Commissioner for Human Rights

Prof. Irena Lipowicz, the Human Rights Defender met with Mr Mustafa Dzhemilev, a prominent defender of rights of the Crimean Tatars. The Polish Ombudsman expressed her congratulations on the occasion of the first Lech Wałęsa Solidarity Prize being presented to Mr Mustafa Dzhemilev. The award ceremony was held on June 3rd marking the 25th anniversary of Polish freedom.
In conversation with Mustafa Dzhemilev, Prof. Lipowicz presented the tasks of the ombudsman in the area of protecting the rights of minorities and detainees. She underlined the importance of independence of the institution, particularly as regards its relations with the public administration and the Parliament. Mr Mustafa Dzhemilev informed about the current situation of Crimean Tatars displaced due to the occupation of Crimea and military actions in the Eastern part of Ukraine. According to him the most pressing needs of DPs are those concerning shelter.
Prof. Lipowicz has suggested that all of the cases of displacement, deprivation of property and use of violence, including torture, should be documented in detail. This might be helpful in the future in cases of settlement of human rights infringements in front of the national and international judiciary. She also encouraged to regularly provide information about such cases to the international public opinion and institutions dealing with the protection of human rights .
Mustafa Dzhemilev (born in 1943) was deported along with his family from Crimea in 1944 as a result of ethnic cleansing organized on the order of J. Stalin. From the earliest age he was actively engaged in fighting for the rights of Crimean Tatars, for which he was repeatedly arrested and forced into exile (spending a total of 15 years in prison). He is one of the co-founders of the Action Group for the Defence of Human Rights organised in 1969 in the Soviet Union. In 1989 he returned to Crimea. He is Chairman of the Crimean Tatar National Movement, and since 1991 has been Chairman of Mejlis - the highest representation of the Crimean Tatars. Since 1998 he has been MP in the Supreme Council of Ukraine. Banned by the authorities of the separatist Republic of Crimea from entering the peninsula until 2019.