Human Rights International

Ukraine – “Liberty Camp” at the edge of Crimea

A hot summer wind whips up the dust of the unpaved roads, and grapes and pears hang heavily from the branches.One would think that nowhere on earth could be more peaceful than here, the Arabat Spit, in August. But Russian warships cross the Sea of Azov, and the checkpoint to Russian-occupied Crimea is only a few minutes away by car. In a simple motel, caringly run by a Crimean Tatar family, young people from various parts of Ukraine and the rest of the world sit together and discuss matters. This is the third “Liberty Camp” organised by the Crimean Tatar Resource Center together with the Foundation for Freedom and the Estonian Institute for Human Rights.

Many participants are personally affected by the occupation, having had to leave behind Crimea, their relatives detained in Russian prisons. Others are members of the Turkish Crimean Tatar ethnic group; still others are Ukrainian or international human rights activists. They discuss the situation of occupied Crimea: the military build-up on the peninsula, the growing Russian population and large-scale housing projects; Crimean Tatars being subjected to continuous subpoenas and raids, fear, the ever-growing list of political prisoners.But this situation is embedded in the broader context of the battle for universal human rights. The young activists learn about basic human rights and study resistance and liberation movements of the last century: the American civil rights movement, the Estonian independence movement and the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa, for example. They discuss the applicability of various methods of civil resistance
and activism. They analyse what the Crimean occupation is based on and where public actions and campaigns can be successful. They develop
creative and artistic ideas for the international solidarity campaign #LiberateCrimea in practical workshops.

The participants use their free time on the 27th anniversary of Ukraine’s independence to do something special: they march to the border of the Russian-occupied area, wave Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar flags, wish Ukraine a happy birthday and demand the peninsula’s liberation. They all know that the real work will start when the “Liberty Camp” ends.