On Tuesday, March 14, the Crimean Tatar Resource Center held a meeting with representatives of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission. Human rights specialists were told about the situation with human rights violations in the occupied Crimea, about the activities of the CTRC, and the interlocutors discussed ways for further cooperation.
The participants of the meeting were human rights specialists Diarmud Kuniff, Mariia Bilak and Vitalii Khylko, Head of the Board of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center, Head of the Department of Legal and Foreign Affairs of Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People Eskender Bariiev, CTRC Manager Zarema Bariieva and Liudmyla Korotkykh and CTRC Communications Manager Tetiana Podvorniak .
Representatives of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center spoke about the situation with human rights violations in the occupied Crimea, about systemic repressions against pro-Ukrainian activists and representatives of the indigenous Crimean Tatar people. Eskender Bariiev, Head of the Board of the CTRC, voiced and conveyed the trends in human rights violations in the occupied Crimea and in the newly occupied territories of Zaporizhia and Kherson regions for 2022, as well as recommendations for the UN report on human rights in Crimea.
Representatives of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission were informed about all political prisoners, missing and dead during the period of occupation. In particular, clickable charts Victims of the occupation of Crimea were presented, developed by the organization, which are permanently available on the organization’s website in 4 languages and display the current number of political prisoners, missing and dead people during the period of the occupation of Crimea.
Experts from the Crimean Tatar Resource Center presented a questionnaire for documenting war crimes and human rights violations, which documents the crimes committed by the Russian military and security forces on the territory of Ukraine. Based on this questionnaire, the CTRC developed an electronic register of war crimes, crimes against humanity and human rights violations committed by Russia in Ukraine.
“It is important not only to record human rights violations and war crimes, but also to achieve justice. After all, we see that, unfortunately, impunity gives rise to new crimes. The world did not condemn the genocide of the Crimean Tatar people in 1944, and now the Russian Federation continues the practice of the Soviet Union and commits genocide of the entire Ukrainian people”,- said Liudmyla Korotkykh.
“It is important not only to record human rights violations and war crimes, but also to achieve justice. After all, we see that, unfortunately, impunity gives rise to new crimes. The world did not condemn the genocide of the Crimean Tatar people in In addition to fixing human rights violations and war crimes, the experts of the CTRC record and identify persons involved in these actions. Thus, the experts of the CTRC developed a list of 166 persons violating human rights in the occupied Crimea. In addition, a classification of these persons was formed, on the basis of which a clickable diagram was developed, which is permanently available on the organization’s website and reflects the current lists of persons involved in the persecution of political prisoners, their relatives and Crimean activists.
“It is also important to talk about bringing to justice the collaborators who cooperated with the occupation authorities. To this end, the CTRC has developed a methodology for assessing the appropriateness of imposing personal sanctions against persons cooperating with the occupying authorities. Based on this methodology, a test was presented: Are you subject to sanctions?, which anyone can take on the website of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center”,- added Eskender Bariiev.
The representative of the CTRC also drew attention to the fact that the Ukrainian authorities have not built real effective algorithms for the release of civilians who were illegally convicted by the Russian authorities.
“In Ukraine, the war has been going on since February 2014. Unfortunately, during this period, the Ukrainian authorities have not built real effective algorithms for the release of civilians who were illegally convicted by the Russian authorities. Moreover, the algorithms for the return to Ukraine of citizens of Ukraine who have already served their illegal sentences in the temporarily occupied territories or in the territory of Russia have not even been worked out”,- said Zarema Bariieva.
The interlocutors agreed on further cooperation to record human rights violations in the occupied Crimea and the newly occupied territories of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions.
Representatives of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission were given a booklet prepared by the Crimean Tatar Resource Center on political prisoners of Crimea, as well as a report Analysis of the situation in the occupied Crimea as of 2020.