The Crimean Tatar Resource Centre is launching a social media storm ‘Deoccupation of Crimea – return of human rights’ dedicated to the International Human Rights Day. If you care about the fate of our country and people, then join our campaign.
After the occupation of Crimea in 2014, the Russian Federation, misusing its legislation for political purposes, launched massive repressions against Crimean Tatars and pro-Ukrainian activists on the peninsula. Detentions, arrests, searches, and abductions have become a regular practice.
According to the Crimean Tatar Resource Centre, over the 10 years of occupation of Crimea, the number of political prisoners and those prosecuted in criminal cases has reached 370, 228 of whom are representatives of the Crimean Tatar people. And the number of persecutions in administrative cases reaches thousands of cases.
Unfortunately, after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, terror and political persecution have become a reality for a huge number of Ukrainians. Russia is actually continuing the practices of the Soviet Union.
We would like to emphasise that the Crimean Tatar people are an indigenous people of Ukraine, who were among the first to suffer from the Russian occupation. Ukraine has taken an important step by adopting the Law on Indigenous Peoples, which recognises the right of Crimean Tatars to their own representative body. Now the state must ensure the implementation of this law, including the legal status of the Mejlis as the representative body of the indigenous people.
We urge everyone to join the storm ‘Deoccupation of Crimea – return of human rights’ and share one of the posters on your social media pages (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Telegram) to express your solidarity with our compatriots in the occupied territories who have become victims of the occupation regime, as well as to help speed up the legalization of Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people.
These posters were designed by activists of the international movement for the deoccupation of Crimea and solidarity with the Crimean Tatar people #LIBERATECRIMEA, and acquired their professional look thanks to the Ukrainian artist Andriy Yermolenko.