On 18th of October 2017 First Deputy Permanent Representative of President of Ukraine to the Autonomous Republic of Crimea Izet Hdanov took part iat the ODIHR OSCE Conference “Combatting Intolerance, Discrimination and Hatred Against Muslims; Towards a Comprehensive Response in the OSCE Region” in Vienna, devoted to 10th anniversary of OSCE’s Cordoba Conference and Declaration.
Izet Hdanov in his speech and during discussions informed the Participating States` and OSCE bodies` representatives also as international experts on situation with violations by agressor-state the collective rights of the Crimean Tatar People on ethnic, cultural and religious originality in conditions of temporal occupation the territory of Ukraine in Crimea.
First Deputy Permanent Representative set special attention for repressions against certain communities and Crimean Tatar leaders accused by the Russian occupier authorities in “extremism” and announced on permanent attemrps of the Russian occupier authorities to establich the total control over spiritual life of the Crimean Tatar People.
Izet Hdanov pointed on OSCE`s attention on examples of the outlaw executions, abductions and tortures of the Crimean Tatar activists, of the incitement the inter-religious hatred and of usage of hate speech in propaganda of the Russian occupier authorities in Crimea.
Mission of the President of Ukraine in the AR of Crimea took part in elaboration the recommendations on the basis of the work of the ODIHR OSCE Conference with a goal of including the provisions, condemning the russian activities against the Crimean Tatar People.
Presenting the Mission`s propositions to the OSCE Office of the democratic Institutions and Human Rights, to Participating States` delegations and to international experts of this OSCE Conference.
Propositions of Mission of President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea for the participants iof the ODIHR OSCE Conference “Combatting Intolerance, Discrimination and Hatred Against Muslims; Towards a Comprehensive Response in the OSCE Region” devoted to 10th anniversary of OSCE’s Cordoba Conference and Declaration (Vienna, 18 October 2017).
OSCE Cordoba Declaration, 2005 is a major source of the international standards for combatting discrimination and it must be implemented undoubtedly by all the international monitoring missions, foremost the OSCE ones, for the evaluation the state of realization and defense the rights of Crimean Tatar People, ethnic Ukrainians and national minorities in the Crimea, illegally annexed by Russia.
Criminal ethnic cleansing during the Second World War and further attempts to commit genocide, determined in the Cordoba Declaration, reflect directly the tragic destiny of the Crimean Tatar People under power of the authoritarian and totalitarian Russian powers of ХХ century; it causes the duty for a special attention both by OSCE and Participating States for current repressions against Crimean Tatars in the criminally annexed Crimea.
Cordoba Declaration must be implemented as by OSCE so by the Participating States for evaluation the Crimean Tatar People’s rights’ execution and defense in the criminally annexed Crimea, both with UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples realization, recognized as by Ukraine so by the aggressor-state. The articles of 2, 7 and 12 of UN Declaration have exceptional value for the Crimean Tatar People as they recognize the rights of Indigenous People to be free from any kind of discrimination; to live in freedom, peace and security; to manifest, practise, develop and teach their spiritual and religious traditions, customs and ceremonies; to maintain, protect, and have access in privacy to their religious and cultural sites; to the use and control of their ceremonial objects.
Current aggressor-state’s attempts to execute in Crimea, against to the International Humanitarian Law, Russian legislation in areas of counteraction the terrorism and extremism for fighting the national liberation movement of the Crimean Tatar People, masked as combatting the “forbidden” religious groups, – are the direct violation the Article 5 of the Cordoba Declaration, rejecting the identification of terrorism and extremism with any religion, culture, ethnic group, nationality or race.
Cordoba Declaration recognizes the important role of the education and media for combatting the discrimination and it is extremely important for evaluation the situation of realization and defense the rights of Crimean Tatar People, ethnic Ukrainians and national minorities in the criminally Crimea, in conditions of the total control of aggressor-state’s authorities over common and specialized educational institutions, including religious, in the peninsula, both in conditions of the destruction the freedoms of speech and media in Crimea, in conditions of incitement the hate speech against the Crimean Tatar People, ethnic Ukrainians and some other ethnic, social and religious groups by the media controlled by the aggressor-state.
Cordoba Declaration foresees the cooperation between the ODIHR OSCE and other institutions, including UN system structures, and it has the significant importance in conditions of current process in the International Court of Justice for Application of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Ukraine v. Russian Federation) in Crimea related to the Crimean Tatar People, ethnic Ukrainians and national minorities. Non-execution by Russia the order of the International Court of Justice in this case and attempts of Russian occupation authorities to manipulate the information about the situation for realization the linguistic, religious, cultural and educational rights of mentioned ethnic groups – foresee the duty of special attention of both OSCE and Participating States for execution the demands of pointed International Convention in the shape of standards of Cordoba Declaration and Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
The OSCE Kyiv Ministerial Decision No. 3/13 on Freedom of Thought, Conscience, Religion or Belief underlines inter alia, the importance of fostering a climate of mutual tolerance and respect between believers of different communities as well as between believers and non-believers, and to promote dialogue between religious or belief communities and governmental bodies. This MC Decision also aims at preventing intolerance, violence and discrimination on the basis of religion or belief, including against Christians, Jews, Muslims and members of other religions, as well as against non-believers. If there is an interest to develop its provisions further and draft any separate documents on discrimination against members of one religion, various aspects of discrimination against Christians, Jews, Muslims and members of other religions under the conditions of occupation need to be duly reflected and addressed.
