Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2016-06-06.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what information they have received about the present situation of the Tartar population of the Crimea, and in particular, how many of them have been arrested or sentenced, how many exiles have been banned from returning, and whether their mosques have been damaged or destroyed.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
In March I met Refat Chubarov, the Crimean Tatar leader, to discuss the continuing deterioration of human rights on the peninsula since Russia’s illegal annexation, and how this is impacting the Crimean Tatar community. The Crimea Tatars continue to face regular harassment including arrests, detentions, disappearances and restrictions on their rights of worship, assembly and expression. Many also face pressure to take up Russian Citizenship to re-enter Crimea.
International human rights organisations such as the UN and the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) are currently barred from entering Crimea. The UK continues to call on Russia to use their influence with the ‘de-facto’ Crimean authorities to grant access to international organisations. Nevertheless, we are aware of reports that 18 Crimean Tatars are currently held in Russian-run prisons, while several more are under arrest. We are also aware of seven Crimean Tatars who are banned from entering Crimea. We are not aware of reports of mosques being destroyed, however there are reports that mosques and homes have been raided and those inside questioned by Russian security services. The recent banning of the Mejlis, the highest representative body for the Crimean Tatar community, by the Russian de-facto authorities is another example of the continuing erosion of civil liberties and human rights in Crimea.
