RUSSIA: INCREASING CRACKDOWN ON RELIGIONS

[Guest Kurt]

Rising government restrictions have fostered an atmosphere of intolerance and discrimination against religious minorities and their individual members throughout Russia. International and

legal standards mandate that religious minorities be treated fairly and without discrimination. But Russia’s misuse of the Extremism Law contravenes these standards. Its official actions cannot

be countenanced under UN and OSCE standards, including the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination based on Religion or Belief, Article 18 of the

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Helsinki Accords. The international community should increase its pressure on the Russian government to reverse course and

begin to respect the fundamental rights of individuals and communities. Perhaps a good place to start is to ask the Russian government to narrow its definition of “extremism” to violence or

incitement to violence articulated in the Shanghai Convention on Combating Terrorism, Separatism and Extremism, which Russia has signed and ratified: 20 "Extremism" is an act aimed at

seizing or keeping power through the use of violence or changing violently the constitutional regime of a State, as well as a violent encroachment upon public security, including organization,

for the above purposes, of illegal armed formations and participation in them, criminally prosecuted in conformity with the national laws of the Parties.

 

RUSSIA: INCREASING CRACKDOWN ON RELIGIONS