UN Committee: Russia continues to discriminate against Crimean Tatars and Ukrainians in Crimea

Russia continues to apply its legislation in the occupied Crimea to discriminate against ethnic groups, including Crimean Tatars and Ukrainians, ignoring the recommendations of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
"The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has published its assessment of the discrimination of Crimean Tatars in the Russian-controlled Crimea... The Committee experts once again urged the Government of the Russian Federation to provide the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights with full access to Crimea to monitor the situation. The Committee noted that the legislation and administrative measures that discriminate against ethnic groups and indigenous peoples, including in the issues of citizenship, availability of education in Ukrainian language, registration of religious communities, and activities of the Crimean Tatar self-government bodies, including Mejlis, are being applied in the occupied Crimea," the Anti-Discrimination Center Memorial reports.

According to the UN Committee, Russia has not provided information about the steps taken to investigate and prosecute those responsible for violating the rights of Crimean Tatars, including enforced disappearances, arbitrary detentions and ill-treatment.

"The Committee concluded that the Government of the Russian Federation has not complied with the Committee's previous recommendations," the Anti-Discrimination Center Memorial quotes the statement made by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

In August 2017, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination adopted concluding observations on the twenty third and twenty fourth periodic reports of the Russian Federation. In paragraphs 19-20, the Committee expressed concern about the limitations on the operation of Crimean Tatar representative institutions, in particular the Mejlis, the closure of several media outlets, and about violations of Crimean Tatars’ human rights, including allegations of disappearances, criminal and administrative prosecutions, mass raids, and interrogations. The Committee was further concerned about restrictions on using and studying Ukrainian language since the conflict erupted in 2014.