Update to the Framework Convention shadow report on Ukraine
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From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Date: Mon, 18 Jun 2001 09:26:47 +0300 (EEST)
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Subject: Update to the Framework Convention shadow report on Ukraine
From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Original sender: Niyara Gafarova <[email protected]>
Update to the Framework Convention shadow report on Ukraine
Dear all!
This an update to the report submitted by the Foundation for Research
and Support of Indigenous Peoples contains the fresh information
concerning Crimean Tatars.
With best regards,
Assistant of Nadir Bekirov
Gafarova Niyara
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Preliminary note
The Foundation for Research and Support of Indigenous Peoples of
Crimea submitted already Parallel Report about the situation in Crimea
(Ukraine) undertaken in accordance with the article 25th of the
Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities of
Council of Europe on April 5th 2000.
---------
>From the MINELRES moderator: see
http://www.riga.lv/minelres/reports/ukraine/Parallel_Report.htm
Boris
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Now Foundation for Research and Support of Indigenous Peoples of
Crimea intends making an up-date to the most important and poignant
points when the report of Ukraine is considered by the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe. These issues are:
- Access to land
- Political representation
- Language usage
- Political repressions against Crimean Tatar protestors.
1. The emergence of this report and the usage of standards and
procedures on National Minorities under the Framework Convention
doesn't imply Crimean Tatar People agree with their identification as
a National Minority.
2. Crimean Tatar People consequently regards itself as an Indigenous
People of Crimea. The reason why this instrument contains the term
"national minority" is predetermined with the terms and procedures
accepted by the CoE for the consideration of the problems of the Human
Rights in sphere of the national, ethnic and racial freedoms and
equality.
3. The institution responsible for the facts and comments in this
report is the Foundation for Research and Support of Indigenous
Peoples of Crimea, which is the non-governmental and non-profitable
local NGO of Crimea.
Article 15
The Parties shall create the conditions necessary for the effective
participation of persons belonging to national minorities in cultural,
social and economic life and in public affairs, in particular those
affecting them.
Access to land
4. Due to the official data of Ukrainian archives Crimean Tatars
before deportation have possessed 993.000 hectares of agricultural
land.
5. In 1944 after Crimean Tatars were exiled all this land was
withdrawn without any compensation. This fact is recognized as illegal
one by now.
6. Nowadays due to Presidents Decree some Crimean Tatars are entitled
to acquire less than 90.000 hectares of land that is 10 times less
than it has belonged to them before deportation in 1944.
7. Under Crimean Tatars pressure and International Community opinion
the Ukrainian government created the commission on reviewing the land
restitution process since May 2000.
8. But ultimately Ministers didn't make any decision corresponding
fair land restitution till now.
9. And as it is obvious now this commission was created with the view
to prolonging time, to intensifying the process of legal distribution
of dispute land among non-Crimean Tatar population.
10. Therefore it is apparent that the government policy concerning the
land restitution is aimed to deprive Crimean Tatars of being entitled
to land by applying the "committed acts" policy that is to say
Ukrainian government intends to state that it is too late to change
the law postponing the fair land restitution process in order to
convert Crimean land into private property of non-Crimean Tatar
population by September 2001 and make the fair restitution
irreversible and insoluble.
11. Thus, the government by their policy not only deprives Crimean
Tatars of substance means but also leads to the dangerous interethnic
conflict and violence in Crimea in the future.
12. Under Mejlis of Crimean Tatar people initiative the process of
allotment of household land plots was halted.
Political representation
13. Many economic, social, cultural and other problems have come up
in the process of integration of Crimean Tatars into Ukrainian
society. All this difficulties are partially connected with exclusion
of Crimean Tatars from the decision-making process, lack of political
representation in governmental bodies.
14. Due to the official data Crimean Tatars employed as the
governmental officials in ministries, administrative bodies and
governmental agencies constitute from 3,3% to 5,2% of all Crimean
employed population.
15. But the true-to-life situation is rather different. The Crimean
Tatars employed as the governmental officials in administrative
bodies, governmental agencies (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry
of Internal Affairs, Ukrainian Security Service, Internal Revenue
Office, customs, courts etc.) varies between 0 and 1.5% though the
Crimean Tatars constitute 12% of all population of Autonomous Republic
of Crimea.
16. It is evident that in conditions of such sincere segregation the
relations between Crimean Tatars and representatives of the
governmental agencies keep remaining tense and extremely poignant.
17. The Ukrainian State being a member state of the Council of Europe
doesn't strive for implementation of the recommendations 1455 (2000)
adopted by the Assembly of the Council of Europe on 5 April 2000 (13th
Sitting) particularly the recommendation -viii- reading as follows
"invite the Government of Ukraine and the regional authorities of the
Autonomous Republic of Crimea to study the experience of other member
states of the Council of Europe concerning the representation of
minorities and indigenous peoples, with a view to securing the
effective representation of the Crimean Tatars in national, Crimean
and local public affairs; and for this purpose to take into account
the Council of Europe's 1995 Framework Convention for the Protection
of National Minorities, and the June 1999 Lund Recommendations on the
Effective Participation of National Minorities in Public Life
elaborated at the request of the OSCE's High Commissioner for National
Minorities".
Language usage
18. Due to the Constitution of Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist
Republic of 1921, 1926, 1938 there were two languages proclaimed to be
the State languages: Crimean Tatar and Russian.
19. The Ukrainian language was not mentioned in the Constitution of
that time because Crimea wasn't under Ukrainian jurisdiction yet.
20. Therefore Crimean Tatars legally demanded the status of Crimean
Tatar language to be restored as the part of the formerly deported
people rehabilitation.
21. The Constitution of Crimean Autonomous Republic of 1992 proclaims
three languages with the State status. They are Ukrainian, Crimean
Tatar and Russian.
22. But the Crimean Constitution approved by the Parliament and the
President of Ukraine in the end of 1998 promulgates only Ukrainian and
Russian languages to be the Sate languages of the Autonomous Republic
of Crimea as languages should be used in public life, administrative
proceedings and official documentation.
23. The Ukrainian is determined as a State language, Russian is
determined as a language acceptable for the majority of the population
of Crimea. Thus the Crimean Tatar language is excluded from all
domains of social, political, cultural life as a language acceptable
for the minority.
24. The Ukrainian State being a member state of the Council of Europe
doesn't intend committing provisions of Recommendation 1455 (2000),
given by the Council of Europe on April 5th, 2000 (13th Sitting),
particularly recommendation -ix- reading as "invite the Government of
Ukraine and the regional authorities of the Autonomous Republic of
Crimea to study the experience of other multi-ethnic states of the
Council of Europe, with a view to restoring and securing the rights of
the Crimean Tatars to education in the Crimean Tatar language, and the
use of their language in all private and public affairs; and for this
purpose to take into account the Council of Europe's 1992 European
Charter for Regional or Minority Languages and its 1995 Framework
Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, and the October
1996 Hague Recommendations regarding the Education Rights of National
Minorities and the February 1998 Oslo Recommendations regarding the
Linguistic Rights of National Minorities, elaborated at the request of
the OSCE's High Commissioner for National Minorities".
Political repressions against Crimean Tatar protestors
25. Political repressions against Crimean Tatars is one more proof of
the constantly repeated acts of discrimination committed by the
Crimean government officials against Crimean Tatars.
26. The chain of political trials took place in Crimea for the past
year. One of the examples of such trial was Djankoy one. On May 18,
2000 Crimean Tatar protestors blocked the carriage ways in Djankoy
railway station with the view to claiming the restoration of their
political, social and cultural rights particularly the land rights and
political representation as a part of annual protest marsh arranged to
commemorate the victims of 1944 deportation. Local authorities were
priory warned by the Crimean Tatar protestors but didn't turn any
attention to it. After the blockage had been committed the
participants were imprisoned but not as the political protestants
struggling for their rights but as criminals.
27. The same events took place in some other regions of Crimea such as
in Nizhnegorskiy: one political protestor claiming his land rights was
brought to trial.
28. Alushta, Soviet region and Urozhnoye village are the similar
examples of political repressions against Crimean Tatar political
protestors demanding restoration of their violated rights and to be
included in decision-making process of the Ukrainian State equality
with the rest of Crimean population.
29. In Razdolninskiy region the statement of one of the government
officials that Mejlis of Crimean Tatar people is an illegal
institution carries the evident threat to the representative body of
Crimean Tatars.
30. The Council of Representatives of Crimean Tatar people highly
appreciates all efforts and useful part of the Ukrainian government in
returning process of the formerly deported people and settlement of
the Indigenous people of Crimea on their ancestral Motherland. The
past decade convincingly displays that neither of government as within
CIS as well the overseas states hasn't contributed so much attempts
to the repatriation process of Crimean Tatars as it has done by
Ukrainian State.
31. Along with this, from international humanitarian law's point of
view Ukrainian implication in this process has been complicated: it
was Ukraine that ratified the majority of the International
Conventions advocating human Rights including National Minorities and
displaced persons.
32. Unfortunately the information about Crimean Tatar issue imparted
by the governmental officials and Ukrainian missions controlling the
observance of human rights doesn't correspond the real status quo in
Ukraine.
33. Land restitution is the vivid example of it.
34. We assume that the Ukrainian state is concerned in its legal
policy regarded Crimean Tatar's interests to be in compliance with
international humanitarian obligations of Ukraine as the member-state
of the UNO and Council of Europe. To avoid the violence it is
indispensable to include Crimean Tatar representatives in
decision-making process, stop political repressions against Crimean
Tatar protestors, give the right for cultural development and revival
and considering Crimean Tatar interests conduct the land restitution
process fairly and on equal footing.
--
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