After the speech of the manager of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center Liudmyla Korotkykh at a meeting of the UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the representative of Russia said that he did not consider it necessary to discuss the situation in Ukraine.
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It should be noted that when discussing the expansion of the participation of indigenous peoples in the UN, a number of statements were again made from states condemning the actions of the Russian representative, since this does not create favorable prerequisites for expanding such participation. In turn, the Russian representative in his speech said that the expansion of the participation of indigenous peoples in the activities of the UN is a complex process, since the indigenous peoples themselves do not understand the difference between public organizations and representative institutions and added that delegates should discuss the announced topics, and not the situation in Ukraine, because such statements create a misconception and Russia is accused of something that it did not do.
The representative of the CTRC in her speech once again emphasized that she cannot but talk about the war unleashed by Russia in Ukraine, since the indigenous Crimean Tatar people directly become a victim of this war.
Full text of the speech
First of all, I want to thank the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Peoples, which supported my participation in this session of EMRIP.
I am grateful to all the mechanisms for your work towards the implementation of the Declaration.
Yesterday, the representative of the Russian Federation asked not to discuss the situation in Ukraine, but how can I not talk about the war unleashed by Russia in my country.
Did you know that the first victim of a full-scale invasion on February 24 was a 17-year-old Crimean Tatar who lived in the Kherson region in a place densely populated by Crimean Tatars. A Russian missile from the territory of his homeland, Crimea, hit his house at 04:00 when he was sleeping.
Do you know that dozens of Crimean Tatars, including women, were tortured in the newly occupied territories, they are intimidated, they are afraid to talk about what happened to them.
Do you know that 97 Crimean Tatar political prisoners are still imprisoned in Crimea.
Did you know that our children and teachers are discriminated against by speaking their native language at school.
This is not just statistics, this is what Crimean Tatars have been facing every day for the past 9 years.
I appeal to all mechanisms present with a request to pay due attention to the situation of the indigenous Crimean Tatar people in the context of the conflict, I ask you not to ignore our submissions and statements and include this information in your reports.
We propose to explore the issues of ensuring the implementation of the Declaration in the context of armed conflict, and to develop effective mechanisms for the protection of indigenous peoples in the context of interstate conflict, since this is very important for my people now, when we are again victims of the genocide that Russia is committing in my country and watching which you can do everything in real time.