Ukrainian NGO starts social media campaign dedicated to indigenous peoples of Crimea

The "Indigenous peoples matter to Ukraine" campaign dedicated to the International Day of the Indigenous Peoples of Crimea has started on social media, the Crimean Tatar Resource Center reports.

What is the problem?

August 9 marks the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples, established by the UN General Assembly in 1994. Today, humanity pays tribute to the richness of the cultures of indigenous peoples and the special contribution they make to the family of peoples of the world.

On July 1, 2021, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the Law "On Indigenous Peoples of Ukraine," initiated by President Volodymyr Zelensky. According to this law, the indigenous peoples of Ukraine are Crimean Tatars, Karaites, and Krymchaks.

Their historical homeland is Crimea, which has been under illegal Russian occupation since 2014. Since that time, the indigenous peoples of the peninsula have been persecuted by occupation authorities, with 196 Crimean Tatars jailed as political prisoners and persecuted under false criminal charges.

What is the solution?

August 9 is another opportunity to remind that "Russia has turned Crimea into one big prison," as the deputy chair of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, Akhtem Chiygoz, says.

How does it work?

"The Crimean Tatar Resource Center is starting a storm on social media dedicated to the International Day of Indigenous Peoples. We invite everyone to become part of this campaign," the statement stressed.

The center called to join the campaign and distribute posters with the hashtag #LIBERATECRIMEA.

"Every year on August 9, the International Day of Indigenous Peoples of the World is celebrated. There are about 437 million representatives of indigenous peoples living in 90 countries in the world. In Ukraine, there are three indigenous peoples: Crimean Tatars, Karaites, and Krymchaks," the message said.

On August 6, activists restored the Crimean Tatar flag on flat slabs near the Dnipro River on the Obolon Embankment in Kyiv.

As Rubryka reported, the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people sent the first package of documents to the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience to establish the legal status of the Mejlis as a representative body of the Crimean Tatar people.