UOC-KP archbishop in Crimea urged the world leaders and communities to protect the rights and freedoms of Ukrainians in Crimea
On behalf of the religious community and on behalf of the Ukrainian community in Crimea, Archbishop Klyment of Simferopol and Crimea of the UOC-KP publicly appealed to the international community urging it to do everything possible to help the Ukrainians in Crimea, to protect their national and religious rights, to prevent their forced displacement out of their native land and their assimilation.
The bishop’s appeal was submitted to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, President Poroshenko, Putin, US President Barack Obama, French President Francois Hollande, British Prime Minister David Cameroon, the EU Delegation to Ukraine.
Archbishop Klyment listed the instances of seizure of the UOC-KP churches: the Holy Martyr Clement Church in Sevastopol and St. Andrew Church in Perevalne village, as well as burning of the countryside house of the ruling bishop Marmurove village, Simferopol district, closing of the Kyiv Patriarchate parishes in the cities of Saki, Krasnoperekopsk, Kerch, raider seizure of the premises of the UOC-KP in Simferopol.
The archbishop considers unacceptable:
- Persecution of Crimean population for their religious affiliation.
- Seizure of the premises of the Crimean Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyiv Patriarchate.
- Persecution of the activists of “Euromaidan-Crimea,” who defended their position peacefully, organizing a peaceful rally in support of the European choice of the Ukrainian people.
- Persecutionof Ukrainiansin Crimea, who remain citizens of Ukraine and are Ukrainiannative speakers, carriers of the Ukrainian culture.
- Closing of the classes with Ukrainian as a language of teaching, destruction of Ukrainian school-gymnasium in Simferopol, the actual destruction of seven Ukrainian schools located on the peninsula.
- The destruction of Ukrainian media, namely, the Crimean Sitlytsianewspaper whose premises were seized by local authorities.
- Reducing the number of Ukrainian television and radio programs in Ukrainian in the Crimean information space.
- Renaming of Ukrainian institutions, cultural centers, theaters, libraries and schools.
- Banning of peaceful assemblies and actions at the Ukrainian memorable places, particularly near the monument to Taras Shevchenko in the city of Simferopol on his anniversary.
- Detention of Ukrainians, wearing national embroidered dress in Crimean towns and villages
Archbishop Klyment appealed to the United Nations and the Organization for Security Cooperation in Europe, to the guarantors of the integrity of Ukraine, which signed the Memorandum on Security Assurances in connection with Ukraine's accession to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons - US, UK, Russia, France and China, to the European Union to take decisive action to protect the basic principles of human rights and freedoms in the Crimea.
“I think it relevant and appropriate today to resolve the issue at the international level for the immediate entry of an international mission to monitor human rights and discriminated ethnic communities on the Crimean peninsula. I am asking you to consider at international negotiations the issue of the rights and freedoms of Ukrainian Crimea and the functioning of the Crimean Eparchy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church Kyiv Patriarchate on Crimean peninsula,”stated Archbishop.
