Crimean Tatars complain to the Council of Europe that their problems are being ignored

State Deputy of Ukraine and First Deputy Head of the Crimean Tatar Mejilis, Refat Chubarov has asked the Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner Thomas Hammarberg to initiate an investigation by the Council of the issue around the restoration of the rights of the formerly deported Crimean Tatars.

Refat Chubarov said that despite Ukraine’s achievements on the path to democracy and protection of human rights, the catastrophic consequences of the criminal deportation of the Crimean Tatar people carried out under the Soviet regime remain an unresolved problem.  He adds that even after the adoption in 2000 by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe of recommendations to Ukraine on repatriation and integration of the Crimean Tatars into Ukrainian society virtually nothing has changed as regards their rights. He believes that the open disregard by the central authorities of the importance of a comprehensive resolution of the political and legal aspects of the Crimean Tatar issue is not only failing to promote the restoration of the repatriates’ socio-economic and cultural rights, but is leading to new discrimination, especially in land and educational issues. Chubarov considers therefore that it will only be through the united efforts of the Council of Europe and the Ukrainian authorities, with the involvement of the Mejilis, that effective and just legal mechanisms will finally be found aimed at safeguarding the rights of the Crimean Tatar people.