ANTI-DISCRIMINATION COMMITTEE CALLS FOR FURTHER EFFORTS IN RUSSIAN FEDERATION AND HUNGARY
Press Release
RD/865
ANTI-DISCRIMINATION COMMITTEE CALLS FOR FURTHER EFFORTS IN RUSSIAN FEDERATION AND HUNGARY
19960314 GENEVA, 12 March (UN Information Service) -- The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination this morning recommended that the Governments of the Russian Federation and Hungary make further efforts to counter and prevent racial discrimination in their countries.The recommendations from the panel of experts came as it adopted observations on the implementation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination in the two countries. Representatives of those Governments came before the Committee during the session to discuss how they gave effect to the provisions of the Convention.
Observations on Implementation of Convention
With regard to the situation in the Russian Federation, the Committee welcomed the establishment in 1993 of a special Commission on Human Rights, and noted with satisfaction that a parliamentary group had been mandated to investigate human rights and international humanitarian law violations in the Chechen conflict. The panel also took note of the entry of the Russian Federation in the Council of Europe and expressed the hope that the Government would soon ratify the Council's Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.
The Committee, however, expressed concern about the current shortcomings in the general legal national framework for protecting all persons against discrimination, and strongly recommended that the Government take concrete and appropriate measures to outlaw and combat all organizations and political groups that promote racist ideas, as provided by article 4 of the Convention. The panel also recommended that special attention be paid to minority and indigenous groups living in the northern territories. It strongly recommended the State party to urgently take all measures to restore peace in Chechnya. It further recommended that the State party guarantee the rights of all victims, especially refugees, of the conflict in Ingushetia and North Ossetia and to provide in its next report to the Committee information on the situation there and in Chechnya.
Concerning Hungary, the Committee welcomed the fact that Hungary had accepted the panel's competence to examine individual complaints of racial discrimination coming from the country. The substantial steps in the
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transition towards democracy and pluralism in Hungary were also welcomed. Hungary was commended for its new policy of active and preventive protection of minorities, based on principles of preservation of their self-identity.
Nevertheless, the Committee expressed grave concern at the persistence of expressions of racial hatred and acts of violence, including from the part of neo-Nazis and "skinheads", towards, in particular, Gypsies, Jews and people of African origin. The panel expressed alarm that the Government had not been sufficiently active in countering acts of racial violence against members of minority groups. Alarm was also expressed at the apparent harassment and use of excessive force by the police against Gypsies and foreigners. The persistent marginalization of the important Gypsy population, in spite of continuing efforts of the Government, was another matter of serious concern.
The Committee urged the Government to take more active steps to prevent and counter racial violence. It recommended an extreme vigilance against the neo-Nazi and "skinhead" movements and a stronger commitment to ensure that there was no racism in law enforcement. It also recommended that, among other things, the State party comply fully with its obligations under article 4 and that it give increased attention to the enjoyment of all human rights by the Gypsies.
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