From 24 to 28 April 2017, the First Deputy Minister of information policy of Ukraine, Emine Dzhaparova, was on a working visit in New York to attend 16th sessions of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.
On 24 April, the “Indigenous Crimean Tatars: survival and rights strategies” event was organized by the Ministry of information policy of Ukraine, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, the Mejlis of Crimean Tatars, the Crimean Tatar Resource Center and the Estonian Institute for Human Rights. The event focused on the situation of the Crimean Tatars under occupation.
According to the First Deputy, Ukraine had joined the club of countries with democratic practices in relation to its indigenous people since 2014, in particular by recognizing the Crimean Tatars as an indigenous people of Crimea.
“The Crimean Tatars have fought for the right to be recognized as an “indigenous people” by the official Kyiv since their return to the homeland. Today, Ukraine acceded to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of indigenous peoples and recognized that status for Crimean Tatars. This step proved to the world that Ukraine is ready to change, to correct mistakes, to introduce democratic changes. For the Crimean Tatars in Crimea, this is a very powerful signal from Ukraine, which holds out the hope of freedom”, Dzhaparova noted.
25 April, Emine Dzhaparova delivered a speech from the government of Ukraine at a high-level event organized within the framework of the UN GA session on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the adoption of the UN Declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples.
In particular, she referred to the legislations adopted by Ukraine over the past three years to protect the rights of Crimean Tatars.
“This is the recognition of the deportation of 1944 year as the genocide of Crimean Tatars, assignment to the international airport in Simferopol name of the Crimean Tatar pilot Amethan Sultan, beginning the process of returning the historic Crimean Tatar names to dozens of settlements in the Crimea. But the main achievement is the recognition of the Crimean Tatars as the indigenous people and the accession to the United Nations Declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples, which provided an opportunity for self-determination of our future. Now is the turn of parliamentarians who will vote for the registered bill on the status of the people, which will give practical content to Ukraine’s declared policy towards the Crimean Tatars”, the First Deputy noted.