New Report to Helsinki Commission…
Posted November 5, 2007
For Immediate Release November 5, 2007; Contact: Nickolai Butkevich (202) 641-7420
Micah Naftalin (202) 237-8262 x101
PRESS RELEASE
UCSJ TO ISSUE “WAKE-UP CALL” ON HATE CRIMES BEFORE CONGRESSIONAL HELSINKI
COMMISSION Briefing to Focus on antisemitism, xenophobia, religious and
ethnic discrimination and Rule of Law/Foreign Policy Issues in Former Soviet
Union
Washington, DC–At a time when racist violence is growing to alarming levels
in Russia and Ukraine, two officials from UCSJ: Union of Councils for Jews
in the Former Soviet Union will brief the Congress’s Commission on Security
and Cooperation in Europe this Tuesday. The November 6 hearing will take
place at 10:00 a.m. in room 1539 of the Longworth House Office Building. A
copy of the Briefing Paper is available at
http://www.fsumonitor.com/stories/UCSJHateCrimesBriefingPaper.pdf.
Micah H. Naftalin, UCSJ’s National Director (CEO), and Nickolai Butkevich,
UCSJ’s Research and Advocacy Director, will join Dr. Dou Dou Diene–the UN’s
Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination,
xenophobia and related intolerance–and Dr. Tiffany Lightbourn of the
Department of Homeland Security, who will focus on Western Europe, at the
hearing.
UCSJ’s testimony and detailed Briefing Paper will focus on the rapid growth
in hate crimes in Russia, where the government is increasingly catering to
nationalist voters as part of a dangerous political elections strategy. Two
days before the hearing, Russian neo-fascists will march in Moscow in an
officially sanctioned rally, despite the fact that Russian law outlaws the
incitement of ethnic hatred, whereas Moscow police have violently dispersed
non-violent rallies by opposition and gay rights activists.
In Ukraine, neo-Nazi groups have become increasingly active over the past
four years, primarily targeting Jews. In the last four days of September
2007 there were four recorded attacks on Jews in Ukrainian cities–only one
of which has been solved by local police. The level of impunity that hate
groups enjoy in these countries, the speakers will argue, provides a useful
bellwether for judging rule of law issues such as corruption and dysfunction
of a country’s criminal justice system.
UCSJ testimony will also focus on the recent inauguration, in cooperation
with the Moscow Helsinki Group, of the Coalition Against Hate
(www.CoaltionAgainstHate.org)–an alliance of 30 human rights and religious
freedom NGOs across the Russian Federation, Ukraine and Belarus, which
through the medium of a bi-lingual blog, will promote coordination of
counter-action against the activities of neo-Nazi groups and disseminate
information about hate crimes and how the authorities respond to them,
becoming the central address for understanding this crucial human rights
concern and foreign policy.
Download a copy of the Briefing Paper at:
http://www.fsumonitor.com/stories/UCSJHateCrimesBriefingPaper.pdf
—##—
NB. UCSJ will soon assemble a “leadership committee” of human rights and
religious freedom opinion leaders to help mobilize broad public opinion and
advocacy in support of the international Coalition Against Hate - an
important complement to Western foreign policy. Expressions of your
comments on the Briefing Paper and your interest in leadership involvement
should be addressed to Micah Naftalin - mnaftalin@ucsj.com.
Permalink| Email this post | Print | | BlogPulse
RSS Feed
BlogCrafter