As delivered

Statement by the delegation of Ukraine during 79th UNGA Third Committee general discussion under agenda item 68 “Rights of Indigenous Peoples” (15 October 2024)

Chair,

Ukraine aligns with the statement by the European Union and would like to add some points in its national capacity.

Indigenous Peoples represent a rich diversity of cultures, traditions, and languages that have endured for millennia. As the original stewards of their lands, they have lived in harmony with nature and contributed invaluable knowledge to our collective understanding of environmental sustainability. In recognition of their unique identities, we reaffirm our commitment to upholding their rights and ensuring their well-being.

As confirmed by various experts, including the Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples during his briefing today, Indigenous Peoples are among those most severely affected by climate change, environmental degradation, and destructive economic activities.
All of these challenges apply not only to Ukraine’s Indigenous Peoples but have been significantly exacerbated by Russia’s temporary occupation of Crimea since 2014. Imagine living in constant fear and suspicion for more than a decade. Russia’s control over Ukraine’s temporarily occupied territories, including Crimea, has been marked by arbitrary and incommunicado detentions, persecutions, torture, intimidation, and enforced disappearances. Additionally, the forced imposition of Russian citizenship, forced transfers and deportations, and compulsory conscription into the Russian army have become routine elements of its occupation policy.

In 2021, the Ukrainian Parliament adopted the Law on the Indigenous Peoples of Ukraine, developed through extensive consultations with Indigenous representatives, civil society organizations, and other stakeholders. This law reflects the collective aspirations of Ukraine's Indigenous Peoples and is consistent with the principles of international law, including the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The law recognizes three ethnic groups—Crimean Tatars, Krymchaks, and Karaites-as Indigenous Peoples of Ukraine and guarantees them rights such as education in their native languages, protection of their historical heritage, the creation of ethnic media, and the establishment of self-governing bodies to represent their interests. Ukraine remains steadfast in upholding this law.

However, since 2014, the Indigenous peoples of Ukraine, particularly the Crimean Tatars, have faced relentless human rights violations as a direct consequence of Russia’s temporary occupation of Crimea and its ongoing aggression against Ukraine.

In the early stages of the occupation, Russian occupying regime imposed strict restrictions on Crimean Tatar identity, targeting community leaders and organizations. The Mejlis, the representative body of the Crimean Tatar People continues to be declared an extremist organization and has remained banned since September 2016. On January 31 this year, the International Court of Justice ruled that Russia violated the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination by upholding the ban on the Mejlis, thereby restricting the Crimean Tatars' right to maintain their institutions. Prominent leaders Mustafa Dzhemilev and Refat Chubarov were banned from entering Crimea, echoing the 1944 genocide-deportation of the Crimean Tatar People. Both leaders were later sentenced in absentia.

Crimea has become a vast prison, concealing countless Russian crimes. Over 280 Ukrainian citizens are currently detained and unjustly prosecuted by Russian authorities on fabricated charges of terrorism or extremism, 212 of whom are Crimean Tatars. We welcome the recent release of Nariman Dzhelyal, the First Deputy Chairman of the Mejlis, after years of unjust imprisonment, and demand the immediate and unconditional release of all others.

Ukraine remains committed to advancing and protecting the rights of Indigenous Peoples. We must continue to highlight and address the human rights violations suffered by Ukraine’s Indigenous Peoples in the context of Russia’s temporarily occupation of Crimea.

We express our deep respect for the Crimean Tatars, who have endured centuries of genocide at the hands of the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union, and modern-day Russia. We are confident that the day will come when all of Ukraine’s Indigenous Peoples will be free—when Russia withdraws its troops from the entire territory of Ukraine, within its internationally recognized borders, and when justice prevails.

Thank you.