Follow-aware
Amnesty International said on Monday that since its annexation of the Crimean Peninsula a decade ago, Russia has sought to erase the Ukrainian identity of the peninsula overlooking the Black Sea, adding that the same practices are being applied in other regions it annexed in Ukraine.
In March 2014, Russia officially annexed the peninsula after organizing a referendum to decide the peninsula’s fate that the West considered illegitimate.
“During ten years of occupation, Russia did everything in its power to delegitimize Ukraine’s sovereignty over the Crimean Peninsula,” Amnesty International said, adding that Moscow’s policies also aimed to “change the ethnic composition” of the peninsula.
She continued, “It appears that these policies are a model for Russia’s plans in other regions it occupies in Ukraine.”
The human rights organization said that over the past decade, Russian authorities sought to suppress Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar identities through multiple restrictions, including education, religion, media, and the judiciary.
“The changes in school curricula and the almost complete abolition of Ukrainian language education are intended to ensure that younger generations lack the knowledge and awareness to challenge the Russian narrative surrounding the history of Crimea,” the report states.
He added, “This reinforces the silencing of all independent media, the suppression of religious minorities and their practices, and the prevention of cultural celebrations.”
Amnesty International also confirmed that Crimean residents were forced to accept Russian passports or “face deprivation of their human rights, denial of access to basic services, and even the risk of deportation.”
The organization said that the large-scale invasion of Ukraine had “significantly” exacerbated the crackdown on “any expression of support for Ukraine or mere suspicion of loyalty to the occupying Russian authorities.”
The report referred to punitive measures such as dismissal, fines, home searches, detention, arbitrary arrest, and prosecution.
Source: afp
2024-03-18 23:01:34