Proposed legislation: a sign of a serious problem
The legislation described in the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty report excerpted below is less important than the issue of how serious a problem hate crimes are in Russia.Critics Fear Draft Bill Will Cover Up Hate Crimes
"A bill under consideration in Russia's parliament would forbid the media from revealing the race or ethnicity of both suspected criminals and crime victims.
"The bill's supporters say such legislation is necessary to fight racism, but journalists and human rights activists say it will have the opposite effect.
"Each year in Russia, hundreds of ethnic minorities are attacked and scores are killed in what human rights activists describe as hate crimes.
"Proposed amendments to the media law would also forbid the publication or broadcast of the religion of crime suspects and victims.
"Journalists and human rights activists say the changes -- if enacted -- will actually do little to reduce racially motivated attacks -- and could actually make the situation worse.
"Oleg Panfilov, director of the Russian Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations, says, 'If this law really comes into force, then people will not know about the victims of skinheads, nationalists, and fascists.'
"Police and prosecutors in Russia have long been reluctant to recognize racially motivated hate crimes as such. When such crimes are prosecuted at all, they tend to be treated as simple cases of 'hooliganism.'
"Analysts say legislation effectively banning the media from reporting on racial attacks would just push the problem deeper and deeper into the shadows.
"Galina Kozhevnikova, the deputy director of the Sova Center, a Moscow-based organization that tracks hate crimes, says her group has already witnessed a tendency to hide this kind of crime.
"'Even without any laws, newspapers are reporting less and less about these types of crimes when in reality they are happening more and more. This partially comes from the law enforcement bodies who are trying to hide the magnitude of the problem,' Kozhevnikova says..."
A Timeline Of Racial Incidents (2004-2006)
posted by Ken Wedding @ 6:40 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home