Saint-Petersburg Ombudsman Officially Informed About LGBT Rights Violations By Local Authorities
Alexander Shishlov, Human Rights Commissioner in Saint-Petersburg, became the first high ranking Russian official who had included in his yearly report the information on numerous violations of constitutional rights and freedoms of LGBT community in Russia. His report that was published last week contains three pages on LGBT issue.
In the past only Mr. Lukin, the Russian Human Rights Federal Commissioner, paid some attention to this issue during his talks with the Russian authorities. However, his yearly reports did not say a word on LGBT community and its problems. And only in his report to Dmitry Medvedev in 2012 the word "gay" was mentioned once.
Alexander Shishlov recorded numerous facts of violation of the freedom on meetings: earlier Saint-Petersburg authorities illegally refused to authorize pro-LGBT actions. Saint-Petersburg's ombudsman stressed the inadmissibility of assaults on participants of peaceful gay actions that became frequent in 2012. Eventually, the report says about "inanity of the law which bans the so-called "propaganda of homosexuality among minors".
The "Coming Out" LGBT Organization has already responded to that report. Its statement "highly appreciates the fact that certain attention was given to LGBT issue". "We are looking forward to further cooperate with the Office of Saint-Petersburg Human Rights Commissioner and, in particular, are expecting its response on our petitions filed in 2013. This year we have already informed the HRC Office about the problem of homophobic and transphobic hate crimes which had been acknowledged by the UN Committee against torture during its session dedicated to Russia, about violation of freedoms on meetings, expressed by numerous refusals to authorize public pro-LGBT actions (including the referral to the law on propaganda), about improper treatment of transsexuals by the local police officials. We have also given some recommendations to resolve these problems", reports the Coming Out's Internet site.
English translation presented by Yerdna Bananes
In the past only Mr. Lukin, the Russian Human Rights Federal Commissioner, paid some attention to this issue during his talks with the Russian authorities. However, his yearly reports did not say a word on LGBT community and its problems. And only in his report to Dmitry Medvedev in 2012 the word "gay" was mentioned once.
The "Coming Out" LGBT Organization has already responded to that report. Its statement "highly appreciates the fact that certain attention was given to LGBT issue". "We are looking forward to further cooperate with the Office of Saint-Petersburg Human Rights Commissioner and, in particular, are expecting its response on our petitions filed in 2013. This year we have already informed the HRC Office about the problem of homophobic and transphobic hate crimes which had been acknowledged by the UN Committee against torture during its session dedicated to Russia, about violation of freedoms on meetings, expressed by numerous refusals to authorize public pro-LGBT actions (including the referral to the law on propaganda), about improper treatment of transsexuals by the local police officials. We have also given some recommendations to resolve these problems", reports the Coming Out's Internet site.
English translation presented by Yerdna Bananes
