Chechen gay concentration camps
Demonstration against concentration camps in Chechnya
The Rainbow Project, the largest support and lobbying organisation for lesbian, queer , bisexual and/or transgender people and their families in Northern Ireland, has organised a demonstration against the Chechen government’s creation of concentration camps for lgbtq+ men.
Reports from Human Rights Watch and the independent Novoya Gazeta have confirmed that the Chechen government has commenced a programme of hunting down homosexual men, interning them in concentration camps and subjecting them to torture including sexual degradation. It has been reported that three of the victims possess been murdered.
To protest against this extreme violation of human rights and to highlight the failure of the UK government to intervene, The Rainbow Proposal has organised a demonstration to be held at Belfast City Hall on Friday 14th April at 5.30pm.
Speaking ahead of the demonstration, John O’Doherty, Director of The Rainbow Project, said: ‘There has been widespread state-sponsored intimidation, discrimination and violence against LGBT within the Russian Federation for many years but this action by the Russian republic of Chechn
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has published a report on the unlawful rounding up of more than 100 Chechen men suspected of homosexuality. The case gained global media attention and considerable public support. Hundreds of people in Europe, America and Australia protested against “gay concentration camps” and “gay genocide” in Chechnya, while thousands signed the petitions of Russian LGBTQ activists and Amnesty International. Three French LGBTQ organisations filed an official complaint to the International Criminal Court against Chechnya’s leader, Ramzan Kadyrov.
After Chechen spokesmen threatened journalists covering the purge and foreign governments began condemning it, the Russian government opened an official study. Western countries, meanwhle, possess started accepting Chechen refugees.
In this context, the HRW report is of utmost importance. It begins with a detailed account of how, with the Kremlin’s support and permission, Kadyrov has built a tyrannical, autocratic regime that violates dissenters’ human rights in various ways. Abduction-style detentions, enforced disappearances, torture, extrajudicial executions and collective punishment practices are used against all
Chechnya LGBT: Dozens 'detained in new lgbtq+ purge'
Activists in Russia say there has been a new crackdown against LGBT people in Chechnya.
The Russian LGBT Network believes about 40 people contain been imprisoned since December - two of whom they say have died under torture.
The team has been following alleged abuses in the mainly Muslim Russian republic since 2017 when dozens of gay people were reportedly detained.
A government spokesman has dismissed their latest report as "complete lies".
Chechnya, and its authoritarian leader Ramzan Kadyrov, has consistently denied allegations of illegal detentions and human rights abuses.
In an interview with the BBC last year, Mr Kadyrov said the allegations were "an invention by foreign agents" or created by activists looking for money.
Homophobia is widespread in the highly conservative and predominantly Muslim Russian republic.
Mr Kadyrov and other government figures have repeatedly claimed Chechnya has no gay population at all.
Despite official denials, dozens include come forward and alleged they were detained and tortured by authorities because of their sexual orientation.
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Gay men in Russia's Chechnya region own been kidnapped and tortured as part of an organised campaign to "purge" the country of homosexuality, according to human rights groups.
There are now calls for Australia to offer refuge to some of these victims.
Numerous independent media agencies also record that from tardy February to initial April at least 100 men were abducted and lost - and some killed - on suspicion of creature gay.
Some of the men are still missing and are presumed to be in unofficial custody. Victims have fled the country but still fear for their lives.
In Melbourne's Federation Square on Tuesday night, a vigil was held, calling on the Prime Minister to offer refuge in Australia to homosexual men who continue in danger in Chechnya.
As this was happening, Hack spoke with Human Rights Watch's (HRW) Russian program director and Chechnya expert, Tanya Lokshina, in Moscow.
Tanya said she had interviewed six homosexual men who had been abducted and then beaten and tortured before fleeing Chechnya in terror of the declare and family bent on 'honour killings'.
She backed the notion of refuge in Australia, which she said was a "wonderful initiati
Chechnya and the “anti-Gay Purge” – a Year Later
Chechnya is an autonomous republic of Russia, located in the North Caucasus, near the Caspian Sea, in southern Russia. With a reported (though disputed) population of around 1.3 million people, the Chechen Republic is also, arguably, one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a homosexual.
The Crisis
The crisis was first made aware to the public on April 1, 2017 in the newspaper, “Novaya Gazeta.” The paper reported that numerous men between the ages of 16 and 50 had simply disappeared. The paper continues to specify the men were arrested for their practice of, or suspicion of, “non-traditional sexual orientation”.
Future reports such as those from Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch increased the projected number of affected men to more than 100, with at least three having been killed, while other reports place this number even higher. These men had been entrapped using dating apps, social media and contacts, abducted from the road, arrested and detained. Furthermore, the “anti-gay purge,” as it has come to be known, also targeted numerous women, including trans-women.
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