Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatović published a report “Crimean Tatars’ struggle for human rights”
In the report, Ms. Mijatović provided a brief historical background on the persecution, deportation and return of Crimean Tatars to Crimea, as well as the crimes of the occupation administrations during the latest attempted annexation since 2014, including the abuse of anti-extremist and anti-terrorist legislation of the Russian Federation against the Crimean Tatars, which “paves the way for the stigmatization of a significant part of the Crimean Tatar people, turns the broader population of Crimea against them and creates an anti-Muslim climate.”
The Commissioner also condemned the occupiers’ treatment of illegally imprisoned Crimean Tatars in detention centers, repression of Crimean Tatar lawyers, restrictions on media freedom, forced mobilization, and violations of the right to freedom of opinion and peaceful assembly.
She noted that the actions and measures she described reflect a deliberate strategy of the occupation administrations of the Russian Federation, which is also reinforced by the entrenched culture of impunity for the crimes of occupation. Dunja Mijatović reiterated her call for an immediate end to the persecution of Crimean Tatars in occupied Crimea, arbitrary arrests and searches, as well as illegal transfers of detainees to detention centers in Russia – Crimean Tatars transferred there should be allowed to return home.
At the same time, Ms. Mijatović emphasized the need for humane treatment of all persons detained in Crimea and Crimeans held in detention centers in Russia. According to international law, they have the right to food and hygiene sufficient to maintain their health, as well as to receive medical care necessary for their health condition. International human rights monitoring mechanisms and humanitarian organizations should have safe and unimpeded access to all prisoners.
In the report, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights condemned the ban on the activities of the Mejlis imposed by Russia. She believes that Crimeans trying to avoid criminal conscription into the Russian armed forces should be provided with humanitarian and legal assistance in all countries where they can seek asylum. in this regard, she called on the member states to review the provisions and practices of entry regulation so that Crimean Tatars do not face problems with documents.
Dunja Mijatović welcomed Ukraine’s steps to protect the rights of the Crimean Tatars: the recognition of the 1944 deportation as genocide, the Crimean House, the law “On Indigenous Peoples of Ukraine”, the Crimean Platform, the Strategy for the Development of the Crimean Tatar Language until 2032, and the creation of the National Corpus of the Crimean Tatar Language. She also welcomed the active involvement of the Crimean Tatars’ representative bodies, in particular the Mejlis, in the development of the above measures.
Ms. Mijatović noted that the Mission is currently working on a draft law that would regulate in detail the legal status and rights of the Crimean Tatar people. Finally, the Commissioner expressed her solidarity with the Crimean Tatars in their struggle for their rights and supported them in their efforts to obtain redress for the injustices suffered and continued to be suffered by the indigenous people.