25 October 2024
Joint Statement of the Participants of the Third Parliamentary Summit of the Crimea Platform
Marking the third anniversary of the beginning of the activities of the Crimea Platform’s parliamentary dimension, taking into account the Crimea Platform Joint Declaration, adopted in Kyiv, on August 23, 2021, and the Joint Statements of the participants of the Second Summit of the Crimea Platform on August 23, 2022, the Third Summit of the Crimea Platform on August 23, 2023, and the Fourth Summit of the Crimea Platform on September 11, 2024,
and following up the results of the Crimea Platform’s First and Second Parliamentary Summits held on October 25, 2022 in Zagreb and October 24, 2023 in Prague, as well as the Crimea Platform`s First and Second Black Sea Security Conferences held on April 12-13, 2023 in Bucharest and April 14-15, 2024 in Sofia,
referring to all relevant resolutions of the UN General Assembly, including: 68/262 of March 27, 2014 “Territorial integrity of Ukraine”, ES-11/1 of March 2, 2022 “Aggression against Ukraine”, ES-11/2 of March 24, 2022 “Humanitarian сonsequences of aggression against Ukraine”, ES-11/4 of October 12, 2022 “Territorial integrity of Ukraine: defending the principles of the Charter of the United Nations”, ES-11/5 of November 14, 2022 “Furthering of remedy and reparation for aggression against Ukraine”, ES-11/6 of February 23, 2023 “Principles of the Charter of the United Nations underlying a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine”, 78/316 of July 11, 2024 “Safety and security of nuclear facilities of Ukraine, including the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant”, 77/229 of December 15, 2022 “Situation of human rights in the temporarily occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, Ukraine”, 78/221 of December 19, 2023 ” Situation of human rights in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, including the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol”, as well as resolutions UN Human Rights Council 49/1 of March 4, 2022 “Situation of human rights in Ukraine stemming from the Russian aggression”, S-34/1 of May 12, 2022 “The deteriorating human rights situation in Ukraine stemming from the Russian aggression”, 52/ 32 of April 4, 2023 and 55/23 of April 4, 2024 “Situation of human rights in Ukraine stemming from the Russian aggression”, as well as reports of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine, further recalling the Council of Europe Committee of Minister’s decisions CM/Del/Dec(2024)1500/2.5 of 10 June 2024 and CM/Del/Dec(2023)1477/2.4 of 4 October 2023 on the “Russian Federation’s war of aggression against Ukraine and its consequences for the human rights situation in the Ukrainian territories temporarily controlled or occupied by the Russian Federation”, as well as its previous decisions on the matter,
– reaffirming our unwavering support to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders as of the declaration of independence of Ukraine in 1991;
– reiterating non-recognition of Russia’s attempted illegal occupation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, as well as parts of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine, which blatantly violates the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, and constitutes a direct threat to international security with grave implications for the international rules-based order;
– supporting Ukraine’s inherent right to self-defence and to liberate its territories temporarily occupied by Russia in an unprovoked, unjustified and illegal full-scale military aggression against Ukraine;
– paying respect to the bravery of the residents of temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, including the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, who against the intimidation and threats by the occupation administrations, continue to demonstrate its resistance to the aggressor;
– noting that the ongoing Russian armed aggression against Ukraine has caused numerous violations of the norms and principles of international law, including human rights law and international humanitarian law, and violations and abuses of human rights perpetrated against the residents of the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, including Crimea;
– welcoming and following through with implementing the outcomes of the First Global Peace Summit, which took place on June 15-16, 2024 in Switzerland, as an important step towards the restoration of a rules-based international order, establishment of a comprehensive, just and lasting peace for Ukraine;
– noting the Victory Plan proposed by the President of Ukraine with the aim of ending the war and paving the way for a second Global Peace Summit where a just peace based on international law should be restored;
– calling, іn this regard, upon our governments and other like-minded states to carefully study the presented Plan with a view to contribute to its implementation;
– stressing that withdrawal of all Russian troops from the territory of Ukraine, de-occupation and return of the temporarily occupied territories under the control of Ukraine, including the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, is a crucial prerequisite for ending Russia`s war of aggression against Ukraine and the establishment of a just and lasting peace in the region;
– honoring the memory of the Crimean Tatars who perished as a result of deportation by the Soviet totalitarian regime in 1944 and make efforts to prevent such tragedies from happening again;
– noting the adoption by the parliaments of the Republic of Estonia, the Republic of Latvia, the Republic of Lithuania, the Republic of Poland and the House of Commons of Canada of the decisions recognizing the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people from Crimea by the Soviet totalitarian regime in 1944 as act of genocide;
– noting the Council decision of 17 June 2024 to renew the sanctions introduced by the EU in response to the illegal occupation of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol by the Russian Federation, until 23 June 2025,
We, the participants of the Third Parliamentary Summit of the Crimea Platform, condemn in strongest possible terms the actions of the Russian Federation regarding:
– Russia’s illegal, unprovoked and unjustified war of aggression against Ukraine, and Russia’s ongoing missile and drone strikes against Ukraine’s civilians, civil infrastructure and cities across Ukraine;
– conducting any so-called “referenda” and “elections” in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, including the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, as illegal, null and void and without any legal effect;
– establishment as a result of such “elections” of any so-called “parliamentary structures” in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine;
– inclusion in the Russian Federation’s State Duma of deputies who have been given a mandate as a result of holding such illegal “elections”;
– persistent violations of human rights and norms of international humanitarian law in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, including the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the сity of Sevastopol;
– political persecution of civilians, journalists and human rights activists, abductions and detentions of civilians incommunicado, the use of torture, inhuman and degrading treatment, and other numerous violations of international law in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, including against the representatives of the indigenous peoples of Crimea;
– forced relocation and deportation of Ukrainian civilians, including children, illegal adoption in the territory of Russia and the transfer of Ukrainian children from one national group to another, including by forcibly granting them Russian citizenship;
– taking deliberate steps aimed at destroying the national identity, habits and culture of the local population in Ukraine`s temporarily occupied territories, depriving the residents of their native language and culture;
– reported persecution of and discrimination against Ukrainians and the Indigenous Crimean Tatar people and the prohibition and criminalization of their legitimate representative bodies, which deprives them of the possibility to freely express, preserve and develop their identity and to maintain and develop their culture, free of any attempts at assimilation against their will;
– the ongoing militarization of the Crimean Peninsula by Russia, which undermines security and stability in the region of the Black Sea and Azov Sea, hampering freedom of navigation and global food security.
We declare our intentions to:
– continue and increase at the parliamentary level of support for Ukraine aimed at restoring its sovereignty and the territorial integrity within internationally recognized borders as of the declaration of independence of Ukraine in 1991, including the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the сity of Sevastopol, by providing necessary political, financial, military and diplomatic assistance;
– contribute, within the limits of their competences as national parliaments, to the implementation of the Peace Formula of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy as the only effective peace plan with the aim of restoring the territorial integrity of Ukraine and guaranteeing comprehensive, just and lasting peace for Ukraine and the region;
– provide comprehensive support to the international investigation of war crimes, human rights violations and crimes against humanity committed by the Russian occupation administrations in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, including the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the сity of Sevastopol. Russia must pay for the damage and devastation it has caused. We are determined to ensure full accountability and to assist Ukraine in obtaining compensation for the loss, injury and damage resulting from Russia’s aggression and support all concerted international efforts to this effect, notably the Register of Damage for Ukraine;
– support the introduction and further strengthening of sanctions against the Russian Federation in order to put pressure on the Russian Federation, as well as to prevent steps to circumvent such sanctions with the assistance of third countries;
– promote as much as possible the release of all political prisoners and other civilian detainees imprisoned in the context of the aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, in particular, Iryna Danylovych, Vladyslav Yesypenko, Seiran Saliiev, Server Mustafaiev, Emir-Usein Kuku, Iryna Horobtsova, Halyna Dovhopola, Servet Gaziiev, Amet Suleimanov, Asan Ahtemov, Aziz Ahtemov, Appaz Kurtamet and others; condemn arbitrary detentions, unlawful detention conditions amounting to inhumane treatment and torture that has already resulted in deaths and irreversible degradation of detainees’ health;
– call on international monitoring mechanisms, in particular, the United Nations, the Council of Europe and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to make every effort to continue monitoring the human rights situation in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, including Crimea;
– appeal to UNESCO and its bodies focused on safeguarding of cultural objects, to intensify their vigilance, protective measures, and monitoring of endangered cultural sites in Crimea;
– call on the International Committee of the Red Cross, the UN Committee against Torture, the UN Human Rights Council and all other relevant international bodies to continue and increase efforts to ensure the improvement of conditions of Ukrainian civilian detainees and prisoners of war held by Russia, and to work on identifying whereabouts of all detained citizens of Ukraine;
– call on the world’s parliamentary structures to refuse to cooperate with the Russian parliamentary structures and delegations, which include representatives who have received a mandate as a result of the illegal “elections” held by the Russian occupation administrations in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, including the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol;
– promote closer cooperation within international organizations and other platforms in order to strengthen joint capabilities to counter the Russian Federation’s hybrid threats, including propaganda and disinformation, regarding its actions against Ukraine;
– continue to take measures to commemorate the victims of the deportation of the Crimean Tatars in 1944;
– promote the activities of the Crimea Platform’s various dimensions until the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, including Crimean Peninsula are returned to Ukraine’s control, and to use the Platform’s potential as a tool that can ensure the consolidation of international efforts for the reintegration, reconstruction and economic recovery of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol as well as of other temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine;
– demand from the Russian Federation an immediate cessation of hostilities and the liberation of all temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine and the restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty within internationally recognized borders, including the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol;
– refrain from any contacts with the so-called “representatives” of the Russian occupation forces operating in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine;
– intensify efforts to counter attempts by the Russian Federation to promote economic, logistical, and other forms of contacts with the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine;
– take measures to reduce Russia’s economic potential and its ability to sustain armed aggression against Ukraine.
We emphasize that it is necessary to end the aggressive war of the Russian Federation against Ukraine and restore its sovereignty and territorial integrity within internationally recognized borders to restore compliance with the UN Charter and the norms and principles of international law. We call on other states and organizations to join the Crimea Platform.