The Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) condemns the persecution of the Crimean Tatar population more than one year after the illegal occupation of Crimea by the Russian Federation and 71 years after the forced deportation of the Crimean Tatars by Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.
A report released by the Atlantic Council and Freedom House on 6 March 2015 concluded: “The Russian occupation and annexation of Crimea has unleashed an ongoing chain of human rights violations across the peninsula. The de facto government and so-called “self-defense” units have incapacitated Crimea’s military and effectively cut off its citizens from the outside world. This approach has led to the detention and disappearance of dissenters, the persecution of ethnic and religious minorities, the stifling of the media, and the forced nationalization of Ukrainian state property.”
The UWC joins the Parliament of Ukraine in calling upon the international community to condemn the persecution of the Crimean Tatars.
“We appeal for new effective measures from the international community to force the Russian occupying forces in Crimea to end their gross violations of human rights against the population,” stated UWC President Eugene Czolij.
