Feb 13, 2012

Crimean Tatars: U.N. Delegation Meets Mejlis Members


A United Nations delegation from the Bureau for Crisis Prevention and recovery met representatives from the Mejlis to discuss the current situation of the Crimean Tatars.

Below is an article published by Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People Official Site:

From February 8 - 9, 2012 the UN delegation, representing the Department of Political Affairs of the UNDP Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery made an official visit to Crimea.

On February 9, 2012 the UN delegation, headed by the UN Resident Coordinator, Permanent Representative of the UNDP in Ukraine Mr. Olivier Adam met with the First Deputy Chairman of Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, Refat Chubarov.

The meeting was also attended by the members of the UN delegation, Head of the UNDP in Crimea Adeline Gonay, Senior Political Affairs Officer, Team Leader for West Africa, UN Department of Political Affairs Charles Aniydoho, Political Affairs Expert at the UN Department of Political Affairs Roman Shpak, Conflict Prevention Specialist, UNDP, Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery Anita Ernstorfer, Technical Advisor, Department of Europe and the CIS (UNDP headquarters, the Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery, New York) Razmik Panossian, UN Coordination Analyst (Kyiv) Gaspar Bergman, Program Manager of the UNDP in Crimea Qurtmolla Abdulgani.

Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people was also represented by the Head of the Foreign Relations Department of Mejlis, Ali Hamzin, Head of the Secretariat of Mejlis, Zair Smedlyaev, Head of Information Policy and Relations with Public Organizations Department of Mejlis, Shevket Kaibullaev.

The members of the official UN delegation and members of Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people discussed the activity UNDP in Crimea, as well as the modern situation of the Crimean Tatar people, paying the special attention to the preparation to the International Forum on the restoration of the rights of the Crimean Tatar people at its homeland, its security and guarantees of development in Ukraine.

Speaking about the activity of the Council on Human Safety of the Head of the Supreme Council of Crimea, Refat Chubarov supported the idea of reforming of this Council, and noted: “I hope that new politically unbiased experts would not only promote the effectiveness of the Council’s work, but give its recommendations the deeper and more balanced sense.”

Speaking about the International Forum on the restoration of the rights of the Crimean Tatar people at its homeland, its security and guarantees of development in Ukraine Refat Chubarov thanked the UN Resident Coordinator, Permanent Representative of UNDP in Ukraine Mr. Olivier Adam for his assistance in its preparation.

“We are on one of the most important stages of the preparation to the International Forum, - coordination of the Forum agenda, its aims, objectives and expected outcomes with the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities Knut Vollebaek and all potential co-organizers, primarily the European Council, Council of Europe, the United Nations and Ukrainian State. As far as Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people concerns, we have agreed documents, jointly developed with the Office of the OSCE High Commissioner. Now, of course, much depends on the position of the Ukrainian authorities. We hope that these issues will be resolved in the nearest future as well, accordingly, the International Forum will be convened in autumn 2012 in Kyiv.

After that Refat Chubarov and members of Mejlis that took part in the meeting answered the questions of the representatives of the UN delegation, including the questions about the state of the interethnic relations in Crimea, land problems, and representation of Crimean Tatars in the bodies of the executive power.

In conclusion of the discussion of the state of the interethnic relations in Crimea Refat Chubarov stressed that the main cause of the persistent inequality is “the lack of laws aimed at eliminating of the consequences of deportation of the Crimean Tatar people and decades of its discrimination in places of exile.”

The Permanent Representative of the UNDP in Ukraine Mr. Olivier Adam noted that the UN has the positive experience in solving of the complex problems in the field of the interethnic relations in the countries with much less natural and human resources than Ukraine. “For me and my colleagues it has always been surprising that these issues are raised in Ukraine, where there are plenty of resources ... In this regard, I hope that the Crimean Tatars and Mejlis, continuing their efforts to preserve their identity and human rights, will be able to achieve successful results,” – Mr. Olivier Adam said.

The UN Coordinator Mr. Olivier Adam once again confirmed the UNDP’s position as for the support of the International Forum on the restoration of the rights of the Crimean Tatar people at its homeland, its security and guarantees of development in Ukraine.

In its turn, Refat Chubarov, addressing the members of the UN delegation, highly evaluated the role and the results of the UNDP’s activity in Crimea. “Your delegation also includes the workers of the Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery which means that we all are going the right way, because it is easier to prevent the crisis in the relations between people, to eliminate all the barriers on the way to justice in time, than to try to restore then what was destroyed in the result of the conflicts,”- he concluded.