On Tuesday the 16th of July 2019 Eskender Bariiev, Head of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center, member of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People, held a speech at the 12th session of the UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples under article 3 “Research on the rights of indigenous peoples in the context of borders, migration and movement”.
Выступление Эскендера Бариева с 03-00 минуты
"On behalf of the Crimean Tatars I express my gratitude to the member countries that supported the resolutions dealing with the issues of human rights in Crimea and the militarization of the peninsula by Russia, adopted by the UNGA in December 2018.
The Crimean Tatar people, like many other indigenous people, became a minority in their homeland as a result of a deliberate policy of xenophobia and genocide after the occupation of Crimea by Russia in 1783, total deportation of 1944, which resulted in more than 46% casualties. In 2014, Russia occupied Crimea once again violating articles 1, 3, 7 of the Declaration.
The Russian occupation of Crimea and the subsequent repressions that followed it: detentions, interrogations, searches and arrests, illegal transfer to Russian prisons, violent abductions and murders caused a new massive wave of forced migration and displacement of the indigenous people.
Recommendations:
In section 1. In Article 5, we propose to add, that as a result of colonization of the indigenous peoples of Eastern Europe, targeted forced relocations were carried out with an explicit goal to assimilate and destroy them. An example of the aforementioned is the deportation of the Crimean Tatars in 1944. More than 200 thousand people were forcibly relocated to Central Asia, the Ural mountains and Siberia.
In section C. Causes of forced relocation and migration. 1. The lack of recognition.
We propose to add an article about a targeted ban of representative bodies of indigenous peoples. In 2016 the Supreme Court of Russia banned the representative body of the Crimean Tatars – the Mejlis, accusing the whole body of extremism and therefore violated the right of the indigenous people to manage representative institutions guaranteed by articles 5, 18 and 19 of the Declaration. Russia did not comply with the Interim Decision of the UNCJ on the abolition of the ban of the Mejlis.
We also propose to add an article about targeted substitution of the population, in violation of articles 8, 9 of the Declaration. Due to the occupation, more than twenty thousand Crimean Tatars were forced to leave their native land. At the same time, people from Russia are being brought to the Crimea, according to the Crimean Tatar Resource Center, more than 200 thousand at the moment. The ocuppational authorities illegally prohibited entry to hundreds of Crimean Tatars – citizens of Ukraine for a period of up to 30-50 years, which is a violation of articles 8 and 10 of the Declaration. Yesterday another case of a ban to enter the Crimea for 35 years took place.
In paragraph 4. Militarization and conflicts
We propose to add: “The occupying Russian government in the Crimea has military bases, heavy military equipment, regularly conducts military exercises, and carries out an appeal to serve in the Russian armed forces to the representatives of the indigenous people. These actions violate articles 29, 30 of the Declaration”.
In section IV. Problems caused by migration.
We propose to add a following clause: “In Crimea, the Russian authorities are actively engaged in falsifying the historiography of the Crimea and the Crimean Tatar people, which is also being reflected in history textbooks. And this is an explicit violation of article 15 of the Declaration”.
I also propose the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to initiate the drafting of recommendations for the development of a Humanitarian Response Plan for Indigenous Refugees.
Thank You for Your attention!"
The Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, established by the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2007, is a subsidiary body that provides the Council with the necessary expert information and advice on the rights of indigenous peoples according to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples The Mechanism consists of seven self-representing members
The studies and recommendations of the Expert Mechanism are supposed to provide a better understanding of the provisions of the Declaration and to suggest direct actions that states, indigenous peoples, civil society, international organizations, national human rights institutions and others can take in order to further implement it.