The AI report (in PDF format) finds widespread racist and antisemitic violence in Ukraine, and criticizes the reaction to it by law enforcement agencies.

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One of Russia's two competing chief rabbis, Beryl Lazar, used uncharacteristically alarming language in describing the threat posed to the Russian Jewish community by rising nationalism and efforts by the government to introduce compulsory Russian Orthodox Christian teachings in the public schools. It may be a coincidence, but Rabbi Lazar's interview was with a German news organization (Deutsche Weld), while just yesterday, he presented a more optimistic vision to a domestic audience.

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It's a sign of the times that the Kremlin first appointed Rogozin (former head of the far-right Rodina party) its NATO ambassador, and now has one of his allies at a de facto public diplomacy post in Paris. I wonder if the "British friend" that former Duma deputy Narochnitskaya mentioned is from the British Helsinki Group--an org that has no relation to the Helsinki Federation and has attracted controversy for its support of some post-Soviet and African dictators.

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On the one hand, Moscow's mayor Yuri Luzhkov publicly condemns xenophobia and last week called for harsher laws against hate speech and hate crimes, saying on April 15 that: "The government must ensure the tranquility of all people regardless of the color of their skin... Xenophobia is a disease that may eventually endanger this country. The main reason for such crimes is the absence of a real punishment." At the same time, his subordinates running the city's law enforcement agencies impudently contradict him and President Putin by denying that racist violence is a problem.

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The same month that a blood libel was distributed in Novosibirsk, Russia, the medieval accusation that Jews ritually murder Christian children popped up in Sumy, Ukraine. No word yet on any official reaction to these posters, which clearly violate Ukraine's law against public incitement of ethnic hatred.

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Union of Councils for Jews in the Former Soviet Union (UCSJ), a Jewish human rights organization that has worked in support of Jews in the FSU since 1970, is seriously concerned by media reports on flyers inciting violence against Jews in Novosibirsk, Russia last week. Hundreds of blood libel flyers were found posted on homes and apartments in that city warning parents to protect their children from "bloodthirsty Jews" ahead of April 2008 Jewish holiday of Passover. The flyers warned that "these disgusting people steal young children, draw their blood and use it to prepare their holy food. They throw the children's bodies in garbage dumps". This terrible and aggressive lie dates from the Middle Ages, when it regularly sparked pogroms, and was revived in the infamous "Protocols of the Elders of Zion", the Beilis trial, and by Nazi Germany. Russian antisemites have used this xenophobic myth against Jews during the Soviet and post-Soviet period.

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Two stories from this week illustrate problems that Jewish students face in Russia. One the one hand, central and locals authorities are increasingly pushing Russian Orthodox theology in the public schools, though, as usual in Russia, the extent to which this is happening varies from region to region. In addition, a study published last week argued that many Russian textbooks are antisemitic, ignoring or minimizing the history of the Holocaust, during which millions of Soviet Jews died.

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President Yushchenko was in Israel recently and responded to criticism for awarding a posthumous medal to a WWII-era Ukrainian nationalist leader accused of killing Jews. He also argued that antisemitism in Ukraine is a "marginal phenomenon." He stated that people have been put on trial and "even punished" for inciting antisemitism, but I can remember only one successful hate speech prosecution in Ukraine since I started working at UCSJ in 1998 (the newspaper "Silski Visti"--whose editors Yushchenko later awarded a medal on two occasions).

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The Coalition Against Hate received recognition as UCSJ leaders briefed the congressional joint Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (the Helsinki Commission) both on the coalition, the current status of hate crimes in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, and the importance of the impunity of hate crimes to assessing rule of law and to the conduct of foreign policy.

UN racism rapporteur Doudou Diene, another witness, concluded, "There is an unmistakable resurgence in racist violence conducted, primarily, but not exclusively, by neo-Nazi groups."

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Technorati Tags: Coalition Against Hate Micah H. Naftalin Nickolai Butkevich Doudou Diene Helsinki Commission hate crimes