Crimea Global conference brings together more than 300 participants from different countries
On October 14-16, Kyiv hosted an event that gathered representatives from different parts of the world: the international conference “Crimea Global. Understanding Ukraine through the South”. The participants were representatives of various world countries, including India, Indonesia, Qatar, Malaysia, Nicaragua, Uruguay, Kenya, the Philippines, Turkey, Austria, Estonia, Argentina, Mexico, Colombia, Sudan, Italy, Chile, representatives of the opposition to the governments of Iran and Syria who live outside these countries.
The conference brought together more than 300 participants who participated both in person and online. About 35 prominent speakers from the countries of Asia, Africa, and Latin America took part in panel discussions, shared their experience and expert knowledge with the audience. The conference was held on the initiative of the Mission of the President of Ukraine in Crimea.
The organizers and partners were, in particular, the NGO “International Center for Ukrainian Victory”, the Media Initiative for Human Rights, the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union, the International Partnership for Human Rights, the Human Rights Centre ZMINA, the Ukraine 5 AM Coalition with the support of the Office of the Crimea Platform.
Nine discussion panels were held as part of the conference, where participants discussed the challenges associated with Russian aggression in Ukraine and the occupation of Crimea. The topics of the panel discussions were global energy and food security, human rights, decolonization, new international order, international security, ensuring justice and condemning Russia’s crimes in the territory of Ukraine.
Moreover, three side events were held during the conference to deepen the understanding of the Crimean Peninsula, as well as one cultural event in a restaurant of Crimean Tatar cuisine. One of the side events was held by ZMINA to talk about how war and violence during war affect women in different countries.
In addition, the participants and guests of the conference saw the works by Ukrainian artist from Crimea Maria Kulikovska: installations Scars, Army of Clones II and Folds of Time / Folds of Memory which ponder over the consequences of Russian aggression, in particular, through the prism of a woman’s experience.
Tamila Tasheva and Tetiana Pechonchyk“Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine sparked greater interest in Ukraine from the world countries. At the same time, the Ukrainian civil society and non-governmental sectors began to pay more attention to events in various regions outside the EU and North America. For the Global South countries, Ukraine has become an important promising partner in supporting food and energy security. For example, several countries on the African continent, as well as the Middle East and Southeast Asia, have experienced significant shortages of grain and other agricultural products due to Russia’s large-scale war against Ukraine. As the isolation of the Russian Federation strengthens, Moscow is increasingly trying to find support in the Global South countries and spread propaganda about its actions in Ukraine. And only thanks to the complex and coordinated actions of the government and civil society, Ukraine can expand its ties with the Global South countries and promote the principles of global justice and cooperation,” ZMINA’s head Tetiana Pechonchyk noted.
ZMINA joined the organization of the conference as part of the project “Crimea and the world: Understanding Ukraine through the South” with the support of the International Renaissance Foundation
