Mejlis Leader Met Head of Office of International Organization for Migration in Ukraine and Head of Office of UNHCR in Ukraine

08 February 2013

On February 5, 2013 the Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on Human Rights and International Relations hosted the meeting with the Head of the Office of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Ukraine Mr Manfred Profazi.

The meeting was also attended by the Chairman of the Committee Valery Patskan, Leader of Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, MP of Ukraine Mustafa Jemilev, MPs of Ukraine Ivan Popesku and Bogdan Benyuk, as well as the staff of the Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on Human Rights and International Relations and IOM.

During the meeting its participants discussed many important issues, including a range of issues, concerning the analysis and improvement of the legislation on migration, combating xenophobia and intolerance, increasing social, economic and cultural benefits from the emigrational processes, as well as the reduction of their potentially negative consequences.

The participants of the dialogue discussed the possible ways of the cooperation in bringing the national legislation on migration into accord with the European standards and expressed the necessity of an active cooperation with the Office of the IOM in Ukraine of the sensitive issues.

The Leader of Mejlis M.Jemilev informed Mr M.Profazi about the situation with the interethnic relations in Crimea, about the increasing xenophobia against Crimean Tatars for the last three years, first of all on the part of the Crimean authorities, about the ongoing cleansing of Crimean Tatars in the executive bodies of the autonomy, the attempts of the authorities to split and set Crimean Tatars against each other in order to weaken their opposition to the chauvinistic course of Crimean leadership.

The parties also touched upon the issue of holding the International forum on the restoration of the rights and solution of the social problems of the Crimean Tatar people under the aegis of the OSCE and participation of all the leading international organizations.

Mr Manfred Profazi expressed his intention to visit Crimea in the nearest future in order to examine the situation, because the adoption of the measures, aimed at the prevention of the interethnic conflicts, combating xenophobia and discrimination on the ethnic and other grounds is the direct objectives of the international organizations that he represents.

On the next day the Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on Human Rights and International Relations hosted the similar meeting with the Head of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Ukraine Mr. Oldrich Andrysek.

Mr. O.Andrysek noted in his speech that the UNHCR’s mandate spreads not only on refugees’ problems, but also the problems of the peoples, deported by Stalin’s regime.

In this respect he mentioned the long-term and fruitful cooperation between the UNHCR and Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, reminded about the special visit of the High Commissioner Sadako Ogatha, about the awarding of the Leader of Mejlis with the UNHCR’s highest annual prize named after F.Nansen in 1998, as well as the UN High Commissioner’s full support of the idea of holding of the International forum on the restoration of the rights of the Crimean Tatar people.