ERRC: Hate in the Russian Media

29 May 2002

ERRC Letter of Concern over Anti-Romani Media Reporting in Russia

On May 28, 2002, the ERRC sent a letter to inister of Press, Radio Broadcast and Mass Media Mr Michail Lesin, to express concern at a recent outbreak of anti-Romani reporting in the Russian media. Recent reporting in a number of Russian media organs draws a strong correlation between Roma and crime, and in some instances seems to encourage violence against Roma by state authorities, and discriminatory measures by landlords. In its May 28 letter, the ERRC urged Minister Lesin to act as a moral authority by publicly calling upon journalists in Russia to refrain from anti-Romani speech in their published work. Information on the human rights situation of Roma in Russia is available on the Internet at: www.errc.org. The text of the ERRC letter to Minister Lesin, including details of a number of inciteful media reports, follows:

Honourable Minister Lesin,

The European Roma Rights Center (ERRC), an international public interest law organisation which monitors the situation of Roma and provides legal defence in cases of human rights abuse, is concerned about the rise of anti-Romani (anti-Gypsy) hate speech in the Russian media and a recent campaign of identifying Roma in Russia with drug trafficking and crime.

The ERRC has received information that over the past few months, announcements have been made on national and local television, radio and in the press in Russia to the effect that authorities are increasing the fight against drug trafficking. In these reports, Roma have repeatedly been named as the main perpetrators of this criminal activity, and frequently drug dealer and Gypsy appear to be used synonymously. For instance, in a report about the fight against drug trafficking in the Krasnojar Province of Russia, broadcast during the evening news on the state channel RTR on February 25, 2002, it was reportedly explicitly stated, without presenting any corroborative evidence, that the Roma of the city of Krasnojarsk (apparently all Roma of Krasnojarsk) are to blame for these crimes. As an illustration of the statement, the family of an alleged Romani drug dealer was shown a person who had apparently not yet been sentenced for any crime and whose innocence should therefore have been presumed, in accordance with international norms, notably Article 14(2) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The broadcast showed not only the alleged drug dealer, but also his children and grandchildren. An approximately three-year-old Romani girl was shown, the link between drug trafficking and very small children remaining entirely unelucidated.

Similarly, according to information received by the ERRC, on February 25, 2002, a documentary film was shown on the state television channel RTR presenting the issue of Gypsy drug dealers in Jekaterinburg and the following method of fighting this problem which was allegedly employed: We spread a rumour that drug dealers would be beaten and their houses burnt and 10 Gypsy families immediately left the city.

On February 26, 2002, on the evening news of a private local St. Petersburg TV channel, a similar statement was made in a programme dealing with the issue of drug trafficking, blaming Gypsies for crimes committed in connection with drug trafficking.

On February 27, 2002, a national newspaper Moskovskij Komsomolets published a humiliating and intimidating headline on its front page Moscow Gypsies will be crushed ( ) and an article sarcastically entitled Gypsies will soon face close relations with police ( ). The article reports the beginning of a series of actions undertaken by law enforcement bodies called Tabor which, among other things, envisions suppressing the illegal activities of representatives of most nomadic people, and that beggars, fortune-tellers, tramps, swindlers who cheat citizens under the pretext of changing money, and simply excessively tiresome persons of Gypsy ethnicity will be expelled with disgrace (emphasis added) from railway stations, markets, metro stations, and uninhabited buildings. In addition, according to the article, persons who rent flats to Gypsies will be subjected to checks. The article also used sarcastic expressions such as tourists in reference to Roma.

On March 1, 2002, the state television channel ORT (OPT) in a news programme broadcast a short film about the fight against the drug mafia in Tyumen Province, Central Russia. It was stated in the film that in the course of the action, approximately 1000 drug dealers were arrested, while the camera showed an elderly Romani woman and a 7-year-old Romani boy.

On March 11, 2002, on TV channel , the presenter of a programme called Events () stated that in order to justify their criminal inclination, Gypsies had invented a legend about the nail that they stole when Jesus Christ was being crucified. Also, a further TV report by the correspondent Ms. Marina Zinovjeva about the results of the police action code-named Tabor, mentioned above, claimed that Moscow has become awash with criminal Gypsies. Afterwards, police officer Mr. Alexandr Zavorotov spoke about a large quantity of drugs and one pistol that had been confiscated from Gypsies, while in the background apparently minor Romani girls were shown whose fingerprints were being taken by the police.

On March 13, 2002, Argumenty i Fakty published an article entitled I Am a Heroin-Mother. The article tells the reader about a non-governmental organisation called City Without Drugs set up in Jekaterinburg, the head of which says that as the state is incapable of effectively fighting drug criminality, they took this task upon themselves. Throughout the text, Gypsies and drug dealers are repeatedly used as synonyms. The article also states: In only two-three years, the Gypsy settlement has become richer with red brick castles, while hospital wards have filled up with half-dead bodies in drug coma, connecting two facts of which no causal link is clear.

Honourable Minister Lesin, the ERRC is concerned that articles appearing in the Russian press incite racial hatred and contribute to a climate of hostility against Roma. Racism is an issue of such serious international concern that it has merited its own international convention, the UN International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, to which Russia is party. The ERRC is concerned that Russia cannot possibly live up to its commitments under international human rights law so long as a climate of regular and extreme racist speech prevails in the media. We urge your office to take a firm public stand against hate speech in the media, calling upon all journalists in Russia to refrain from inciteful anti-Romani speech in their published work. We would welcome further discussion of this issue with your office.


Sincerely,
Dimitrina Petrova
Executive Director


Persons wishing to express similar concerns are urged to contact:

Minister of Press, Radio Broadcast and Mass Media Mr Michail Lesin
Address: 101409 scow, Strastnoj boulevard 5, Russia
Fax: 7 095 200-2281

Mayor of scow, Mr. Jurij Luzhkov
Address: 103032 Moscow, Str. Tverskaja 13, Russia
Fax: 7 095 234-3297

Mr Pavel Gousev, Editor-in chief, Moskovskij Komsomolets
Address: 123995, -5, scow, -22, Str. 1905 7, Russia
Fax: 7 095 256-9203

Mr Vladislav Starkov, Editor-in-Chief, Argumenty i Fakty
Address: 101000, scow, Str. jasnitskaja 42, Russia
Fax: 7 095 925-6182

Mr Sergej Gorjachev, Director, television, Management of Informational Programmes
Address: scow, Str. Korolyova 19, Russia
Fax: 7 095 217-5172

Mr Tishknin Vitalij, television, Editor-in-Chief of Informational Programmes
Address: scow, Str. Bolshaja Tatarskaja 33, str.1, Russia
Fax: 7 095 215-8038

Mr ikhail hzhokin, Editor-in-Chief, Izvestija
Address: 127994, -4, scow, -8, Str. Tverskaja 18, corp.1, Russia
Fax: 7 095 209-5394
 

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