Foreign Ministry: Russia pursues policy of cultural destruction of Crimean Tatars

Foreign Ministry: Russia pursues policy of cultural destruction of Crimean Tatars

Ukrinform
Ukraine tries to prove at the UN International Court of Justice that the Russian Federation pursues a policy of cultural destruction of ethnic Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars in the occupied Crimea.

The statement was made by Oksana Zolotariova, the Director of the International Law Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, at the Age of Crimea forum dedicated to the Day of Crimea's Resistance to Russian Occupation, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"At the United Nations International Court of Justice, we are trying to prove that the Russian Federation pursues (in the occupied Crimea) a policy of, indeed, cultural destruction of ethnic Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars, and in doing so, it violates the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination," Zolotariova said.

She noted that international law was a very slow tool. In particular, the diplomat recalled that the first negotiations to settle the issue in the international court took place in 2015. Ukraine filed the case with the International Court of Justice in 2017 and received its first decision only in November last year.

Zolotariova reminded that the International Court of Justice rejected all of the Russian Federation's remarks on the jurisdiction, and now Russia must submit its counter-memorial on Ukraine's claim by December 8.

As reported, the International Court of Justice ruled on November 8 that it had jurisdiction in the case of Russia's violation of the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism and of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. The Court also emphasized that Ukraine had complied with all pretrial procedures. This decision means that the International Court of Justice may proceed to the consideration of the case on the merits.

On January 16, 2017, Ukraine filed a lawsuit with the International Court of Justice against Russia for the violation of the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism and of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

The accusations made against Russia include the provision of weapons and other assistance to illegal armed formations; the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17; the shelling of residential areas of Mariupol and Kramatorsk; the destruction of a civilian passenger bus near Volnovakha; an explosion during a peaceful assembly in Kharkiv; discrimination against Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar communities; a ban on the activities of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people; waves of disappearances, murders, unauthorized searches, detentions; restrictions on teaching Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar languages.

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