ОБСЕ - Заявление о нарушениях прав национальных меньшинств в Российской Федерации. OSCE - Statement on violations of rights of national minorities in the Russian Federation. Данная заявление было оглашено украинской делегацией. Огромная спасибо украинцам!
As delivered by Ambassador Ihor Prokopchuk,
Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the International Organizations in Vienna,
to the 1217th meeting of the Permanent Council,
14 February 2019
Mr. Chairperson,
The Ukrainian delegation takes the floor to exercise the right, reserved at the
1213th meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council of 24 January 2019, to raise the issue
of violations of the rights of national minorities in the Russian Federation.
Mr. Chairperson,
The delegation of Ukraine has consistently and regularly voiced its deep
concerns over the situation of the Ukrainian national minority in the Russian
Federation. With the minority of over 2 mln strong, according to official statistics, the
second biggest in Russia, there is not a single school with the full curriculum of
instruction in the Ukrainian language. In 2017 a single Library of Ukrainian
Literature in Russia, which had functioned in Moscow, was liquidated. The director
of the library was criminally persecuted on trumped-up charges. The situation has
been aggravated by rapidly growing manifestations of chauvinism, xenophobia,
aggressive nationalism, including ambitions of territorial expansionism,
discrimination in the Russian Federation which transform the Ukrainian national
identification into a direct threat to personal safety.
The violations of international standards and obligations affecting national
minorities and indigenous peoples in Russia have been repeatedly highlighted by
numerous international reports and observations. This, unfortunately, has not led to
improvement of the situation by the Russian authorities.
It is in this worrisome context that we bring to the attention the Opinion by the
Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National
Minorities, prepared within the 4th monitoring cycle in Russia. The Opinion was
published on 15 January and contains an independent evaluation of implementation
of the Framework Convention by Russia’s Government. The findings of this
authoritative opinion are based on information submitted by Russia’s state
authorities, on other written sources and on information obtained by the Advisory
PC.DEL/173/19
15 February 2019
ENGLISH only
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Committee from governmental and non-governmental contacts during the visits to a
few regions in Russia.
Mr.Chairperson,
Let me offer a quotation from the text of the mentioned opinion of the
Advisory Committee: “Since the annexation of Crimea and conflict in eastern
Ukraine, Russian government-controlled media are fuelling a patriotic mobilisation
of society against Ukraine. The Advisory Committee is concerned that this discourse
risks side-lining not only persons belonging to the Ukrainian national minority but
also anyone not aligning with the majority, including persons belonging to other
national minority groups”.
Among numerous examples, there is the case of Rafis Kashapov, the Director
of the Tatar Cultural Centre in Naberezhnye Chelny in Tatarstan, who in May 2015
was sentenced to three years in prison and a two-year ban on the use of social
networks. He was charged with “public calls for disintegration of Russia’s territorial
integrity” and “incitement of hatred towards the Russian authorities as a social
group” for four articles he shared online in 2014 condemning Russia’s actions in
Ukraine’s Autonomous Republic of Crimea.
Highlighting the systematic hardships affecting the Ukrainian national
community in Russia, it is appropriate to also draw attention to other specific
findings. In particular, “cultural organisations of the Ukrainian national minority told
the Advisory Committee that they met obstructions when trying to operate... They
reported difficulties in registering organisations and receiving authorisation for the
organisation of Ukrainian cultural events. The Advisory Committee is deeply
concerned about reported repression of leaders of existing organisations in several
regions. Intimidatory practices have been reported to the Advisory Committee based
on a wide interpretation of the anti-extremism legislation (see Article 6). Publishing
information about the great famine in Ukraine during the Stalin era (“holodomor”),
for instance, would reportedly be considered extremist activity.”
Mr.Chairperson,
We believe to be noteworthy for the OSCE and its comprehensive approach to
security the links established by the Advisory Committee between the deteriorating
situation for national minorities and their rights and the general restrictions in Russia
on freedoms of expression, assembly and association as well as freedom of the media.
In particular, it is considered that the legislation on “foreign agents” and on
extremism is broadly used to intimidate or silence persons belonging to minorities or
defending minority rights. According to the conclusions of the Advisory Committee,
“persons belonging to minorities who are affected by problematic inter-state
relations, such as with Ukraine, are particularly vulnerable in this context.” The
findings compelled a strong urge to Russia’s authorities “to abstain from unduly
infringing on the freedom of expression and freedom of conscience of persons
belonging to and defending the rights of national minorities”.
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The Delegation of Ukraine believes that a holistic approach needs to be taken
by the OSCE Institutions when acting to help address the persistent violations of the
rights of national minorities in the Russian Federation, in particular of the Ukrainian
national minority. We strongly encourage the OSCE HCNM, ODIHR and RFoM to
combine their efforts within existing mandates because of inter-relation of different
aspects of restrictions of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the Russian
Federation that lead to further worsening of the situation for national minorities in
that country. It is imperative to enhance co-operation between the OSCE and the
Council of Europe to deliver immediate action on existing recommendations.
We encourage the HCNM to proceed to visiting different regions in the
Russian Federation for direct contacts with minorities on the ground and delivering
assistance in addressing identified needs and concerns.
We urge the Russian authorities to take immediate measures to reverse the
rapid degradation of the situation of national minorities in Russia by moving to
implement respective OSCE commitments relating to persons belonging to national
minorities, as well as relating to respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms,
including freedoms of expression, assembly and association, and of the media. We
call upon the Russian authorities to co-operate fully with the autonomous OSCE
Institutions and render full assistance to implementation of their respective mandates.
Thank you, Mr. Chairperson.
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