On Thursday, June 10, representatives of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center held an online meeting with the Ukrainian parliamentary delegation to PACE. The participants discussed a number of ideas and initiatives that will be implemented during the PACE summer session.
The working meeting was attended by: the head of the permanent delegation of the Verkhovna Rada to PACE Mariia Mezentseva, deputy members of the permanent delegation Olena Khomenko and Yevheniia Kravchuk, as well as Bohdan Veselovskyy, Yaroslava Yudina, Yuliia Dziuba, Tamara Horbachevska, Kateryna Futorianska, Serhii Shablii, Head of the Board of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center Eskender Bariiev, manager of the CTRC Liudmyla Korotkykh and Tetiana Podvorniak.
The meeting participants discussed a draft resolution on the situation in Crimea, which will be voted on during the summer session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
In addition, it was agreed that the permanent delegation of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to PACE during the June session will pay special attention to the political prisoners of the Kremlin. In their speeches, the members of the delegation will tell about the stories of individual political prisoners and their families, information about which will be provided by the Crimean Tatar Resource Center.
The CTRC is also ready to hand over printed materials about the situation in the occupied Crimea for distribution among European deputies: booklets about political prisoners of Crimea who disappeared and died during the occupation of Crimea, the booklet "My dad is a hero", The album "Hostages of the Occupation", an analytical report "Analysis of the situation in the occupied Crimea as of 2020" and others.
The interlocutors agreed to hold a joint online side event on June 18, during which two issues will be discussed:
– implementation of the Atalık initiative (adoptive father), which provides for political patronage over the political prisoners of Crimea and their families;
– application of the mechanism of personal sanctions of persons responsible for violations of human rights in the occupied Crimea in accordance with the laws similar to the Magnitsky Act.
The Head of the Board of the CTRC also drew attention to the low public awareness of the issue of indigenous peoples.
“In fact, in the modern world, many people do not know about indigenous peoples, few understand what their peculiarity and difference are. For our part, we could organize an online training for MPs to deepen their knowledge in this matter”, – explained Bariiev.
It was decided to return to the issue of organizing training for MPs of Ukraine on the implementation of the rights of indigenous peoples after the end of the PACE summer session.