Огромная спасибо украинцам!

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.