Crimea must remain on the global agenda regarding all issues and dimensions – press coverage, defence of indigenous people rights, future de-occupation and reintegration. The peninsula also needs developing a specific economic renovation model as a territory that should be provided with additional safety and security decisions for a long time. This was discussed during the Crimea Platform – Expert Network International Forum held in Kyiv on June 24-25, 2024.
For two days over 120 experts, governmental officials and media people were generating recommendations for next actions of the Network experts as well as collaboration of the state authorities and the expert environment to liberate Crimea, establish a stable peace and secure the international law norm observance.
The forum was opened by Olha Skrypnyk, Coordinator of Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law Group, Crimea Platform Expert Network, and Chairperson of Crimean Human Rights Group Board, who reminded that the Crimea Platform had existed in three dimensions – governmental, parliamentary and expert – since 2021. It is this wide scope of activities that makes it possible to work efficiently with Ukrainian and foreign politicians and experts in order to defend the rights of those who suffered from Russia’s actions.
“Working together with the Parliament is a key sphere for us, and the purpose is to improve our laws to protect victims of the war unleashed by Russia”, Ms. Skrypnyk said.
She pointed out that it was the parliamentary level that the Crimea Platform was very active at. And this is proved by an international parliamentary summit to be held in Latvia this year.
Ruslan Stefanchuk, Speaker of Parliament of Ukraine, stated that it was Crimea where territorial integrity of Ukraine was violated for the first time, and the war came in Ukraine. Thus, the peninsula should become a place where Ukraine will achieve peace.
The Speaker mentioned that the Ukrainian authorities had held both a summit of leaders and a parliamentary summit, in Croatia and Czechia, correspondingly. The 3rd Parliamentary Summit is to be held in Latvia this year.
“Why is this important? Because we shall not accept any attempt to make the subject of Crimea forgotten in the international space. Because it is Crimea where, to our deep regret, the violation of Ukraine’s territorial integrity started. Crimea is the place where the war has come into Ukraine. And Crimea is our place where we should achieve peace. Thus, Crimea must return to Ukraine. Crimea must be Ukrainian. Rights of indigenous peoples as well as other peoples composing the great Ukrainian people should continue to be respected in Crimea. This is the priority for us, and we will do everything possible for this”, Mr. Stefanchuk stressed out.
Andriy Subiha, deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, further pointed out importance of Crimea International Platform Expert Network efficient actions to raise awareness about actual situation in Crimea among the global community. In addition, this format helps generate practical recommendations to take national strategic decisions so that threats for our state national security caused by ongoing occupation of the territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol be managed.
Ilgvārs Kļava, Ambassador of the Republic of Latvia to Ukraine, emphasized in his speech that Latvia “will focus its attempts to keep Crimea on the global agenda”. He commented that threat of Crimean Peninsula militarization threatened in fact safety and security of entire Europe.
Issues of legal proceedings during the war and after its end were considered by experts, prosecutors and judges during the panel discussion: “Justice in Crimea: Lessons of the Past for Fairness of the Future” at the 3rd Crimea International Platform – Expert Network International Forum. It was mentioned, inter alia, that the Ukrainian society deeply demanded justice and punishment of all those guilty of severe crimes against our people. Despite the hostilities, Ukraine is doing a lot to ensure fair trials against the occupiers both in the international and Ukrainian courts.
Today the international effort must be aimed at collapsing the economy of the aggressor country, as this is an integral component of contribution to victory.
This conclusion was made by experts of the panel discussion: “Rebooting of Global Sanction Policy Against Russia in the Light of Positive and Negative Experience of Great War” at the 3rd Crimea International Platform – Expert Network International Forum.
As Andriy Klymenko, Editor-in Chief and Head of BlackSeaNews Monitoring Group, said, the sanctions against Russia had divided the global economy in three parts: countries that supported them, countries that did not support them, and countries that would never support the sanctions. Thus, he suggested an algorithm to replace the sanction policy.
“The prime purpose of sanctions should be changed – Russia must be economically isolated from the world, even if this may affect the global economy. The tanker fleet of Western countries must be forbidden to transport Russian oil products. All tankers transporting the Russian oil must be included into the US and EU sanction lists”, Andriy Klymenko, Editor-in Chief and Head of BlackSeaNews Monitoring Group, stated.
During the discussion “Russian Armed Aggression Against Ukraine and Involving Indigenous Peoples into Peace Building Process” the experts mentioned that the occupation of Crimea was a continuation of deportation process started in 1944. To date Russia has initiated 317 criminal cases. The occupiers have been discriminating the indigenous peoples in the occupied peninsula for religious and language reasons, and eliminating the cultural heritage when the authentic materials are destroyed or taken out.
Depopulation and basic natural resourcing are the challenges Crimea will face after the de-occupation. The occupation authorities have been depleting water resources, bringing closer a water crisis in the peninsula. And the responses should be ready in advance. Economic, energy, safety and security factors were discussed by the experts during the panel discussion: “Economy and War: Social and Economic Development of Border Areas and the Entire Black Sea Region”.
Ukraine should pursue a sanction policy against officials of the Russian Ministry of Culture, directors of museums, archeologists working in the occupied Crimea. Their articles should not be published, and all abroad expeditions of Russia should be cancelled. Issues of preserving the Ukrainian cultural heritage on the occupied territories and punishing those who were stealing it were considered by the Crimea Platform experts during the panel discussion “Cultural Strategy in War Conditions: Heritage Preserving Challenges”.
MediaCenter Ukraine presented a study of how the subject of Crimea was communicated in the foreign media at the panel discussion “(In)visible Crimea: What Foreign Media Write About”. Having reviewed over 4,000 files, the experts concluded that for the foreign media the subject of Crimea was mainly focused on the war.
CRIMEA PLATFORM is an international consulting and coordination format initiated by Ukraine, which is aimed at increasing the effectiveness of international response to the ongoing occupation of Crimea and security threats escalation, hardening the international pressure on Russia, preventing further human rights violations and protecting victims of the Russian regime, and achieve the main goal – de-occupation of Crimea and its return to Ukraine.
Photos and information: Crimea Platform
