Human Rights In Russia In 'Seismic Decline' Amid War On Ukraine, UN Expert Says

"The human rights situation in Russia has "steadily deteriorated" since President Vladimir Putin launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, a UN expert said, describing a "seismic decline" that has hit vulnerable groups such as minorities and migrants particularly hard. "Over the past 3 1/2 years, Russian authorities have pursued a deliberate strategy to wipe out dissent through intensified censorship, politically motivated prosecutions," and other measures, Mariana Katzarova, special rapporteur on human rights in Russia, said in a new report."

"The clampdown has had a "particularly severe impact on vulnerable groups, especially women, LGBT persons, national and ethnic minorities, Indigenous Peoples, religious groups and migrants, who have been specifically targeted and scapegoated in official rhetoric and practice," the report said. In the North Caucasus, a "relentless descent into lawlessness has enabled widespread violations, including gender-based violence, femicide, torture and ill-treatment, enforced disappearance and brutal suppression of the rights of LGBT persons," it said."

Human rights in Russia have steadily deteriorated since the February 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, producing a seismic decline that disproportionately affects minorities and migrants. Authorities pursued a deliberate strategy to eliminate dissent through intensified censorship, politically motivated prosecutions and other repressive measures. Anti-war dissenters and activists face long prison sentences for peaceful expression. Civic space has been systematically destroyed and public institutions repurposed as instruments of repression and war. Vulnerable groups—women, LGBT persons, national and ethnic minorities, Indigenous Peoples, religious communities and migrants—experience targeted scapegoating. In the North Caucasus, lawlessness has enabled gender-based violence, femicide, torture, enforced disappearance and brutal suppression of LGBT rights.

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