On May 23, a conference “Crimean Tatars after February 2022” was launched at the European Parliament in Brussels.
The event, which was dedicated to the 79th anniversary of the genocide of the Crimean Tatar people, was attended by representatives of the Ukrainian government, Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, foreign organizations, human rights organizations, etc.
In particular, Eskender Bariiev, Head of the Board of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center, member of Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People, spoke about the persecution of the Crimean Tatar people in the occupied Crimea and highlighted the main issues in 2022.
“The practice of severe human rights violations in the occupied Crimea continues. There are a total of 287 political prisoners and those prosecuted in criminal cases during the occupation of Crimea, 195 of whom are representatives of the indigenous Crimean Tatar people,” he noted.
The expert outlined recommendations that will help in protecting political prisoners of Crimea and, in particular, representatives of the indigenous Crimean Tatar people:
1. Increase pressure on the Russian Federation, in particular, to improve the mechanism for monitoring and controlling the implementation of the sanctions’ policy with systematic updates of the sanctions list. Introduce a mechanism for applying personal sanctions against individuals responsible for human rights violations, similar to the Magnitsky Act;
2. Intensify work aimed at protecting human rights in the occupied Crimea, for example, to ensure political patronage of political prisoners of Crimea and their families by public figures;
3. Intensify work with the involvement of international lawyers to protect political prisoners in detention in the Russian Federation;
4. Develop an Action Plan to improve the situation of indigenous peoples in the CoE and OSCE region;
5. Initiate the development of a UN Humanitarian Response Plan for Crimea;
6. Initiate participation of members of parliaments and diplomats of EU member states in courts in Russia;
7. Recommend to the OSCE and the Red Cross to organize assistance in third countries for representatives of the Crimean Tatar people and Ukrainians who evade mobilization in the occupied Crimea;
8. Recommend that countries recognize the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people in 1944 as an act of genocide and condemn the ongoing policy of persecution, discrimination, and violence against Crimean Tatars by the Russian Federation in the occupied Crimea.