Refat Chubarov: «MOGILEV Opposed Basic Principles of UNITED NATIONS ORGANIZATION»

12 May 2013

The phone call of the reporter of the internet news agency “AN-KRYM” asking to comment on today’s statement of the Head of the Council of Ministers of AR Crimea A.Mogilev about Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people caught me on my way from one meeting to another and prevented me from making the full comment.

Now looking through A.Mogilev’s press conference and finding out that the question that irritated the Head of the Council of Ministers was posed by the reporter of the information agency “Novy Region” I’d like to note that Mr A.Mogilev swallowed the fly that was prepared for him, stating by the way that “Mejlis is the structure that stands outside the legal framework of Ukraine”.

In fact, this answer was awaited; however there was a “danger” that the Head of the Council of Minister of AR Crimea could sense the trap. But as we see, the police straightforwardness took over the manager. Or maybe it was a mistake of the PR experts, serving the authorities… As a result we can congratulate the journalists of IA “Novy Region” with one more successful action, aimed at confrontation and opposition between Crimean authorities and Crimean Tatars…

It is clear that the local officials will regard Mogilev’s statement, made so carelessly (?) as a directive… One shouldn’t be too clever to forecast Crimean Tatars’ reaction to such biased attitude of the authorities to the bodies of the national self-governance of Crimean Tatars as a form of their self-organization, aimed at the solution of their problems…

The very first phone calls to Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people in response to Mogilev’s statement, asking “Is it true that Mejlis is the structure that lies outside the legal framework of Ukraine…” testified not only to aversion of such statements by people, but about their evaluation of this statement as the next fact, conforming the violation of the elementary rights of the Crimean Tatar people by the Crimean authorities.

In this respect, taking the chance I’d like to quote just few provisions of the UN fundamental legal act – Declaration on the indigenous peoples’ rights, adopted by the UN General Assembly on September 13, 2007, providing the international standards and approaches to the situation with the Crimean Tatar people and bodies of the national self-governance, elected by them – Qurultay of the Crimean Tatar people, Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people and local mejlises.

THE UN DECLARATION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES

(Adopted by the Resolution 61/295 of the General Assembly on September 13, 2007)

Article 5

Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain and strengthen their distinct political, legal, economic, social and cultural institutions, while retaining their right to participate fully, if they so choose, in the political, economic, social and cultural life of the State.

Article 18

Indigenous peoples have the right to participate in decision-making in matters which would affect their rights, through representatives chosen by themselves in accordance with their own procedures, as well as to maintain and develop their own indigenous decision-making institutions.

Article 19

States shall consult and cooperate in good faith with the indigenous peoples concerned through their own representative institutions in order to obtain their free, prior and informed consent before adopting and implementing legislative or administrative measures that may affect them.

Article 20

1. Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain and develop their political, economic and social systems or institutions, to be secure in the enjoyment of their own means of subsistence and development, and to engage freely in all their traditional and other economic activities…

Maybe it was easier for A.Mogilev to prohibit mentioning about the United Nations Organization and UN Declaration on the rights of the indigenous peoples?

Refat Chubarov,

The First Vice Chairman of

Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people