Comment of the MFA on minority rights violations in the Russian Federation

Not only xenophobia, anti-Semitism and racism in Russia, but poor protection of minority rights, which rank below the average of European standards in this area concern Ukraine.

This concern of the Ukrainian side the leading expert bodies of the Council of Europe share, which regularly monitors various aspects of human rights in member states of the Council of Europe.

Thus, in 2013 the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe considered and adopted the report of the Advisory Committee of the Framework Convention on the Protection of National Minorities in Russia by the result of the third monitoring cycle and adopted a resolution CM/ResCMN(2013)1 of 30 April 2013 on the application of the provisions of this conventions in Russia.

According to this document, the experts expressed serious concern about the lack of an integrated legislation to combat discrimination in the RF. Stressing that the existing powers and limited resources of the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Russian Federation does not allow him to properly protect the rights of national minorities, they pointed to the need for creation of an independent specialized agency that would run only issues of discrimination and perform extensive monitoring in this area.

And according to European experts, this agency would have what to do, because:

 minorities still face widespread discrimination in areas such as: employment and access to housing. Intolerance and hostility against "foreigners" are shown with greater openness. In some regions continues forcible eviction of Roma without providing adequate alternative housing. Gains and conditions of the majority of the indigenous population, which is engaged in traditional activities, do not meet the basic legal requirements;

 in some regions of the system of registration of residence remains problematic and discriminatory because of administrative barriers, and sometimes due to corruption and discriminatory attitudes of law enforcement officers. Due to obstacles faced by migrant workers in the processing of registration and work permits, they are particularly vulnerable categories;

 immigrants from the Caucasus and Central Asia, and Roma are subjected to selective and unnecessarily frequent checks on the part of the police, so they are vulnerable to corruption and other irregularities, including disproportionate use of force;

 there is a lack of support for any other activity of minorities than cultural, but the procedure and criteria for the allocation of financial assistance for this purpose lack of transparency;

 number of crimes motivated by racial hatred and hostility, particularly against immigrants from Central Asia, Africa, Asia and the Caucasus, as well as against Roma alarming. Manifestations of Islamophobia and anti-Semitism, ethnic clashes, which sometimes run high politicians and the media are often. Xenophobic and racist rhetoric, especially during election campaigns increasingly present in speeches of politicians. The media widely spread superstition, and sometimes use hate speech towards some minorities;

 human rights activists and non-governmental organizations that deal with human rights and minority rights, are facing serious problems in the implementation of their right to freedom of association, expressing their opinions. When it comes to protecting the rights of minorities, they are prosecuted according to the law "On combating extremist activity";

 despite the presence at the federal level legislative guarantees of equality of languages of the Russian Federation, the climate is not conducive to their use in daily life, including at official level and topographical signs. The use of minority languages in cities is declining rapidly, even among persons belonging to minorities within their local communities. Number of programs on television and radio broadcast in minority languages are also reduced;

 existing provisions of the federal legislation on education in minority languages often not implemented at the local level and, therefore, the specific guarantees of access to education in minority languages and the study of minority languages are not available. Moreover, a constant process of "optimization" of schools has led to the closure of various schools with minority languages and the teaching of minority languages.

As of today, Russia has not ratified the Council of Europe's key tool that protects linguistic rights of minorities, namely the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages of 5 November 1992.

Blaming in the rights violations in Ukraine of Russian-speaking population, which not only ratified the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in 2003, but has passed two rounds of monitoring procedures provided for in this treaty and legal instrument, Russia once again demonstrates the double standards with regard to our country.