The 9th of August – International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples

Each year, August 9 commemorates International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, which was established by the UN General Assembly back in 1994. This day tells us about the importance of preserving and strengthening the institutions, culture and traditions of indigenous peoples.

There are three indigenous peoples in Ukraine: Crimean Tatars, Karaites and Krymchaks, who generally live on the territory of the occupied Crimean peninsula. Support for the indigenous peoples of Ukraine is part of the state’s international obligations within the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples of 2007.

At the national level, the state also implements measures aimed at supporting indigenous peoples. With the Law “On Indigenous Peoples of Ukraine”, which was adopted by the Verkhovna Rada on July 1, 2021 at the initiative of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi, Ukraine guarantees indigenous peoples the full realization of their rights and freedoms.

For a long period of time, the indigenous peoples of Ukraine became victims of historical injustices, colonialist policies and forced deportation. After the beginning of the occupation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol by the Russian Federation, the indigenous peoples of Ukraine began to suffer oppression and persecution for their principled support of the idea of territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine. Therefore, today we are witnessing how the rights of indigenous peoples are systematically violated, and their needs are openly ignored by the occupiers. Repression, forced disappearances, discrimination, torture, political persecution and intimidation are not the entire list of criminal actions of Russia on the territory of the occupied Crimea, which it systematically implements against our citizens.

Only de-occupation of the Ukrainian peninsula will be able to stop the terrible and illegal actions of the Russian Federation.