Representatives of Indigenous movements spoke at the European Parliament about persecution by Russian authorities

Discussion titled “Voices of Indigenous Peoples against Russia’s Repression” took place 3 March,  in the European Parliament in Brussels. The event was organized the Anti-Discrimination Centre Memorial–Brussels together with the MEP (Lithuania) Rasa Juknevičienė.

Representatives of indigenous movements were speaking about repressions and persecutions by Russian authorities, the speakers were human rights defender and Chair of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center (Kyiv) Eskender Bariev, the activist of Sámi Indigenous People and member of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) Valentina Sovkina and  journalist from Bashkortostan Ruslan Valiev.

In recent years — since the beginning of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and the occupation of Crimea — the Russian Federation has moved from systemic oppression of Indigenous peoples to widespread repression of activists and all those who raise their voices against violations of the rights to identity, religion, territory, environment, and freedom of expression.

The publication is created in the framework of the project “Documenting and analysing international crimes committed by the Russia’s armed forces after 24.02.2022, helping victims of these crimes and informing on crimes” implemented by Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, Center for Civil Liberties and ADC Memorial Brussels, funded by the European Union.

Views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the contracting authority can be held responsible for them.