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From 24th to 25th of November 9th session of the Forum on Minority Issues,  UN Council on Human Rights,   was conducted in Geneva. Eskender Bariiev,  a member of Mejlis of  the Crimean Tatar people  and  the head of the board of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center participated in the Forum. During his speech he spoke about systematic repressions and human rights violations against Crimean Tatar people, about political prisoners of Crimea, those missing and died over the occupation period of Crimea, as well as the prohibition of   Mejlis of  the Crimean Tatar people.

In the beginning of his speech Eskender Bariiev, as a representative of  the Crimean Tatar people, expressed gratitude to all state-members, that supported the resolution on Crimea, raised at the 3d UN Commitee.

In his  statement he expressed deep concern on continuous repressions and violations of rights of indigenous people of Crimea – Crimean Tatars.

The speaker accentuated on  Russia's policy on the replacement of the population in Crimea.

 “Violating  the 4th Geneva Convention of 1949, the policy of substitution of Crimea’s population is conducted. According to our data, more than 120 thousand people have been brought from the Russian Federation,  wherein 27 thousand people have left Crimea and were officially registered  in qualified institutional bodies of Ukraine as IDPs.  The last case was expulsion of  the activist - Nedim Khalilov, who is in Krasnodar Region and  who has declared a hunger strike  in protest”, - said Bariiev.

In  his speech he also reminded about the ban of the representative body  of  the Crimean Tatar people – the  Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people.

“On April 26 the so called Supreme Court of the Republic of Crimea  prohibited the  Mejlis of  the Crimean Tatar people , the representative body of  the Crimean Tatars, thus violating articles 5, 18 and 19 of the UN declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples on the collective right of the Crimean Tatars. Crimean Tatars are entitled to manage their representative bodies”, - declared the member of  the Mejlis.

According to Eskender Bariiev, armed people attack  mosques during Friday praying, Crimean Tatars are also  arrested at markets, pushed into buses by force and are delivered to the so called center “E”, people are obliged to share their personal data, undergo test saliva and  are compelled to be fingerprinted. He noted that it is an obvious violation of article 12 of  the UN declaration on the rights of indigenous people (UNDRIP).

In  his speech Bariiev also reminded  about the missing, murdered, as well as political prisoners in Crimea. Particularly, the spokesman accentuated the case of Ervin Ibragimov, one of the twenty six missing people or abducted Crimean Tatars and Ukrainians. It was pointed that 12 people have been found murdered with traces of atrocious tortures. De facto authorities have not opened criminal proceedings of all criminal cases and not all the crimes have been investigated since 2014.

Eskender Bariiev urged the world community to direct a note addressed to the Russian Federation, emphasizing their obligation to ensure the rights of  Crimean Tatars  as an indigenous people of Crimea.

The Head of the Board of  the Crimean Tatar Resource Center highlighted the fact that UN institutions need to work out the humanitarian response plan to  the Crimean Tatar people.