On the 22nd day of December, 2017, the Crimean House in Kyiv hosted a round table “Mission of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea: Reassessment of Work under Conditions of the Russian Aggression”, dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the Mission. The people’s deputies of Ukraine, representatives of central executive authorities, law enforcement bodies, of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People, representatives of the OSCE Project Co‑ordinator and Special Monitoring Mission, the UN Monitoring Mission on Human Rights, the Mission of the International Committee of the Red Cross, the EU Mission in Ukraine, Council of Europe Office in Ukraine, of foreign embassies, also as scientists and experts took part in the event.
The parties discussed the activities of the Mission in the years 1992-2017, in particular, the establishment and functioning of the Mission in the Crimean Autonomy until 2014, role of the body under conditions of escalation of the Russian aggression and its temporary movement to the mainland Ukraine, activation of work of the Mission from August 2017. The participants of the round table discussed the prospects of the Mission in the context of the de-occupation and reintegration of Crimea. The issue of directing the analytical, expert and scientific work connected with Crimea and the relevant establishment of the Expert Council of the Mission was raised. There was pointed out the urgent need for coordinating the activities of central state authorities regarding the de-occupation and reintegration of Crimea and discussed the international and humanitarian perspectives of the Mission. Particular attention was paid to the methodology of elaboration of the action plan and strategies for de-occupation and reintegration of Crimea.
Recommendations of the round table “Mission of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea: Reassessment of Work under Conditions of the Russian Aggression”, dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the Mission (December 22nd, 2017, Crimean House, Kyiv).
The following was stated based on results of the reports of the Permanent Representative of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, his First Deputy, the Acting Head of the Mission’s Office, people’s deputies, representatives of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People, officers of executive power authorities:
The history of establishment of the Mission begins from the proclamation of Independence by Ukraine in 1991 and introduction of the position of the President of Ukraine in the constitutional system, from restoration of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea as part of Ukraine in 1991. On the 17th day of December, 1992 the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the Law of Ukraine № 2875-XII “On the Mission of the President of Ukraine in the Republic of Crimea”. In section X “Autonomous Republic of Crimea” of the Constitution of Ukraine, 1996 there was introduced a separate Article 139, according to which the Mission of the President of Ukraine, whose status is determined by a separate law, acts in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. So the Mission became the constitutional state authority body of Ukraine. The work of the Mission of the President of Ukraine as a state control authority under the Constitution and regulatory legal act of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, Constitution of Ukraine and laws of Ukraine are fixed in the part 4 of the Article 5 of the current Constitution of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea adopted by the Verkhovna Rada of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea in 1998. In pursuance of the Decree of the President of Ukraine dated April 7th, 2000, the Secretariat of the Council of Representatives of the Crimean Tatar People as a form of recognition by the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People was established as a part of the Mission’s Office.
The current constitutional status of the Mission of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea has been developed by a special Law of Ukraine № 1524-III dated the 2nd day of March, 2000, as amended. The main functions of the Mission are the following: representative, nominating, analytical, information and human rights protection functions that lied in promoting the observance of constitutional rights and freedoms of indigenous peoples and citizens and in achieving the interethnic harmony, social, economic and political stability in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. After the armed seizure of the Crimean peninsula by the aggressor State in February 2014, the activity of the Mission in the city of Simferopol were forced to cease, the management of the Mission left the occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea. By the order of the President of Ukraine of the 16th day of May, 2014 in order to ensure the renewal of activity of the Mission in conditions of temporary occupation of the territory of Ukraine, the Mission was located in the city of Kherson, which is territorially adjacent to the administrative border with the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.
The new stage of the Mission’s functioning was determined by the Decree of the President of Ukraine № 16/2016 dated the 20th day of January, 2016. This document has significantly enhanced the Human Rights and international relations` dimensions of the Mission’s activities, provided for establishment of separate structural units of the Mission in the city of Kyiv, with preservation of its main office’s location in the city of Kherson. The decree of the President № 221/2017 dated the 17th day of August, 2017 provided for special official duties of the First Deputy Permanent Representative of the Crimean Tatar People. A position of the Chief of Staff of the Mission’s office has been provided in accordance with the new legislation of Ukraine. The Mission clearly defines the directions of work, establishes cooperation with central and regional governmental authorities in Ukraine, introduces a mechanism of regular monitoring of situation connected with the internally displaced persons, performs analysis of legislation in the context of issues connected with Crimea to resolve them; it systematically studies social, economic and political processes on the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine, provides informational support to all types of its activities.
At the same time, the work of the Ukrainian authorities on de-occupation and reintegration of the peninsula had been staying at low level of coherence and coordination for a long time from the beginning of occupation of Crimea by the state aggressor. In particular, until recently, significant funds of the international technical assistance or funds of the State Budget of Ukraine for solving urgent problems of Crimea’s reintegration and de-occupation had not been attracted by the central executive bodies. After establishment of a special central executive body, Ministry of Temporary Occupied Territories and Internally Displaced Persons, other central executive bodies continue to carry out their own functions related to the temporarily occupied territories and internally displaced persons within the limits of competence specified by the legislation.
The establishment of separate units of law enforcement agencies on Crimean issues in the mainland Ukraine, namely, the Prosecutor’s Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, the Central Administration of the National Police in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, and the Central Administration of the State Security Service of Ukraine in the in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol became an important step in ensuring the counteraction to the Russian aggression on the peninsula. At the same time, it should be noted the absence of a complete, integrated mechanism of criminal, procedural and special investigative policy for urgent issues of reintegration and de-occupation of Crimea and counteraction to the Russian aggression on the peninsula. The issue of enhancing interaction between executive authorities and law enforcement bodies with judicial authorities, people’s deputies of Ukraine, Crimean Tatar People’s self-government bodies, research and expert institutions remains to be urgent.
Today the Mission of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea is a separate state body established in accordance with the Constitution of Ukraine in order to facilitate the fulfillment of powers entrusted to the President of Ukraine related to the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, to ensure interaction between public organizations and governmental bodies of Ukraine in this field. The choice of the location of the Mission in Kherson with a separate subdivision in Kyiv is considered to be a good form of territorial organization of the state administration on the issues of de-occupation and reintegration of Crimea. Under these circumstances, the participants of the round table have recognized the following initiatives of the leadership of the Mission of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea as urgent and expedient:
– inadmissibility of substitution of work of the state authorities of Ukraine in relation to the formation and implementation of policy regarding Crimea for the work of Human Rights, volunteer and other non-governmental organizations in future;
– strengthening the quality of analytical work on economic, security, social, humanitarian and other processes taking place in Crimea under conditions of the Russian occupation by the way of continuous receiving of relevant information from all competent authorities, its qualitative elaboration by the Mission and submission to the President of Ukraine;
– establishment of the Expert Council of the Mission as a platform for concentration of scientific and expert opinion on the urgent issues of de-occupation and reintegration of Crimea;
– continuation of concentration of the subdivisions of law enforcement agencies and other competent state bodies in the field of reintegration and de-occupation of Crimea in Kherson Region, counteraction to the Russian aggression on the peninsula, coordination of their activities with the Mission within the limits of their competence;
– establishment of a High-Level Working Group composed of the representatives of all competent central authorities under the auspices of the Mission with periodic elaboration of topical issues of reintegration and de-occupation of Crimea, counteraction to the Russian aggression on the peninsula, submission of the relevant proposals to the President of Ukraine;
– working out of the Action Plan of urgent measures in the field of counteraction to the Russian aggression from the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine in Crimea, for protection the interests of the state, of citizens of Ukraine and of Ukrainian legal entities in Crimea and Strategy of Reintegration of Crimea as a set of measures to be taken after de-occupation of the peninsula.