We are waiting for a response and continue our work in this direction.
The CTRC emphasizes that the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people as an indigenous people from their historical homeland in Crimea is still an unfinished (long-term) international crime that does not have a statute of limitations.
After the occupation of Crimea in 2014, thousands of Crimean Tatars were forced to leave the peninsula because of their political position. Moreover, in 2021, the Russian Federation adopted a law on forced evacuation, which may allow a new deportation of the Crimean Tatar people.
The world must condemn the deportation in 1944 so that it never happens again. This is especially important during the full-scale war in Ukraine in 2022, when the Russian Federation continues the genocide of the entire Ukrainian people. Impunity breeds new crimes.
The CTRC team expresses its sincere gratitude to the House of Commons of Canada for the solidarity and support of the Crimean Tatar people.
Recall that on May 9, 2019, the Saeima of Latvia recognized the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people in 1944 as an act of genocide. On June 6, 2019, the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania also adopted a resolution recognizing the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people on May 18, 1944 as an act of genocide.