In the framework of our Association’s active participation at the Warsaw Human Dimension Conference 2025, held by OSCE ODIHR, our Association’s expert Lia Motrechko discussed discrimination of Crimean Tatars with the participants of Conference’s side-events, such as a “Launch of ODIHR’s updated hate crime training for police and prosecutors – building on 20 years of practice across the OSCE region,” and reported about such Russia’s criminal policy at its plenary sessions 6 and 7 “Tolerance and Non-Discrimination.”
“Even though Crimean Tatars are a minority in Crimea as a result of centuries of oppression, we make up the majority of those arrested. To avoid repression, people are forced either to stay silent and live in fear, or to leave their only homeland. This is not a coincidence. It is a deliberate policy to erase the Crimean Tatar people and replace them with a Russian population. In Crimea today, you have no real choice: you are either assimilated, repressed, or exiled,” ARC’s expert stressed.
“Aggressor violates collective rights of Crimean Tatars also, including right to peace, sustainable development and environmental rights, and a clear examples of it, are Kakhovka Dam destruction and ¨Volgoneft¨ tankers Black Sea catastrophe”, Lia Motrechko added.
“Russia has carried out what we call a hybrid form of deportation, intentionally creating conditions that force Crimean Tatars and Ukrainians to leave, while encouraging Russian citizens to move to Crimea. Crimea has become a lawless territory, where repression and fear are tools of control,” ARC’s expert summarised.
