Volume 2, Number 29
Friday, July 26, 2002

BIGOTRY MONITOR
A Weekly Human Rights Newsletter on Antisemitism, Xenophobia, andReligious Persecution in the Former Communist World and Western Europe

EDITOR: CHARLES FENYVESI
(News and Editorial Policy within the sole discretion of the editor)

Published by UCSJ: Union of Councils for Jews in the Former Soviet Union
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POPE ‘ALARMED’ BY GRAVE DESECRATIONS AND OTHER ANTISEMITIC ACTS. In a telegram sent to Rome’s Chief Rabbi Riccardo Di Segni the day after the discovery of desecrated Jewish graves in a Rome cemetery, Pope John Paul II said that he was “profoundly saddened by this detestable act that follows other similar events of a serious nature that have taken place with alarming frequency in Europe and on other continents.'' On July 18, visitors to the Jewish section of Verano cemetery found 34 tombstones with Hebrew inscriptions pulled down or broken up. The pope, who has made better relations between Catholics and Jews a priority, offered his spiritual closeness to the families of those whose graves were vandalized. He said he condemned such “ignoble acts and the anti-Jewish sentiments that inspire them.''

No one has claimed responsibility for the destruction. According to Italian state radio, police are investigating neo-Nazis and Islamic fanatics. Another reported focus of suspicion centers on feuding “mafias'' of workers taking care of graves. In the past, tomb vandalism has been linked to grave tenders who have on occasion used intimidation to secure work. However, in this case, the larger, adjacent Christian part of the cemetery was untouched, and the desecration occurred on the day Jews commemorate the destruction of the ancient temples in Jerusalem.

JEWISH GRAVES DESECRATED ACROSS BELARUS. On July 23, the president of the union of Jewish public organizations and communities in Belarus, Leonid Levin, demanded an official response from the authorities to the desecration of Jewish graves in Belarus, Interfax-West reported. Levin said: "We are outraged that the situation has grown to a huge scale… Somebody is interested in aggravating antisemitism, and somebody is interested in covering up the facts.”

The union sent a statement to the presidential administration, the Prosecutor's Office, and the Religions and Nationalities Committee. It said that on the night of July 12 in Minsk, 26 Jewish graves were desecrated in the Moskovkoye Cemetery and 27 in the Severnoye Cemetery. "This act of vandalism, triggered by the growing antisemitism in Belarus, is outrageous,” the statement continued, and referred to similar actions in other cities. "Borisov is nearly the most troublesome city in Belarus from the point of view of anti-Jewish actions. Young neo-Nazis attacked a Jewish Sunday school, and several months ago, a Jewish charity center was set on fire there," the statement said. "The union of Jewish communities has repeatedly asked competent agencies to take appropriate steps and prevent vandalism and defacement of Jewish monuments. Unfortunately, our requests sometimes go without a response and the damaged monuments have not been restored."

On July 24, President Alexander Lukashenko responded with a peculiar declaration that ruled out a government role in the incidents and put anti-Jewish policy on the same level as policy directed against Russia, with which he has sought a reunion for several years. In a statement to reporters carried by Interfax, he said: "Our policy should in no way be aimed at fanning ethnic feuds. Belarus will never adopt an anti-Jewish or an anti-Russian policy.” Lukashenko said the acts of vandalism targeting Jewish gravestones were "regular hooliganism." He added: "The people of Belarus have no claims against anyone."

FRENCH PREMIER PLEDGES TO FIGHT ANTISEMITISM. On July 21, the 60th anniversary of France's roundup of Jews sent to Nazi death camps, French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin pledged that anyone involved in antisemitic acts will be caught and punished, according to the Associated Press. “To harm the Jewish community is to harm France and to harm the values of our republic which can leave no room for antisemitism, racism, xenophobia,'' he told a gathering of 1,000 people at the Square of Jewish Martyrs. The square marks the site where a bicycle stadium was used on July 16 and 17, 1942 as a transit camp to hold 8,160 Jews - more than half of them children - before they were sent to Auschwitz. The collaborationist Vichy government was responsible for the roundup. Reuters emphasized another part of Raffarin’s speech: "France will use political, administrative, diplomatic and, if necessary, military means to fight terror, hate and intolerance, in our own country, in Europe and in the world."

Discussing the current wave of antisemitic violence that seemed to have peaked in April, Raffarin said that his government ``will take all necessary measures so that these aggressions which insult our country cease.'' He said that those responsible will be hunted down “relentlessly.'' Perhaps referring to the recent national elections which dealt a serious blow to the far right, Raffarin said: "Our compatriots, and particularly the young, rejected all that smacks of, or that could lead to intolerance, racism or antisemitism."

Echoing the historic 1995 declaration by President Jacques Chirac, Raffarin said France must take responsibility for its past. In 1995, Chirac said that France bears responsibility for the deportation of Jews in wartime France, breaking with the official position that France's Vichy regime, which collaborated with the Nazis, was not synonymous with France. “Antechambers of death'' like the bicycle stadium “were organized, administered, guarded by the French,'' Raffarin said. “The first act of the Holocaust was played out here with the complicity of the French state.''

EU OFFICIAL CONDEMNS ANTISEMITISM. On July 22, the Council of Europe’s commissioner for human rights, Alvaro Gil-Robles, expressed concern over the increasing number of antisemitic incidents in Russia, Interfax reported. Such occurrences must be condemned whether they take place in Russia, Spain, Germany or France, he said in the course of a conference in Moscow on Rights, Politics, Economy, and the Media. "Society cannot remain passive or indifferent to demonstrations of this sort,” Gil-Robles said, mentioning specifically signs on the roadside and publications. Authorities should react appropriately, because this matter is “serious,” he said.

TEEN CONFESSES HE PUT UP ANTISEMITIC SIGN. A 14-year-old boy is responsible for the antisemitic sign, with a fake bomb attached, found earlier this month on a rural road in Siberia's Kemerovo region, the regional interior affairs department of the Yaya district told the Russian news agency Interfax. On July 17, law enforcement officials detained the boy, who lives in the village of Sudzhenka, near where the sign was found. He confessed that he had put up the sign to take vengeance on a Jewish acquaintance in the village. He said he got the idea while watching news reports on signs planted elsewhere in the country. A criminal case has been opened, based on Article 282 of the Russian Criminal Code that bans the incitement of ethnic, racial, and religious hatred. The police added that the boy has to come of age before he may be charged.

U.S. AMBASSADOR RENEWS CRITICISM OF RUSSIA’S HUMAN RIGHTS RECORD. On July 22, U.S. Ambassador to Russian Alexander Vershbow sharply criticized Russia’s actions in Chechnya and threats to Russia’s post-Soviet freedoms. Commentators noted that such criticism had softened in recent months of improving U.S.-Russian ties prompted by President Vladimir Putin's support for the U.S.-led war on terrorism. According to the Associated Press, Vershbow asked: “Will Russia have he courage to seek a political solution to the bloody war in Chechnya, which continues despite the government's claims that the situation is returning to normal? Will the Russian leadership hold to account those members of the security forces who, in the name of fighting terrorism, are committing serious violations of the human rights of the civilian population?''

HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP CHARGES RUSSIA WITH MASS MURDER IN CHECHNYA. The International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights accused the Russian military of conducting a deliberate campaign of murder, killing between 50 and 80 Chechen civilians a month, singling out young Chechen men in what appears to be a process of reducing the male population. The killings are claiming more lives than Russian bombing in previous military campaigns against separatist rebels, the group said, adding that many more may perish as the Russian military is now forcing Chechen families who fled to neighboring Ingushetia to go back to their homeland. Aaron Rhodes of the Helsinki Federation's Rhodes urged the Russian government to shelve its plan to force the repatriation of 50,000 Chechen refugees. Rhodes said the government's push to return Chechen refugees to Grozny will send families back to streets where crossfire is frequent, water and electricity are lacking, and medical care is rare. The Russians set up temporary housing in Grozny for returning refugees, but those centers can house just a small portion of the numbers expected to return, he added. "We spoke with a good number of people in those [Ingushetia] camps," Rhodes said according to news agency reports, "and we did not speak to one person who said he was willing to return to Chechnya under the present conditions."

On July 22, the Russian military announced that from August 7, 1999 to July 22, 2002, Russia lost 4,249 military personnel and 12,285 were wounded. On July 24, Valery Yakov wrote in “Novye Izvestiya” that in Russia’s other major war since World War II, in Afghanistan, Russia lost 13,000 in almost 11 years. ”If we compare these figures,” he argued, “it turns out that in Chechnya the losses of the Russian army are greater than the losses of the Soviet Army in Afghanistan were -- 1,500 annually against 1,000 people a year. Thus, the sad record of senseless Afghan war has been beaten by the even more senseless Chechen war.” Questioning the accuracy of official statistics, Yakov estimated that the true figure of the Russian dead, adding those who died after being wounded, is about 6,500.

The official announcement stated that 13,517 rebels were killed, a number that critics dismiss as an attempt to appear in control of a conflict they see as far from over. "The 13,500 figure is a propaganda move," said Lyubov Kuznetsova, spokeswoman for the Committee of Soldiers' Mothers of Russia, an advocacy group for Russian soldiers and their families. "This figure is meant to raise the spirit of the Russian military and the public."

Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said last week that Russia would soon begin pulling out "superfluous troops" from its 80,000-strong force in Chechnya and that responsibility for the region would shift to the Interior Ministry special forces. Hosting French President Jacques Chirac, a frequent critic of Russia’s war in Chechnya, President Vladimir Putin said something a little different in the resort town of Sochi last weekend. The Russian military would gradually stop its “security sweeps,” he promised, and turn over law enforcement responsibility to Chechens, “so that the Chechen people can defend themselves.'' Critics point out that for much of the war, the Kremlin has been pledging to pull troops out of Chechnya.

RUSSIAN DRIVE TO REGISTER ROMA. On July 16 in Moscow, Leningrad, and Samara Oblasts, police launched “Operation Tabor,” registering and fingerprinting nomadic Roma, also known as Gypsies, according to the web site Regions.ru. The individuals approached must show identity documents, and violators may be expelled from the region. The operation is part of a larger Roma registration effort throughout the country. Law enforcement charge that recently Roma have become very active in the narcotics trade.

Roma activists say such operations, which focus on nationality, are taking Russia back to the Middle Ages or Nazi Germany. They have sent letters to Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov and Russian President Putin protesting the actions.

The likely outcome of the operation will be that hundreds, if not thousands, of Roma will be forced out of the capital city and various regions on a common charge: lack of registration, according to “Izvestiya” of July 17. The daily noted that nomadic Gypsies keep changing places of their residence, “but there are practically no places left in Russia now where Gypsies could set up their tents.”

In Samara Oblast, all the police subunits and services are engaged in a similar operation. The bulk of the work, the paper’s correspondent Pavel Rodionov reports, has been entrusted to theadministration for combating illegal drug trade, the criminal investigation department, the service of district police officers, and the juvenile delinquency unit. A decision to conduct the operation,scheduled to go on until July 24, was reached because the number of crimes committed by the individuals of Gypsy nationality has dramatically increased recently in the oblast.

According to another “Izvestiya” correspondent, Roma in Krasnodar Kray were the first to suffer the consequences of the migration regulation policy proclaimed by the local authorities. At an assembly of the Kuban Cossack army in the fall of 2001, almost simultaneously with xenophobic statements made by Krasnodar Kray Governor Aleksandr Tkachyov against migrants, the Krasnodar city authorities authorized the police to move 150 Gypsies out of a suburb of the kray capital. The city authorities raised resources and funds to dismantle clapboard houses of the Gypsies. The latter were transported together with their belongings by 20 specially assigned trucks and buses escorted by police to their "former place of residence," Voronezh Oblast. The Krasnodar authorities justified their actions by stating that the Roma "occupied land without permission."

Unofficially, “Izvestiya” wrote, local people link the Roma to drug dealing, and law-enforcement agencies cite statistics showing that the Roma have heavily monopolized the criminal drug market.

* * * QUOTE OF THE WEEK * * * In a report from Kazakhstan in “The Washington Post” on July 22, Robert Kaiser quoted Murat Auezov, a writer who served as President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s first ambassador in China and is now a critic of his repressive regime: "Tragedies are occurring every second in this country." Then Kaiser quoted Auezov as saying that Kazakhstan’s leaders are “temporaries,” who "never thought about the past, are afraid to think about the future, and use the present to grab all they can."

UKRAINE HAS TAKEN SOME STEPS AGAINST RACISM – BUT NOT ENOUGH
European Commission’s Report Sees Plenty of Room for Improvement

“Ukraine has taken some positive steps over recent years which are relevant to combating racism and intolerance,” begins the second comprehensive report on Ukraine by the Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), a body of the Council of Europe. Later, the just released report states: “Problems of racism, direct and indirect discrimination, intolerance or disadvantage persist, however.”

ECRI’s country-by-country reports, issued every few years, are first submitted to the governments concerned. A “confidential dialog” between government officials and ECRI rapporteurs follows, and the carefully phrased paragraphs that are eventually published are exceedingly cautious. ECRI’s declared aim is “to combat racism, xenophobia, antisemitism, and intolerance at a pan-European level and from the angle of the protection of human rights.” ECRI does its work without capturing headlines, focusing instead on courteous but persistent pressure on the governments to follow up on ECRI recommendations and comply with international conventions they had signed as well as with international standards they are expected to live up to.

The steps ECRI characterizes as “positive” include those “aimed at improving the situation of persons formerly deported by the Soviet regime returning to Ukraine, notably in the field of acquisition of Ukrainian citizenship, the adoption of a new law on refugees, as well as the recent establishment of a State Committee for Nationalities and Migration, which takes part in the development and implementation of state policy in the field of relations between different ethnic groups in Ukraine.” Deemed by ECRI as “noteworthy” is “the adoption of a new Criminal Code with additional provisions in the field of combating racism and the increasing activity of the Office of the Human Rights Ombudsman.” These provisions “concern particularly members of different groups such as formerly deported persons, Roma/Gypsies, immigrants with or without legal status, asylum-seekers, and refugees. Members of such groups experience difficulties in various areas of life, including relations with the police.”

The report states that ECRI “understands” that Ukrainian authorities are currently considering amending the law. ECRI “is pleased to learn” that amendments would include “the extension of the guarantee of equal rights to all persons -- and not just to Ukrainian citizens -- who are members of national minorities.” ECRI notes that it has been informed by the Ukrainian authorities that discussions also cover the extension of the scope of Article 18, which currently prohibits direct and indirect discrimination on the basis of nationality and that in the future Article 18 “could be extended to cover discrimination on the basis of race as well as actions intended to incite to inter-ethnic, racial or religious strife.”

Then comes ECRI’s gentle but case-specific prodding: “ECRI encourages all efforts by the Ukrainian authorities to ensure that domestic legislation offer adequate protection against racial discrimination and incitement to racial hatred, although it notes that similar provisions already exist in other legislation in force. ECRI also notes that the debate on the reform of the Law on National Minorities also concerns the participation of members of national minorities in public life. ECRI notes that, currently, Article 9 of the Law stipulates that members of national minorities enjoy the right, correspondingly, to be elected or to be appointed to, inter alia, any post of organs of legislative, executive and judicial power, local and regional self-government. ECRI encourages the Ukrainian authorities to ensure that any amendments to the legislation in this area do not limit or diminish the participation of members of national minorities in public life and to work, instead, to ensure that such participation is effective.”

The report says that antisemitic articles have appeared “in non-mainstream press and tracts have continued to be published and distributed by extremist groups. Although in some cases the authorities have taken action to counter or prevent such occurrences -- for instance the Procuracy has warned certain publishers against publishing antisemitic material -- in other cases the criminal law provisions against hate speech have not been applied.” On these issues, the report notes, “ECRI encourages the Ukrainian authorities to ensure that such provisions are applied to all instances of hate speech, including instances of an antisemitic nature.”

Next come sentences in which a careful reader may detect the insertion of mitigating clauses requested by Ukrainian officials: “Other antisemitic incidents continue to occur, although they are reported to have decreased and to have been concentrated particularly in the Western regions of the country. The number of publications denouncing antisemitism is reported to have increased and politicians and opinion leaders have increasingly taken stands against antisemitism.” The conclusion seems to be ECRI’s own: “In spite of these improvements, ECRI encourages the Ukrainian authorities to continue to keep the situation as concerns antisemitism closely under review.”

ECRI points to two “Issues of Particular Concern” – a category ECRI reserves for its calls for urgent government attention to a limited number of human rights problems -- discrimination directed against Crimean Tatars and the Roma (also known as Gypsies).

The Crimean Tatar minority consists of people who returned from other former Soviet republics where Stalin deported them in 1944 -- as well as their descendants. ECRI acknowledges that Ukraine has taken steps to facilitate their return but finds that “much remains to be done to ensure that the formerly deported population enjoys in practice the same rights as the rest of the population of Crimea and Ukraine.” For instance, the report says that in the parliament of Crimea, an autonomous republic of 2,100,000 persons where Tatars constitute 12 percent of the population, there are “practically no Crimean Tatars.”

While Ukrainian Roma number 48,000 persons according to official figures, ECRI cites estimates suggesting that there may be more than five times that many. The report describes them as facing “severe socio-economic disadvantage,” aggravated by “manifestations of prejudice, discrimination, and violence on the part of the majority population and sometimes on the part of the authorities, particularly law enforcement officials.” ECRI calls for immediate attention “to ensure that the members of these communities enjoy in practice the same rights as the rest of the population.” Specifically, ECRI urges that its policy recommendations combating racism against Roma be distributed among local administrations and that the government “promote their implementation” both at central and regional levels.

On July 24, Valentina Dovzhenko, head of the Ukrainian state committee for family and youth affairs, told the Interfax news agency that ECRI’s allegations of discrimination against former deportees, Roma, emigrants, and refugees are "not true." In a statement recalling the cadences of an earlier era, Dovzhenko announced that if "somebody feels discriminated against, he or she should contact the appropriate agencies." She gave assurances that all cases of discriminationagainst children, refugees, and other categories of people will be analyzed.
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