01 July 2024
PACE and OSCE PA Adopt Resolutions Condemning Russian Attacks on Cultural Identity in Crimea and Recognizing Russia’s Actions as Genocide of the Ukrainian People
On the opening day of the summer session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in Bucharest, the Ukrainian resolution “Security and Geopolitical Challenges in the OSCE Region: Ten Years of Armed Aggression of the Russian Federation Against Ukraine” was approved, condemning Russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine.
The resolution calls on the 53 OSCE participating states to work towards the de-occupation of Crimea and all occupied territories of Ukraine by supporting the Peace Formula and the Crimea Platform. The resolution emphasizes the importance of President Zelenskyy’s ten-point peace plan as a basis for negotiations and a comprehensive framework that provides for the full restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity, including the return of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, and the establishment of mechanisms to ensure lasting peace and security in the region.
The document also recognizes the actions of the military and political leadership of the Russian Federation and its armed forces during the full-scale invasion as genocide of the Ukrainian people.
In particular, paragraph 32 of the document states that Russia is deliberately pursuing a policy of Russification of indigenous peoples, infringing on their rights, and sending representatives of non-Russian peoples to fight in its aggressive war. The resolution defines these peoples as “colonized.” Paragraph 47 explicitly states that the decolonization of the Russian Federation is a necessary condition for the establishment of sustainable peace in Europe.
An important aspect of the resolution is the call for the establishment of a special tribunal to prosecute the Russian Federation for crimes committed during the aggressive war against Ukraine, as well as to conduct international and national investigations into mass atrocities, killings, torture, and rape committed by the Russian military.
The document calls on the OSCE participating states to continue to hold the Russian Federation accountable for its ongoing serious violations of international law and OSCE commitments, emphasizing the need for international cooperation to facilitate the de-occupation of Crimea and all other regions of Ukraine currently under temporary occupation.
Also, on June 26, 2024, during the summer session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in Strasbourg, a resolution titled “Countering the Erasure of Cultural Identity in War and Peace” was adopted by MP Yevheniia Kravchuk, a member of the parliamentary delegation.
The PACE resolution contains unprecedented statements in support of Ukrainian culture and the preservation of Ukrainian identity. The resolution condemns the systematic state policy of Russification implemented by the Russian Federation since 2014 in the occupied territories of Ukraine, including Crimea. This includes the denial of Ukrainian cultural identity, language, literature, and history. The Russian Federation is pursuing a policy of Russification against numerous indigenous peoples of Ukraine, including the Crimean Tatars, gradually erasing their cultural identity by restricting the use of their language, particularly in the education system, limiting their cultural expression, distorting their history, depriving them of their historical memory, and by capturing and persecuting ethnic minority activists.
The document clearly states that the deliberate destruction of cultural heritage and the erasure of cultural identity in Ukraine constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity, and indicate a specific genocidal intent to destroy the Ukrainian national identity.