Persecution of Gay Men in Chechnya

Activists demonstrate a scene of Chechen mothers mourning for their murdered children, while wearing LGBT and Chechen flags (Fox, 2017).


In April, 2017, the Russian newspaper “Novaya Gazeta”, along with human rights activists, reported that the Russian republic of Chechnya had “launched an anti-gay campaign that has led to authorities rounding up dozens of men suspected of being homosexual” (Walker, 2017). The newspaper stated that over 100 men have been imprisoned and 3 men have been killed in the initial round-up. The spokesperson for Chechnya’s president Ramzan Kadyrov stated that the Novaya Gazeta report was false because there are no gay people in Chechnya (Walker, 2017). According to him, these people undoubtedly do not exist in this country of almost 1.3 million people (Trotter, 2013).The absurdity and cruelty behind this statement should make people shudder to think. Because of this denial of an entire identity, it is very taboo to talk about homosexuality in the region, with Human Rights reporters finding interviewing victims very difficult. It is not an option for victims to file official complaints (Lokshina, 2017).

"Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov at the celebration of the Republic's Constitution Day in Grozny" (Novosti, 2016) 

The republic of Chechnya is a part of Russia, but is a quasi-independent state. The president Kadyrov’s word often “transcends Russian laws” but he is also a close ally with Vladimir Putin (Walker, 2017). In the past, Kadyrov has endorsed: “polygamy, compulsory wearing of the hijab for women in public places, and collective punishment for the relatives of those involved in the Islamist underground” (Walker, 2017). The society in Chechnya is very conservative, with the majority of citizens being Muslim. Reporters have found that families whose potentially gay sons disappear are not likely to file reports or complain to authorities. The men are usually already disowned by their families. Imagine the fear these men must feel, detained by their own government, with no one to help them escape. Imagine being in constant fear of the consequences of being who you are. High-level Chechen officials have even “publicly condoned honor killings of gay and bisexual men” (Lokshina, 2017). One of the purge victims has told Human Rights Watch that the abusive officials in Chechnya “have long arms and they can find me and the others anywhere in Russia, just give them time” (Lokshina, 2017).

"Ilya and Nohcho, gay men from Chechnya, sought refuge...Both were arrested in a pogrom and tortured"  (Hill, 2017). 


The experiences of these innocent men are very horrific, and will be explained in this paragraph. If you are sensitive to these topics we suggest you skip this paragraph. Since the beginning of the round-up, these men have suffered in many different ways. Some men have “forcibly” disappeared. Others’ lives were spared after being severely beaten because the persecutors encourage gay people’s relatives to execute them as “honor killings”. At least three men have died since this brutal campaign began (Lokshina, 2017). It is the goal of the Chechen officials and police to completely purge gay people from the region, making the state pure. This idea of purging groups of people to have a “better” society, has been seen countless times in history. Police would take men who were even suspected of being gay to secret locations to be imprisoned, tortured, humiliated, and starved. These men were forced to give more information about other men who might be gay (Lokshina, 2017). The LGBT Network in Russia has helped 79 people escape, as of October 2017. 15 gay men are still not accounted for. Igor Kochetkov, the director of the Network says: “Gays in Chechnya and the North Caucasus are in lethal danger” (Kramer, 2017). Anyone who cares about human rights should be shocked and extremely concerned with the events unfolding in Chechnya.

In a televised meeting with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, left, on Wednesday, Chechnya’s leader, Ramzan A. Kadyrov, characterized as “libelous” news reports that the security services in the region had been persecuting gay men. Credit: Photo by Alexei Druzhinin

The anti-gay sentiment and actions in Chechnya have garnered reactions across the globe as well as the United Nations. The United Nations is attempting to urge Russian authorities into investigating the disappearance and alleged torture of gay and bisexual men in Chechnya. However, the Chechen government refuses to acknowledge that this is happening, because they do not acknowledge that gay men actually exist in their country. Chechen spokesmen have also stated that if gay men did exist in Chechnya, their families would take care of them. This refers to the honor killings done by family members in order to keep their family within societal conventions. Russia has responded to the allegations about the problems in Chechnya with more denial, claiming that if something like this was actually happening, citizens would complain to the police. However, this is rather difficult when the police are the ones harming the citizens.

Maksim G. Lapunov, a gay man who says he was abducted a tortured in Chechnya, spoke at a news conference in Moscow. Credit: Pavel Colovkin/Associated Press

In March, United States newspapers reported that LGBT individuals will no longer be counted in the census of 2020. This de-identification of the LGBT community is a reminder of how in Chechnya, the denial of the LGBT community has made persecuting them much easier. Because if they don’t exist, the government cannot possibly be persecuting them, and therefore there is no real problem. The Vice President of the United States, Mike Pence has stated that he does oppose having the United States advocating for LGBT people internationally, which can easily lead to ramifications in Chechnya if the U.S. stops advocating for investigations of the missing gay men. Pence and Putin have both said that the LGBT community should not be recognized as an official group that can advocate for protection. They do not want to acknowledge the persecution the LGBT community goes through, because if they do, they might have to support movements and laws that protect them.

This goes beyond LGBT rights issues. If it was just random men being taken from their homes and off the streets to be tortured, then there would be a much greater outcry, and things would probably actually be done about it. But because it is against gay men, they are able to justify it. The Russian government refusing to acknowledge that anything is wrong in Chechnya just allows them to continue, because they know they can. This also makes the concerns about it seem more illegitimate, because if the government is denying it to the United Nations, then they are pretty sure that they won't be punished, and those that are speaking up are discredited. This is dangerous, because other states can see Russia and Chechnya doing this and getting away with it, and believe they can get away with this sort of thing as well.

For further reading and ways to help:

https://www.hrw.org/report/2017/05/26/they-have-long-arms-and-they-can-find-me/anti-gay-purge-local-authorities-russias

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/16/world/europe/chechnya-gays-roundup-kadyrov.html

https://lgbtnet.org/en

References

Fox, S. (2017, August 11). Anti-Gay Crackdown in Chechnya shows the Need for Human Rights Leadership. [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://www.diplomaticourier.com/anti-gay-crackdown-chechnya-shows-need-human-rights-leadership/

Habib, S. (2016, November 28). The Trump/Pence administration will likely switch sides on global LGBT rights. Retrieved October 30, 2017, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/11/28/the-trump-administration-is-likely-to-switch-sides-on-lgbtq-rights-worldwide/?tid=a_inl&utm_term=.534b2ec22649

Hill, J. (2017). Ilya and Nohcho, gay men from Chechnya, sought refuge at a house outside the Caucasus region in southern Russia. Both were arrested in a pogrom and tortured [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/21/world/europe/chechnya-russia-attacks-gays.html

Kramer, A. E. (2017, April 21). ‘They starve you. They shock you’: Inside the anti-gay pogrom in Chechnya. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/21/world/europe/chechnya-russia-attacks-gays.html?action=click&contentCollection=Canada&module=RelatedCoverage&region=Marginalia&pgtype=article&_r=0

Kramer, A. E. (2017, October 16). After anti-gay crackdown in Chechnya, a witness steps forward. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/16/world/europe/chechnya-gays-roundup-kadyrov.html

Lister, T. (2017, April 14). UN experts condemn reports of violence against gay men in Chechnya. Retrieved October 30, 2017, from http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/14/europe/un-chechnya-gay-men/index.html

Lokshina, T. (2017, April 4). Anti-LGBT violence in Chechnya. Human Rights Watch. Retrieved from https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/04/04/anti-lgbt-violence-chechnya

Lokshina, T. (2017, May 27). “They have long arms and they can find me”: Anti-gay purge by local authorities in Russia’s Chechen republic. Human Rights Watch. Retrieved from https://www.hrw.org/report/2017/05/26/they-have-long-arms-and-they-can-find-me/anti-gay-purge-local-authorities-russias

Novosti, R. (2016). Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov at the celebration of the Republic's Constitution Day in Grozny. [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://www.russia-direct.org/analysis/kadyrov-lesser-two-evils-chechnya-least-now

Trotter, J. K. (2013, April 19). Some basic facts about Chechnya. The Atlantic. Retrieved from https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/04/some-basic-facts-about-chechnya/316111/

Walker, S. (2017, April 2). Chechen police ‘have rounded up more than 100 suspected gay men’. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/02/chechen-police-rounded-up-100-gay-men-report-russian-newspaper-chechnya