On Monday, March 8, representatives of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center met with the President of the Italian Federation for Human Rights, Professor Antonio Stango. Mr. Stango was informed about the situation in the occupied Crimea, about violations of the rights of the indigenous Crimean Tatar people, and the interlocutors discussed a number of initiatives for further cooperation.
The participants of the meeting were the President of the Italian Federation for Human Rights, Professor Antonio Stango, the Head of the Board of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center, the head of the department for legal and foreign affairs of Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people Eskender Bariiev, the manager of the CTRC Zarema Bariieva.
Representatives of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center informed the interlocutor about the situation with violation of human rights in the occupied Crimea, systemic repressions against the indigenous Crimean Tatar people, persecution on ethnic and religious grounds.
The President of the Italian Federation was presented with the album Hostages of Occupation, which tells about 20 life stories of Crimean Tatar families who became hostages of the occupation of Crimea: 10 internally displaced, 10 families who remained on the peninsula.
The Head of the CTRC voiced a number of proposals to the diplomat for further joint cooperation:
– implementation of the Atalık (Godfather) initiative, which provides for political patronage over the political prisoners of Crimea and their families;
– advocacy of similar laws to the Magnitsky Act in different countries and their application for personal sanctions against persons involved in repressions in the occupied Crimea;
– advocacy for recognizing the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people as genocide.
Eskender Bariiev also spoke about the environmental situation in Crimea and stressed the importance of popularizing this topic on an international platform.