Closing of the International Conference “Crimea Global. Understanding Ukraine through the South” in Kiev
The Second Day of the International Conference “Crimea Global. Understanding Ukraine through the South” was held on 22 November 2024 in Kiev the capital of the Republic of Ukraine.
The conference has gathered the experts from around the globe to establish a personal connection between them and Ukrainian CSOs as well as the Ukrainian government and Parliament.
Participants have deeply explored Ukraine, to have a better understanding of the Crimean Peninsula and the Ukrainian resistance to the Russian aggression, and came up with fruitful joint projects and initiatives.
Before introducing panelist in the subject “Challenges for the indigenous peoples worldwide: Can we build solidarity?” the Moderator of the panel discussion Suleiman Mamutov, who is the member of the United Nations Permanent Forum of Yazidi people in Iraq, underlined the fact that he has the opportunity to discuss with panelists on the subject and they have exchanged an interesting thought about the fact that development aspect matters but also despite all the details of colonization and oppression against indigenous people worldwide, the story is quite similar, the same story of disposition of lands, the oppressive policies, the existence of the people and their cultural identities.
Responding to the question asked to all panelist as Ice Breaker about what is the main challenge for their indigenous people, or indigenous people in a country they live, Natia Navrouzov, the Executive Director of a Yazidi-focused and global NGO working in Iraq, expressed her interest of the current situation in which the Ukrainian people are living and all the hardship they are facing. “I am the member of Yazidi community, I was born in Georgia, so I feel very very close to what is happening here in Ukraine”. “Yazidi people are facing a real treat of extinction of the Yazidi community; we are around 1.5 million in the world”. She also stressed the point about documentation and evidence in the work to defend indigenous people.
From its part, Mohammed Hassan, Executive Director of the Darfur Network for Human Rights (DNRH) underlined the importance of justice and accountability.
Talking about this issue, Marina Slhessarenko a researcher with the Law and Democracy Cluster at the Brazilian Center for Analysis and Planning, pointed that the evacuation of lands which is a struggle that last for ages since Brazil was colonized and is still on ongoing.
“We documented what was happening when Bolsonaro government was in power from 2019 to 2022 so we laterally made a catalogue of all violations we could find, to democracy and for indigenous people and this was very important for us to see because there we could spot a lot of disrespect for ingenious peoples and climate. And for us it was not obvious from the start that these things were together, and so in this work we could see how there is interplane between climate change and ingenious peoples and how normally the global north talking about indigenous people don’t pay attention to how things work together and how these issues have relations. Now we are not in Bolsonaro government, Lula is a new president he started his third term of office in 2023 and one of the first things he did was the create a Ministry of Indigenous peoples. So at the institution level I would start saying that this was a very high big concur for indigenous people” added Marina Slhessarenko.
It should be noted that Indigenous people are exposed to many violations of human rights and their human rights are routinely violated by state authorities, and they face high levels of marginalization and discrimination. Indigenous Peoples face eviction from the ancestral lands they have inhabited for generations, as well as restricted access to education, health care and housing.
In the context of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine caused a splash of interest to Ukraine from countries around the world and from the Ukrainian state as well as the non-governmental sector to various regions outside of the EU and North America, including the African continent.
A panel discussion focused on the theme Russian Propaganda narratives in different parts of the world. How it influences the perception of Ukraine and in particular Crimea. During this panel Alim Aliev, Deputy Director of the Ukrainian Institute said that Russian occupation of Crimea is comparable to African liberation from colonial rules. There are parallels between the Russian in Crimea and Ghana historical fight against colonialism. “Today I am not only the Deputy head of Ukrainian Institute but I am Crimean Tata and Indigenous population of Ukraine. And for us, this war, this temporary occupation, it is our recolonization. It means that it is a new colonization of peninsula by the Russian Empire.” Stressed Alim Aliev.
He also pointed the fact Russia frames the annexation as sovereign issue and the fact that other countries consider the issue between Russia and Ukraine as only an internal issue of and not an international affair.
The Ukrainian Institute implement program in countries to explain about the culture and history of Ukraine and building long term contact and bridges between Ukrainian society, artists, scholars, such as artists from Brazil, South Africa or Indonesia.
Thierno Amadou Camara, from Guina who is Publishing Director of Guinée114, and who published recently a book about Russia’s war against Ukraine after visiting Kiev and Odessa in 2023. He has pointed out the fact most African countries don’t have the Ukrainian version of the fact directly. Therefore, the African, people get information about Ukraine from western media and also Russian media controlled by Russia. There is a lack of information about Ukraine in Africa. He recalled a fact of history when Guinea got independence in 1958, the country turned to the Soviet Union, that helped Guinea when France has turned its back. “When we talk about the Soviet Union it is not only Russia but also Ukraine. The assets of cooperation and aid that these countries were able to benefit from the Soviet Union are also the assets of Ukraine and many do not know this.” added Camara.
During the day many themes in different panel discussions were held such as developing the economic ties between Ukraine and non-western countries, the children of war: depiction of the wrecked life of Ukrainian minors through the lens of documentary journalism, Ukraine and non-western world: how to achieve peace and stability jointly, Environmental Impact of the Russian Aggression from 2014 to 2024.
Closing the Ceremony of the International Conference “Crimea Global. Understanding Ukraine through the South”? Tamila Tasheva, Permanent Representative of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea has thanked all NGOs which helped for the organization of the conference, participants of the previous and this year’s conference, the diplomatic academia of the Ukrainian Ministry of foreign affairs. She also added the key take away of the conference which was the meeting of people in order to trigger a cooperation.
It has to be noted that President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy proclaiming the work with the countries of Global South as one of the priorities for Ukrainian diplomacy, such as visits by Ukrainian state representatives to African and South East Asian countries, recent high-level meetings in Copenhagen and Jeddah dedicated to the Peace Formula suggested by the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy as first stages of the preparations to the Peace Formula Summit, as well as multiple advocacy trips by representatives of Ukrainian civil society to Africa, South and Central America, South East and East Asia. Ukrainian MFA appointed a Special Representative of Ukraine for the Middle East and Africa.
Some of the countries have joined the Crimea Platform recently (for instance, Guatemala, Bahrein, and the United Arab Emirates). For the countries of the indicated regions Ukraine appeared to be important in the context of food and energy security, lots of the countries, especially from the African continent, but also the Middle East and South East Asia experienced significant grain and/or energy resource shortages caused by Russia’s large-scale war against Ukraine.
Cassien Tribunal Aungane, Editor
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