Russia's occupation administration of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol has begun spring military conscription. About 3.3 thousand people are planned to be drafted in the peninsula. This was reported on April 4 on the website of the Ministry of Defense of Russia.
According to the aforementioned message, a considerable part of the recruits will be sent for service outside the temporarily occupied Crimea to the military units of the Southern and other military districts of Russia.
It is reported that the spring draft to the Russian army will last until July 15, 2020.
The Crimean Tatar Resource Center strongly protests and states that such actions by Russia as an occupying state are illegal, criminal and unlawful.
The Crimean Tatar Resource Center believes that the requirements of the international law have been violated in this case, in particular the requirements of Articles 51 and 56 of the Convention on the Protection of Civilians during the War (IV Geneva Convention) of 12 August 1949 on the inadmissibility of engaging the inhabitants of the occupied territories to the service in the armed and auxiliary forces of the occupier and the neglect of the occupying force to provide the necessary preventive measures in the context of the worldwide pandemic of the COVID-19 coronavirus.
The Russian Federation also grossly violates the provisions of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, in particular Article 30, according to which any military activity in the lands or territories of indigenous peoples is only allowed in the case of free consent or request thereof. Indigenous peoples express such consent through effective consultation through appropriate procedures and, in particular, through their representative institutions.
The Crimean Tatar Resource Center is convinced that by its actions the Russian Federation significantly restricts the rights of Ukrainian citizens living in the temporarily occupied Crimea, in particular the right to choose a place of residence, free movement and return to Ukraine at any time.
The Russian Federation is misusing its legislation for political purposes, in particular to engage residents of the occupied territories in military service in the occupying armed and auxiliary forces.
The Crimean Tatar Resource Center calls on the international community, international human rights organizations to step up pressure on the Russian Federation and the occupying power of Crimea in order to stop the policy of drafting Ukrainian citizens for military service in the armed and auxiliary forces of the occupying state and depriving them of their basic human rights.
Press service of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center