Human rights abuses in the occupied Crimea: what can the West do?
The 18th of March 2014, the world witnessed the most audacious landgrab in Europe since the second world war. Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea violated the European security order as we know it.
In the four years since, the situation for the residents on the occupied peninsula has worsened considerably. Reports from international actors detail systematic human rights abuses: restrictions of fundamental freedoms, kidnapping, torture and an almost non-existent space for Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar civil life. Crimean Tatars, in particular, have been targeted, through the persecution of its leaders and the shutting down of Crimean Tatar media outlets.
To mark the fourth anniversary of the annexation, the Uppsala Association of Foreign Affairs is hosting a panel discussion with prominent human rights defenders from Crimea to discuss the situation on the ground and policy recommendations. Our invited guest panellists are Tamila Tasheva (founder of the NGO CrimeaSOS), Tetiana Pechonchyk (head of Human Rights Information Centre) and Olga Skripnyuk (head of Crimean Human Rights Group). These organisations have taken on the difficult task of documenting human rights abuses on the peninsula, where no international monitoring actors have access. They also develop national and international policy recommendations and lobby for internally displaced people, who have fled the territory.
The panel will be moderated by the President of the Uppsala Association of Foreign Affairs, Niclas Hvalgren.
__________________________
Date: 09/03/2018
Time: 15:15-17:00
Place: Lecture hall IX, Main building of Uppsala University
Admission: Free. A one-year membership in the association can be purchased at the event for 100 SEK.
In English.
The event is hosted by the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Uppsala Association of Foreign Affairs (UF) and is supported by Folkuniversitetet.
