Russian Federation: Local Authorities Propose Police Surveillance of Homosexuals
The International Gay and Lesbian Human
Rights Commission (IGLHRC)
Emergency Response Network, June 13, 1998
Action Alert
The Health Care Department in the Russian region of Astrakhan has submitted to the
regional Parliament a proposal for monitoring so-called "risk groups," as part
of an AIDS-HIV prevention project. The proposal would give local authorities expanded
powers to invade the privacy and restrict the freedoms of gays, lesbians, and bisexuals.
"Immediate Precautions Against HIV Infection," submitted to the local
parliament by Health Care Department Director V. Yushkov, includes numerous
recommendations for action. Recommendation 6.2. calls on the regional Department of the
Interior--responsible for the police and militia--to "commence cooperation with
medical institutions for investigation and mutual information, as well as keeping records
on persons from high risk groups (i.e., drug addicts, homosexuals, prostitutes, and
others)." In addition, recommendation 6.4 calls on the Department of the Interior to
"oblige directions in penal colonies, prisons, and pre-trial detention units to
undertake prophylaxis and strict control ... over homosexual relations in penal
institutions."
The first proposal not only identifies homosexuality with criminal behavior (despite
the decriminalization of consensual same-sex relations throughout Russia in 1993) but
mandates medical institutions to violate the confidentiality of sensitive medical
information. Moreover, it would give the police--an institution which throughout the
Russian Federation remains largely unreformed from its totalitarian past--unlimited power
to practice surveillance and impose restrictions and harassment on vulnerable groups. It
invites discrimination based on sexual orientation, which the United Nations Human Rights
Committee has found to violate Article 2 of the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights. It also contravenes the right to privacy, which is protected by Article
17 of that Covenant, as well as by Article 8 of the European Convention for the Protection
of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Under the guise of protecting public health, the
law proposal would actually constitute a serious threat to it; targeting segments of the
population which are already legally vulnerable and socially stigmatized, the regulations
would render those groups still more rationally reluctant to seek treatment or even HIV
testing.
The regulation affecting prisoners would have a similar effect within the confines of
already-restrictive institutions. Vaguely and generally worded, it would give prison
authorities new scope to punish and crack down on prisoners or groups of prisoners whom
they dislike.
Local activists call for letters of protest to the regional authorities, calling on
them to withdraw the proposal. Letters should stress the above points. They can be sent
to:
Mr. A. P. Guzhvin
Head of the Astrakhan Regional Administration
Fax number 7 8512 229514
Mr. V. Yushkov
Head of the Regional Health Care Department
Fax number 7 8512 220607
Copies of the letters can be emailed to gayclub@glasnet.ru
=====================================================
Sydney Levy
Research and Advocacy Director
International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission
1360 Mission St, Ste 200
San Francisco, CA 94103
USA
Phone: +1-415-255-8680
Fax: +1-415-255-8662
Email: sydney@iglhrc.org
Check out our website at http://www.iglhrc.org/
*The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission* is a non-profit
humanitarian organization that monitors, documents, and mobilizes urgent responses to
human rights violations against lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, the transgendered, and
people with HIV and AIDS worldwide.
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