Bariiev participated in a meeting on the development of the Strategy of State Policy for Ensuring the Rights of Indigenous Peoples of Ukraine

On Friday, 9 August, the Office of the Ombudsman of Ukraine hosted a meeting on the development of the Strategy of State Policy on Ensuring the Rights of Indigenous Peoples of Ukraine Affected by the Occupation Regime until 2030.

The meeting was attended by representatives of state bodies, Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, public organisations and scientists, in particular, the Chairman of the Board of the Crimean Tatar Resource Centre, member of  Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people Eskender Bariiev.

The concept of preparation of the Strategy was presented by Igor Mamontov, a member of the Expert Council under the Representative of the Commissioner for the Rights of Residents of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, Candidate of Law and Honoured Lawyer of Ukraine.

Eskender Bariiev during the meeting thanked for such important work as the creation of strategic documents, but at the same time drew attention to the fact that first it is necessary to develop an Action Plan for the protection and realisation of the rights of indigenous peoples.

‘There is a law (the Law of Ukraine ‘On Indigenous Peoples of Ukraine’, which clearly defines the directions. According to our calculations, this Law requires 17 by-laws to work over, and now there are only 2: on consultations with representative bodies and on fixing the legal status of the representative body of the indigenous people’, – said the expert.

The Chairman of the Board of the CTRC noted the problem of legalisation of  Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, which, unfortunately, is very delayed.

In the beginning of October 2023 the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine‘ were submitted documents on legalization of Mejlis.  Talking about such documents as the Strategy, it is necessary to consult with the representative bodies of indigenous peoples. But how can this be done if the Mejlis has not yet been legalised itself?’ – he added.

Thus, a proposal was voiced to start developing an Action Plan for the Protection and Realisation of Indigenous Peoples’ Rights in parallel with the Strategy, so that Ukraine would have legal acts that could help develop the rights of indigenous peoples in Ukraine.