On Monday, November 9, representatives of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center met with the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Kingdom of Denmark to Ukraine, Mr. Ole Egberg Mikkelsen. The diplomat was told about the human rights violations in Crimea and the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people, and also presented the album Hostages of the Occupation. In addition, the parties agreed to jointly hold a number of events.
The meeting was attended by Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Kingdom of Denmark to Ukraine Ole Egberg Mikkelsen, Head of the Board of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center, member of the Presidium of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people Eskender Bariiev, manager of the CTRC Zarema Bariieva.
Representatives of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center informed the diplomat about the situation with human rights violations in the occupied Crimea, about political prisoners who disappeared and died during the occupation of the peninsula. There clickable charts Victims of the occupation of Crimea, developed by the organization, which are permanently available on the organization's website in 4 languages and reflect the actual number of political prisoners, missing and dead people during the occupation of Crimea were presented.
Mr. Ole Egberg was presented with the album "Hostages of the Occupation", which tells about 20 life stories of Crimean Tatar families who became hostages of the occupation of Crimea: 10 – internally displaced, 10 – families that remained on the peninsula. They also handed over the booklets prepared by the Crimean Tatar Resource Center about the political prisoners of Crimea who disappeared and were killed during the occupation of Crimea, the booklet My dad is a hero!
Given the pandemic of coronavirus infection, the parties agreed to jointly hold a number of events in an online format, within the framework of which the CTRC is ready to inform Danish MPs about the situation in the occupied Crimea, provide more complete information about political prisoners and hold exhibitions Hostages of Occupation, Crimean Tatars.
Representatives of the CTRC voiced a number of proposals to the Ambassador for further joint cooperation:
– implementation of the Atalık (adoptive father) initiative, which provides for political patronage over the political prisoners of Crimea and their families;
– The adoption in Denmark of a law analogous to the Magnitsky Act, which provides for the imposition of personal sanctions against persons responsible for human rights violations in the occupied Crimea.
– assistance in the recognition by the Danish Parliament of the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people as an act of genocide.
Representatives of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center handed over to the Ambassador a package of documents recognizing the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people as an act of genocide, which includes:
– appeal of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people to all parliaments of the UN member states,
– appeal of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center to the speaker of the Danish parliament,
– copies of the resolution of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine “On the recognition of the genocide of the Crimean Tatar people”,
– Resolution of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine “On the appeal of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to the UN, the European Parliament, PACE, OSCE PA, NATO PA, BSEC PA, governments and parliaments of the countries of the world on respecting the victims of the genocide of the Crimean Tatar people and condemnation of violations by the Russian Federation as an aggressor state of the rights and freedoms of the Crimean Tatar people”,
– Statement of the Saeima of the Republic of Latvia “In memory of the 75th anniversary of the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people and support for the policy of non-recognition of the illegal annexation of Crimea”,
– Statement of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania “On the recognition of the destruction of the Crimean Tatar people by the Soviet Union as an act of genocide”,
– Legal qualification of the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people as an international crime against the indigenous people.
The diplomat, in turn, recalled the continued support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine and stressed that Denmark will never recognize the illegal annexation of Crimea.
Album "Hostages of the Occupation" was developed with the support of the Democracy Grants Program of the US Embassy in Ukraine.