Speaking at the parliamentary summit of the Crimean Platform, member of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People Eskender Bariiev, on behalf of the Platform’s expert network, expressed gratitude to PACE for recognizing the Holodomor as an act of genocide of Ukrainians, calling on all parliaments to follow this example. Impunity gives rise to new crimes, so an important factor in curbing crimes against humanity should be recognition by parliaments of the Holodomor as an act of genocide of Ukrainians, and the deportation of 1944 as a genocide of the Crimean Tatars, the member of the Mejlis emphasized.
Bariiev added that the aggressor is carrying out ecocide, restricting indigenous peoples’ rights to lands and resources, destroying landscapes and monuments of the cultural heritage of the peninsula; the human rights activist called on parliaments to adopt laws analogous to the Magnitsky Act to effectively apply sanctions against these criminals.
The Mejlis member stated that Russia’s aggression in the Black Sea basin and its attempts at food blockade led to large-scale negative social consequences in many countries, including the deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, which was used to incite conflict.
The human rights activist added that the aggressor should feel increased pressure on regional international platforms, including the BSEC. It is necessary to conduct a new assessment of security and cooperation in Europe, which is being destroyed by Russia, which significantly complicates the organization’s role in helping to resolve humanitarian challenges in the deoccupied territories of Ukraine, the expert stated.
The Mejlis member indicated that work continues to strengthen the institutional capacity of the Crimean Platform expert network; he stated that all interested structures of democratic countries are invited to participate in this process.
The expert stated that all aspects of the reintegration of Crimea must be decided taking into account the principle of free, prior and informed consent of the indigenous Crimean Tatar people. “We have gathered at such a high level not only to help Ukraine. But to help each other preserve our own Crimea – our human dignity and human civilization from the threat of new barbarism, aggression and despotism,” the Mejlis member summed up.
