Russian, Belarusian Gay Activists Launch Brussels Campaign for Freedom of Assembly

BRUSSELS, February 12, 2008 (GayRussia.ru)  –  Gay activists from Russia and Belarus were pleased following a day of meetings in Brussels yesterday with European Union officials and a small group of European MPs.

“We came to Brussels to show our determination to make our countries respect human rights for all,” said Moscow Pride organiser Nikolai Alekseev, adding that they were listened to.

The delegation – Sergey Androsenko from Belarus, and Nikolai Baev, Yuri Gavrikov and Mr. Alekseev from Russia – got their brief day in Brussels underway with several meeting with European Parliamentarians, including Marco Cappato, Lissy Gröner, Sophie In’t Veld and Jeannine Hennis-Plasschaert.

All the MEPs re-affirmed their support to rights of assembly of LGBT people in Russia and Belarus as fundamental human rights.

Two of the MEPs had first-hand knowledge of Moscow Gay Pride.  Ms In’t Veld took part to the banned Moscow Pride event in 2006 and returned in 2007 along with Mr Cappato.

Ms Hennis-Plasschaert was especially interested to hear of the situation for the gay community in Belarus.  The MEP explained to the activists that she was herself arrested in Belarus two years ago while giving training to opposition party members.

As a result of her arrest, she told the delegation, she has a stamp in her passport to say she is a threat to the national security of Belarus.

The MEPs were told of the recent successful campaign in Russia to end the ban on blood donation by gays, and how a new campaign had been mounted to end travel restriction for HIV positive people.

“The repeal of the ban on blood donation is the only legal achievement in Russia since the decriminalization of male homosexuality in 1993,” Mr. Baev pointed out.

The MEPs said that they would raise more support from their Parliamentary colleagues and would send a collective letter from the European Parliament to the Committee of Minister of the Council of Europe, which has the power to oblige Russia to respect Freedom of Assembly of LGBT people.

The activists stressed that the Russian authorities were leading a ‘double standards policy’ towards gay rights.

“In Strasbourg, Russian diplomats say that Russia recognizes the freedom of assembly to all, but inside the country the officials says that public actions of sexual minorities should be banned,” Mr. Alekseev pointed out to the MEPs.

More than 167 LGBT public ‘actions’ have been officially banned since 2006 by the Russian authorities – and the bans do not only concern parades in the street.

Last October, the MEPs heard, a lesbian and gay film festival in St Petersburg was cancelled at the last moment when firemen closed the venue for ‘security reasons’.

At the European Commission, the gay activists met with representatives of the Human Rights Unit to specifically address the question of LGBT Rights in Russia and Belarus.

Mr. Androsenko gave an overview of the situation that the gay community faces in Belarus.

He asked the European Commission to raise the issue of LGBT rights not only with the Belarusian government, but also with the Opposition groups.

“We are often outraged by the position of the opposition which prevent us taking part in their events,” said Mr. Androsenko during the meeting.

The representative of the commission told the delegation that the Moscow Gay Pride bans and more generally rights of freedom of assembly for LGBT community was raised frequently in the EU Human Rights discussions with Russia.

“This is a very good opportunity for us to hear what the situation is like” said a representative of the Human Rights unit during the meeting.

Mr. Baev commented after the meeing at the Commission:  “We were glad to see that the representatives of the Commission were already well aware of the specific situation of LGBT rights in Russia and Belarus.

As part of their on-going campaign, the activists plan to schedule quarterly meetings with the European institutions.

“We will keep putting pressure on the EU to force Russia to respect its responsibilities to human rights for the gay community,” Mr. Alekseev said.