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UN Human Rights Committee Asked to Take a Position on Russian Anti Gay Law
MOSCOW, February 12, 2010 (GayRussia/UK Gay News) – A Russian campaign against the law banning the ‘propaganda of homosexuality’ to minors aims to bring positive changes globally Yesterday, Irina Fedotova-Fet an LGBT activist, who last year married her life partner Irina Shipiko in Toronto following an ill-fated attempt at getting married at last year’s Moscow Gay Pride, submitted a complaint to the UN Human Rights Committee arguing that her right to freedom of expression had been breached in connection with a law that forbid any propaganda of homosexuality to minors. Also this week, the European Court of Human Rights acknowledged receipt of a similar complaint made by a gay activist and Moscow Gay Pride co-organizer Nikolai Baev. This latest campaign in Moscow started in March 2009, when gay and lesbian activists choose to hold a public action against homophobia in Ryazan, a city located 180 km south east of Moscow. Two of them were arrested after taking the streets with posters showing “Homosexuality is normal” and “I am proud of my homosexuality. Ask me about it” Mr. Baev and Ms. Fedotova-Fet were detained by police, and later charged with committing the administrative offence of “promotion of homosexuality to minors”. In April last year, a Justice of the Peace in Ryazan fined the two activists to 1,500 rubles each (about 50USD). Later – on May 14 – the decision was upheld on appeal by the District court. Three months ago, Mr. Baev took his case to the European Court of Human Rights, arguing that Russia violated his right to freedom of expression guaranteed by Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights. He hopes that his case will set a precedent by the Court on the issue. In her complaint sent yesterday to the UN Human Rights Committee in Geneva, Ms. Fedotova-Fet argues that Russia violated her right to freedom of expression (Article 19) and to non-discrimination (Article 26) as guaranteed by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). She decided to lodge the complaint with the UN ‘College of experts’ despite the fact that its decisions are not officially binding. “Due to a heavy backlog, we know that the case of Nikolai Baev will not be considered by the European Court anytime soon, and since the process with the UN is much faster, it made more sense for me to apply there,” Ms. Fedotova-Fet told GayRussia/UK Gay News. On September 1 last year, Mr. Baev, Ms. Fedotova-Fet and Nikolai Alexeyev filed a joint complaint with the Constitutional Court of Russia with the requirements to assess the validity of the law prohibiting propaganda of homosexuality to minors in Ryazan with the Russian Constitution. Ryazan region remains so far the only Russian region to implement a law expressively banning and form of promotion of homosexuality to minors. “This law is absurd because it allows the authorities to systematically ban any public action by gays and lesbians in this region simply because there can be minors in any public space at any time,” Mr. Alexeyev said. “We want this law to be declared unconstitutional in Russia. “By taking these cases to the European Court and the UN, our aim is to send out a powerful message to populist politicians who would be tempted to implement the same elsewhere in Europe – and beyond”. “Leveraging on our domestic campaigns in Russia to try to make positive changes outside the country is typically our aim from the beginning”. In Europe, Lithuania attempted last year to pass bill openly discriminating gays and lesbians by prohibiting “public dissemination of the information about homosexuality”. Following pressure from Europe, especially from the European Commission and European Parliament, the Lithuanian Parliament finally adopted a revised version which no longer explicitly target gays and lesbians but “any concept of the family other than that set down in the constitution”. Originally published at http://www.ukgaynews.org.uk/Archive/10/Feb/1201.htm
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