MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION on Crimean Tatars
10.5.2016 - (2016/2692(RSP))
pursuant to Rule 135 of the Rules of Procedure
Fabio Massimo Castaldo, Ignazio Corrao, Isabella Adinolfi, Daniela Aiuto, Dario Tamburrano on behalf of the EFDD Group
The European Parliament,
-having regard to its previous resolutions on the situation in the Black Sea basin, and more specifically on Ukraine and Crimea;
-having regard to the Reports of the Human Rights Assessment Mission on Crimea conducted by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities (HCNM);
-having regard to the Human Rights Watch World Report 2016 published on 27th January 2016;
-having regard to the statements of the Spokesperson of the VP/HR of the European Union, and in particular the statements released on 14th April 2016;
-having regard to the statement of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjørn Jagland, released on 26th April 2016;
-having regard to the Report on the human rights situation in Ukraine, 16 August to 15 November 2015, published by the OHCHR;
-having regard to the joint Report of the Human Rights Assessment Mission on Crimea released by ODIHR and HCNM;
a)whereas the tension regarding Crimean Tatars dates back to 1944, due to the URSS-decided mass deportation, mainly towards Uzbekistan, undoubtedly much before the 2014 disputed annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, and long-term consequences still remained unsolved during these decades;
b)whereas, despite the fact that this long-term human-rights issue has been known for decades, regrettably only recently the European Parliament started to deal with this deeply rooted discrimination only of the Tatar minority, without taking into account the situation of other minorities in the same area;
c)whereas, according to many Reports and statements, several violations of human rights occurred also very recently in Crimea, and in other Countries of the Neighbourhood;
d)whereas the activities of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people have been suspended, it has consequently been banned, and it is now recognised as an extremist organisation;
e)whereas the Crimean Prosecutor Natalya Poklonskaya based her decision on more than 600 pages of evidence proving the Mejilis destructive activities, including mass riots and unrest outside the republic's parliament building;
f)whereas the Ukraine's Prosecutor General decided to start criminal proceedings in Ukraine in connection with the ban imposed on the activities of the Mejilis of Crimean Tatar people in Crimea;
g)whereas all the goodwill international institutions should cooperate in order to decrease the existing tensions in Crimea, and in general between the European Union and the Russian Federation;
1. affirms the need to ensure the respect of fundamental rights of all minorities, included people of Russian language in other States, with a special attention to their choice of representative community bodies, and their linguistic and cultural preferences, and their representation in all the sectors of society, at political, social, cultural and economic level, ensuring in any case the respect of the rule of law in all the region;
2. calls on any authority exercising its jurisdiction in Crimea to respect the human rights, to guarantee them for any people within the territory of competence, and to give clear evidence, cooperating with the International community, regarding any legal action promoted by the local courts;
3. stresses the importance of guaranteeing by relevant authorities freedom of speech and political activity to all the minorities, allowing people to freely express their ideas and organise events, and if necessary protests and other demonstrations, without violence, constraint, harassment or threats against organisers of or participants in demonstrations;
4. deplores the attitude held during these years by the European Institutions, that completely ignored the situation of all the minorities in the area, and deplores any attempt to use the defence of human rights in order to reach other specific political goals and interests;
5. underlines that a peaceful integration of Tatars is possible as demonstrated by the example of other areas, such as in the Tatar region around Kazan, highly industrialised and with an excellent economic development;
6. calls on the European Union to take any effort in order to promote and support any impartial monitoring mission to ascertain the current situation of human rights in Crimea;
7. calls on the European Union to play a proactive role in order to decrease tension in the Region through the dialogue between all the parties involved and promoting the peace on a base of respect and harmony, favouring new relations rather than condemnation and build-up of tension;
8. calls on the European Union to offer freely its expertise and advise to the other countries over the region, in order to join forces for a solution of problems affecting human rights and minorities rights;
9. calls on the countries in the region to join such effort not just to meet their ethical and legal political duties, but also for their own interest, in other to defuse internal and external tensions;
10. instructs its President to forward this resolution to the VP/HR, the Council, the Commission, the governments and parliaments of the Member States, the President, Government and Parliament of Ukraine, the OSCE, the President, Government and Parliament of the Russian Federation.