{"id":44073,"date":"2021-12-02T11:51:42","date_gmt":"2021-12-02T10:51:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/libmod.de\/?p=44073"},"modified":"2021-12-07T15:19:14","modified_gmt":"2021-12-07T14:19:14","slug":"crimea-platform-olha-skrypnyk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/libmod.de\/en\/crimea-platform-olha-skrypnyk\/","title":{"rendered":"The Occupation of Crimea \u2013 a Challenge for the Global Order"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Foto: Sergii Khar\u00adchenko \/\u200b\u200b Imago Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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As 2021 draws to a close, we look back on this year\u2019s important events. Among them is the Crimea Platform, which was launched in August at Ukraine\u2019s initiative to shore up support for the country\u2019s efforts to return the Russian-occupied peninsula. Olha Skrypnyk, the Coordi\u00adnator of the Group for Human Rights and Inter\u00adna\u00adtional Human\u00adi\u00adtarian Law of the Platform\u2019s Expert Network, explains its relevance.<\/h2>\n

The inaugural summit of the Crimea Platform on 23 August in Kyiv was the first inter\u00adna\u00adtional political event focused on the Black Sea peninsula since its Russian occupation began in 2014. The platform is a new inter\u00adna\u00adtional coordi\u00adnation and consul\u00adtation format that is supported by 47 countries and inter\u00adna\u00adtional organi\u00adza\u00adtions. Its launch was attended by 15 heads of state and govern\u00adments, two speakers of parlia\u00adments, 14 ministers as well as the heads of insti\u00adtu\u00adtions of the European Union, the Secre\u00adtaries-General of the Council of Europe and the GUAM Organi\u00adzation for Democracy and Economic Devel\u00adopment, as well as the Deputy Secretary-General of NATO.<\/p>\n

This event may become an actual historical milestone because it is the first insti\u00adtu\u00adtional format to find mecha\u00adnisms for the de-occupation of Crimea and the protection of human rights as well as to create possible platforms for negoti\u00ada\u00adtions on Crimea, including the release of Ukrainians imprisoned by Russia for political reasons.<\/p>\n

During the past almost eight years, many important documents have been adopted: resolu\u00adtions of the UN General Assembly, PACE, EU, and OSCE; major lawsuits against Russia in the context of a legal war with the aggressor country have been initiated. At the same time, there were no steady and consis\u00adtently functioning inter\u00adna\u00adtional political formats. The Normandy format \u2014 meetings of Ukraine, Germany, France, and Russia \u2014 launched in 2014, does not cover issues related to the occupation of Crimea. Similarly, the Minsk agree\u00adments refer exclu\u00adsively to the armed conflict in the Donbas.<\/p>\n

In 2019, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made an attempt to raise the issue of Crimea during the meeting of the \u201cNormandy Quartet \u201d in Paris, but there were no specific talks on this subject. Zelensky said at the time: \u201cNo one in the \u2018Normandy Format\u2019 wants to talk about Crimea, especially Russia.\u201d According to many experts, in fact, not only Russia does not want to talk about Crimea in this format, Germany, and France also uses it only to raise the issue of resolving the conflict in eastern Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Probably the only publicly known negoti\u00ada\u00adtions between Ukraine and Russia on Crimea was for the so-called big exchange in September 2019, when 35 Ukrainian citizens illegally detained by Russian author\u00adities were released.\u00b9 Among them were eleven political prisoners, including Crimeans Oleh Sentsov, Oleksandr Kolchenko, Volodymyr Balukh, and Crimean Tatar Edem Bekirov, as well as 24 Ukrainian navy servicemen captured by Russia after the attack on Ukrainian ships in the Kerch Strait on 25 November 2018.\u00b2<\/p>\n

However, these ad hoc negoti\u00ada\u00adtions focused exclu\u00adsively on releasing individuals, including for the first time those who had been imprisoned in occupied Crimea. But this had no impact on the issue of the peninsula\u2019s de-occupation and did not lead to any other political dialogue. Moreover, after the \u201cbig exchange\u201d in 2019, there have been no other exchanges or releases of Crimeans, though Russia has imprisoned at least 45 other people within polit\u00adi\u00adcally motivated criminal cases in Crimea since.<\/p>\n

The system of polit\u00adi\u00adcally motivated perse\u00adcution of Crimean residents is one of the terrible conse\u00adquences of the peninsula\u2019s occupation. Since 2014, the Russian occupation author\u00adities have been perse\u00adcuting both those who did not support the occupation and those who have been advocating to preserve the Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar languages, culture, identity, to protect freedom of speech and expression. More than 100 Ukrainian nationals are kept in places of detention not for crimes, but for their political position, journal\u00adistic, or human rights activ\u00adities. This system of polit\u00adi\u00adcally motivated perse\u00adcution includes the entire government vertical of law enforcement agencies, security bodies, courts, and illegal armed units supported by the Russian author\u00adities. Torture has become a common practice in such cases, forcing the victims to incrim\u00adinate themselves and agree on recording staged \u201cconfes\u00adsional\u201d videos, which are then broadcast by the Russian FSB through controlled media. Tellingly, no Russian FSB agents or policemen have ever been prose\u00adcuted for torturing Ukrainian citizens.\u00b3<\/p>\n

Almost all religious organi\u00adza\u00adtions, except the Russian Orthodox Church, are subject to perse\u00adcution or various forms of discrim\u00adi\u00adnation. Even Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses are now being sent to prison colonies. In 2020, the first sentences against Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses, whose religious organi\u00adza\u00adtions were declared \u2018extremist\u2019 in the Russian Feder\u00adation in 2017, were passed. They were sentenced to 6 years impris\u00adonment only for their religious views.<\/p>\n

One more strate\u00adgi\u00adcally signif\u00adicant issue is the milita\u00adrization of Crimea, which is also manifested in the human\u00adi\u00adtarian dimension. This means milita\u00adrizing the civilian population, changing the demographic compo\u00adsition, imposing Russian citizenship and infor\u00admation isolation, and breaking local Ukrainian citizens\u2019 socio-cultural ties with the rest of Ukraine.<\/p>\n

A study of the situation shows that the occupation author\u00adities invest most of their resources for milita\u00adrizing youth and children. By now the entire education system, which covers more than 200,000 children, focuses on raising them exclu\u00adsively in a Russian identity context, while struc\u00adturally preventing the preser\u00advation or devel\u00adopment of other identities like Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar. Teaching prior\u00adities are the cult of war and weapons as opposed to democ\u00adratic values and tolerance. A lot of state money is being spent by Russia for this purpose, holding in-school and out-of-school campaigns. Moreover, the number of educa\u00adtional insti\u00adtu\u00adtions, where children are taught military basics and encouraged to later join the Russian armed forces, is constantly growing. If young men reject military service, they risk criminal prose\u00adcution that might result in imprisonment.<\/p>\n

All this is going on while Russia is strength\u00adening its military presence in Crimea by illegally deploying more troops and increasing the number of military bases after having ousted the Ukrainian military from its bases in 2014. This is a real threat to the security of the Black Sea, the Sea of Azov, and the Eastern Mediterranean.<\/p>\n

Thus, the impli\u00adca\u00adtions and challenges of Crimea\u2019s occupation are beyond just the \u201cUkraine \u2014 Russia Conflict\u201d. Only a consol\u00adi\u00addated inter\u00adna\u00adtional effort can change the situation, and the Crimea Platform summit has proven that such consol\u00adi\u00addation is possible, even in the face of new global challenges like the Covid pandemic and migration.<\/p>\n

Aware of this, Ukraine in 2020 initiated the estab\u00adlishment of the Crimea Platform, the first inter\u00adna\u00adtional format that deals with the occupied peninsula. The format was developed by the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to implement an initiative of President Volodymyr Zelensky.<\/p>\n

The Platform has five main goals:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Inten\u00adsi\u00adfying the inter\u00adna\u00adtional policy on non-recog\u00adnition of the Russian Feder\u00adation attempt to annex Crimea<\/li>\n
  2. Monitoring and coordi\u00adnation of inter\u00adna\u00adtional sanctions<\/li>\n
  3. Counter\u00adacting human rights viola\u00adtions and inter\u00adna\u00adtional human\u00adi\u00adtarian law norms<\/li>\n
  4. Securing safety and freedom of navigation in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov<\/li>\n
  5. Recov\u00adering from the economic and environ\u00admental impacts of the peninsula occupation.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    In all these aspects, the Crimea Platform acts in three dimen\u00adsions: govern\u00admental, parlia\u00admentary, and expert.<\/p>\n

    At the govern\u00admental level<\/em><\/strong>, the major event was the Crimea Platform Inaugural Summit in Kyiv, which featured repre\u00adsen\u00adta\u00adtives of Albania, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Japan, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxem\u00adbourg, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, the Nether\u00adlands, New Zealand, Norway, Northern Macedonia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the USA, and the EU, NATO, Council of Europe and GUAM.\u2074<\/p>\n

    Foto: Teil\u00adneh\u00admende der ersten Krim\u00adplatt\u00adform; CC BY 4.0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    As a result, partic\u00adi\u00adpants signed a Joint Decla\u00adration, that approves the platform\u2019s estab\u00adlishment and its aim to peace\u00adfully end Russia\u2019s temporary occupation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol and to restore Ukraine\u2019s control over this territory in full accor\u00addance with inter\u00adna\u00adtional law. The platform partic\u00adi\u00adpants\u2019 cooper\u00adation is also aimed at addressing emerging challenges and hybrid threats resulting from the ongoing milita\u00adrization of Crimea.\u2075<\/p>\n

    At the parliament level<\/em><\/strong>, the Crimea Platform Inter-Group Associ\u00adation was estab\u00adlished. It started its activ\u00adities in December 2020 and has been acting through inter-parlia\u00admentary friendship groups and parlia\u00admentary assem\u00adblies of inter\u00adna\u00adtional organizations.<\/p>\n

    On 23 August, the day of the Summit, the Ukrainian Parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, held an extra\u00ador\u00addinary session dedicated to the Crimea Platform that was attended also by MPs from other countries. At this session, the Rada adopted a Resolution that calls on the UN, the Parlia\u00admentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the OSCE Parlia\u00admentary Assembly, the NATO Parlia\u00admentary Assembly, the BSEC Parlia\u00admentary Assembly, the European Parliament, foreign govern\u00adments, and parlia\u00adments to intensify inter\u00adna\u00adtional cooper\u00adation within the Crimea Platform to counter the Russian Federation\u2019s aggression.\u2076 Inter\u00adna\u00adtional cooper\u00adation formats on issues related to the Platform have been estab\u00adlished with some countries \u2014 for instance, members of the Latvian Saeima have set up a group in their parliament.<\/p>\n

    The expert <\/em><\/strong>dimension<\/em><\/strong> of the platform is primarily based on its Expert Network, whose devel\u00adopment began in March 2021. That network was estab\u00adlished as a community of Ukrainian and foreign experts, non-govern\u00admental organi\u00adza\u00adtions, initia\u00adtives, associ\u00ada\u00adtions, think tanks, and scien\u00adtific insti\u00adtu\u00adtions, whose activ\u00adities contribute to achieving the Platform\u2019s main goals.<\/p>\n

    The Expert Network officially began its work on 6 August, when its Inaugural Forum was held in Kyiv.\u2077 Based on the Forum\u2019s outcomes, the Network\u2019s activ\u00adities are now struc\u00adtured into seven groups: non-recog\u00adnition policy and sanctions; human rights and inter\u00adna\u00adtional human\u00adi\u00adtarian law; security, economy and environ\u00admental protection, cultural heritage of Crimea; human\u00adi\u00adtarian policy; restoration of the rights of indigenous peoples as an instrument of de-occupation of Crimea.<\/p>\n

    Recent events in Crimea have only highlighted the urgent need to consol\u00adidate inter\u00adna\u00adtional support and the Crimea Platform\u2019s joint response to gross and consistent human rights viola\u00adtions, which have resulted in the large-scale and systemic political perse\u00adcution of the occupied peninsula\u2019s residents. On 3\u20134 September, FSB agents detained Nariman Dzhelial, the first deputy of the Mejlis of Crimean Tatar People (the repre\u00adsen\u00adtative body of the Crimean indigenous people), and the brothers Aziz and Asan Akhtemov. They were accused of \u201csabotage\u201d \u2014 damage to a gas pipeline on August 23, the day of the Crimea Platform Summit. The fact that the FSB tortured the detainees\u2078, dissem\u00adi\u00adnated via controlled media staged inter\u00adro\u00adgation videos of the Akhmetov brothers after they had been tortured, and obstructed the work of lawyers, confirms human rights activists\u2019 criticism that the case is polit\u00adi\u00adcally motivated and fabri\u00adcated, just like hundreds of other criminal cases before, while more than 110 Ukrainian nationals remain in prison colonies in Crimea and Russia.\u2079<\/p>\n

    The case of Dzhelial and Akhmetov is the first in which persons are perse\u00adcuted for their support of the Crimea Platform. An actual reason for Nariman Dzhelial\u2019s perse\u00adcution might be his public support for the Crimea Platform and his partic\u00adi\u00adpation in its Inaugural Summit. However, we still lack a consol\u00adi\u00addated response of all Platform partic\u00adi\u00adpants to the new wave of perse\u00adcu\u00adtions. Therefore, one of the Platform\u2019s major first steps should be building up a well-struc\u00adtured system of commu\u00adni\u00adcation and decision-making to achieve its declared goals.<\/p>\n

    At the same time, the fact that 46 delegates partic\u00adi\u00adpated in the Summit is a demon\u00adstration of the broad inter\u00adna\u00adtional support for Ukraine and the readiness to find new mecha\u00adnisms to end human rights viola\u00adtions, to release Kremlin hostages, and restore security in the region. Therefore, arranging a continuous and consistent post-Summit activity should be prior\u00adi\u00adtized since the Summit was only the start of the Platform. The Crimea Platform will achieve its goals only if the approach to the issue of Crimea\u2019s occupation will change: this challenge is not limited to the region, it threatens European and global security because of Russia\u2019s geopo\u00adlitical ambitions and its efforts to further escalate tensions in different regions.<\/p>\n

    \u00b9 https:\/\/www.atlanticcouncil.org\/blogs\/ukrainealert\/what-price-did-ukraine-pay-for-prisoner-exchange\/<\/a>
    \n\u00b2     <\/a>https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2019\/sep\/07\/long-awaited-russia-ukraine-prisoner-exchange-begins<\/a>
    \n\u00b3     https:\/\/crimeahrg.org\/en\/russian-security-men-not-punished-for-torturing-ukrainians-in-crimea\/<\/a>
    \n\u2074     https:\/\/mfa.gov.ua\/news\/dmitro-kuleba-pro-zapusk-krimskoyi-platformi-mi-povernuli-krim-iz-zabuttya<\/a>
    \n\u2075 Joint Decla\u00adration of the Inter\u00adna\u00adtional Crimea Platform Partic\u00adi\u00adpants:     https:\/\/crimea-platform.org\/en\/samit\/deklaraciya<\/a>
    \n\u2076     http:\/\/w1.c1.rada.gov.ua\/pls\/zweb2\/webproc4_1?pf3511=72536<\/a>
    \n\u2077     https:\/\/crimea-platform.org\/ekspertna-merezha<\/a>
    \n\u2078     https:\/\/crimeahrg.org\/en\/crimean-tatar-asan-akhtemov-severely-tortured-to-beat-a-testimony-out-lawyer\/<\/a>
    \n\u2079     https:\/\/crimeahrg.org\/en\/urgent-statement-of-human-rights-organizations-regarding-abduction-of-nariman-dzhelial-and-other-crimean-tatars-in-the-occupied-crimea\/<\/a><\/p>\n

    \n

    Olha Skrypnyk chairs the Crimean Human Rights Group<\/a> and is the Coordi\u00adnator of the Group for Human Rights and Inter\u00adna\u00adtional Human\u00adi\u00adtarian Law in the Crimea Platform\u2019s expert network. A German version of this text has been published on the Ukraine verstehen website<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

     <\/i><\/p>\n

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