‘Our Work Remains Crucial’: Tanya Lokshina of HRW on Defending Human Rights in Russia

Since its penetration of Ukraine successful 2022, the Kremlin has intensified its run to beforehand a strict mentation of “traditional values,” reshaping societal norms and asserting greater ideological power crossed Russia.

Tanya Lokshina is simply a salient Russian quality rights activist, writer and researcher. She is known for her enactment arsenic the subordinate manager for Europe and Central Asia astatine Human Rights Watch (HRW), wherever she oversees investigations and advocacy connected quality rights issues successful Russia, Belarus and Ukraine.

She has been a vocal professional of the Russian government's crackdowns connected civilian society, media state and absorption figures. Lokshina’s enactment has made her a people of harassment and threats, which person intensified implicit the years arsenic restrictions connected NGOs and activists person tightened successful Russia. 

Throughout her career, Lokshina has documented and spoken retired connected issues including governmental repression, torture, forced disappearances and censorship, peculiarly successful areas with challenging information situations similar the North Caucasus. 

The Moscow Times spoke to Lokshina astir existent trends successful Russia regarding quality rights and freedoms and her enactment successful exile.

This interrogation has been edited for magnitude and clarity.

The Moscow Times: What is the existent authorities of women’s rights successful Russia?

Tanya Lokshina: Examining the presumption of women successful Russia today, it's intolerable to disregard the Kremlin's highly assertive run to beforehand alleged accepted values, peculiarly those tied to the 'traditional family.' Within this narrative, women are chiefly portrayed arsenic wives and mothers. While their close to acquisition oregon a vocation isn’t outright denied, it’s considered secondary from the Kremlin’s ideological standpoint. Recently, determination was adjacent a treatment astir reintroducing a 'childfree tax.' This tax, erstwhile enforced successful the Soviet era, was projected by a subordinate of the Russian parliament not lone for those without children but adjacent for those with lone 1 child, arsenic 1 kid is seen arsenic insufficient. A accepted family, arsenic viewed by the Kremlin, means having 2 oregon much children.

The astir caller measurement successful the Kremlin’s harmful 'traditional values' crusade is the prohibition connected alleged childfree propaganda, which was adopted by the parliament this period [and passed by Putin connected Nov. 23]. What precisely does 'childfree' mean? Defined poorly arsenic a 'rejection of childbearing,' this word remains vague and open-ended. Russian repressive authorities is deliberately structured this way, allowing it to beryllium applied to thing deemed convenient for the authorities. This unfastened mentation works to the vantage of some the enforcers and those successful power.

The childfree authorities fundamentally mirrors the instrumentality against alleged LGBT propaganda, with akin effects: vicious stigmatization and steep fines, particularly for ineligible entities. Much similar the LGBT propaganda ban, this instrumentality volition apt person superior repercussions for taste and originative fields. Libraries and bookstores volition look much publication and movie seizures, streaming services volition beryllium fined, and censorship successful assorted taste arenas volition intensify. Although determination is nary enforcement signifier for this yet, we’re already seeing the effects of the LGBT propaganda instrumentality connected taste expression, truthful we cognize precisely what to expect.

Essentially, the Kremlin is 'cleansing' the taste scenery of thing that does not align with its imaginativeness of 'traditional values,' whether it’s LGBT rights, childfree lifestyles oregon thing deemed hostile and alien by the Kremlin. The accepted Russian household is defined arsenic 1 that has galore children, with a pistillate devoted to her relation arsenic woman and mother. 

This is simply a targeted stigmatization, an imposition of stereotypes and an effort to enforce a peculiar lifestyle. This dichotomy of 'traditional Russian' versus 'foreign and hostile' has been a favored task of the Kremlin for years, peculiarly since President [Vladimir] Putin returned to the Kremlin successful 2012, aft Dmitry Medvedev’s four-year interregnum. However, pursuing the February 2022 penetration of Ukraine, this run — similar galore of the Kremlin's policies — has go acold much aggressive.

As idiosyncratic who worked successful Chechnya for galore years, I tin gully a definite parallel. When Ramzan Kadyrov archetypal consolidated powerfulness successful Chechnya [in 2007], 1 of his contiguous priorities — alongside forcing Chechen insurgents to surrender and enactment for him — was to reenforce women’s accepted role. During the Chechen wars, peculiarly the 2nd war, women assumed important roles successful society. They sheltered men and searched for missing household members, they protested abuses, they provided for the families — each successful all, they became a unit to reckon with. As Chechen nine was devastated by warfare and with truthful galore men killed oregon disappeared, women took connected overmuch greater responsibilities and acquired overmuch greater societal status. So, erstwhile Kadyrov yet consolidated control, helium became obsessed with 'putting women backmost successful [their] place.' This led to a run enforcing headscarves and accepted humble covering for women done propaganda, carnal intimidation and adjacent violence.

For instance, women who appeared successful nationalist without headscarves were harassed by instrumentality enforcement agents. Some were changeable with paintball guns, thrown into dumpsters, humiliated and publically ridiculed. Their antheral household members were sometimes confronted and shamed for not 'controlling' their women. Alongside this, home unit was tolerated and adjacent encouraged. Kadyrov publically condoned 'honor killings,' saying that if a pistillate 'misbehaved,' the males successful her household did not truly person immoderate different prime (although 'honor killings' are evidently a transgression nether Russian law). 

This each unfolded successful Chechnya successful the precocious 2000s. Now, immoderate aspects of that campaign, though not violent, are disposable connected a nationalist level. Some different issues erstwhile seen arsenic unsocial to Chechnya are present applicable crossed Russia. For example, demonstrative torture erstwhile associated with Chechnya unsocial is present broadcast connected national television.

Since the full-scale penetration of Ukraine, women's rights groups — and adjacent Russia’s Human Rights Commissioner Tatiana Moskalkova — reported a spike successful home violence, including killings. There is besides an expanding fig of media reports astir crimes against women committed by men who returned from the war. Previously, determination were legislative efforts toward processing and adopting a robust instrumentality against home violence, but this enactment has since ceased arsenic the Kremlin present views specified efforts arsenic interfering with its 'traditional values' paradigm.

How are women impacted successful the discourse of the war?

When looking astatine Russian journalists covering the Ukraine concern aft the full-scale invasion, it was mostly women who took connected this role, arsenic their antheral colleagues could not question to Ukraine. The astonishing reporting by Elena Kostyuchenko astatine Novaya Gazeta and Lilia Yapparova astatine Meduza instantly comes to mind. Operating arsenic a pistillate writer successful warfare zones tin sometimes enactment to your advantage. I began covering the Second Chechen War, often blending into the section customs to debar scrutiny. Locals were much consenting to usher pistillate rights defenders done unsafe areas — subject and information officials paid little attraction to women, viewing them arsenic insignificant.

This stigmatization of women occasionally presents a nonrecreational advantage, allowing women to negociate much freely astatine checkpoints oregon person soldiers to assistance access. From a sex rights perspective, this is humiliating, but from a nonrecreational perspective, it tin beryllium beneficial.

How has the relation of quality rights defenders successful Russia evolved, particularly successful presumption of your ain work?

Human Rights Watch’s enactment connected Russia has changed drastically. We were among the archetypal planetary organizations officially registered successful Russia [after the Soviet Union fell], with our bureau operating for implicit 30 years earlier it was unopen down by Russian authorities successful April 2022. This was a symbolic determination by the Russian authorities — they deregistered 15 antithetic planetary groups connected the aforesaid day, including ourselves and Amnesty International.

Ironically, aft our forcible closure, I felt a definite grade of alleviation — caller laws connected warfare censorship made it wide that immoderate of america could look transgression charges. While we tin nary longer enactment successful Russia, we proceed to show the concern closely, relying connected section colleagues and different contacts connected the ground, open-source investigations, societal media, and investigation of repressive authorities and integer information analysis. Many rights defenders and starring autarkic media teams had to permission the state — we’ve been each affected successful the aforesaid way. But portion methods person changed, our enactment continues.

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