The human rights situation in Russia got worse in 2017, Amnesty International said in its annual report, which was released on February 22.
“Unfortunately, in 2017, we have to say again that the human rights situation in Russia has deteriorated. This deterioration was observed in a number of areas,” Amnesty International researcher for Russia Anastasia Kovalevskaya said while presenting the report.
The report discussed issues such as the decriminalization of household violence and the persecution of religious minorities in Russia, human rights violations in the North Caucasus, and the right to freedom of assembly, as well as Russia’s blocking of resolutions on Syria in the UN Security Council.
New restrictions on freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly were imposed, and the persecution and intimidation of human rights activists and independent NGOs continued in 2017, Amnesty International said in its report released on Feb.22.
Cultural rights were restricted, including through self-censorship, the report said. Additionally, there were numerous violations of the rights of Russians who are in detention facilities, and public observer commissions’ ability to monitor their situations was seriously limited, the report said.
“LGBT rights in Russia have been under pressure for more than a year. Amnesty International annually reports discrimination and violence against these people. But 2017 showed that even the right to life, the most fundamental, basic right, is not secured for these people in some regions of the Russian Federation,” Kovalevskaya said.
