Petition against homophobic violence in Russia

On the 27th of May 2007, Sophie in ‘t Veld, a Dutch Member of the European Parliament (ALDE), was threatened with a knife during a demonstration in Moscow. Although she remained physically unharmed, the Russian police made no effort to defend the right to peacefully demonstrate for human rights. Many people involved in the organization of the peaceful demonstration – including other European politicians – were arrested while the extreme-right attackers were left unharmed.

If you wish to dissociate from such acts of homophobia and thus wish to protect people’s rights to express their sexuality and demonstrate for human rights, please sign the petition below.

• We are worried about the state of democracy and the protection of human rights in Russia that consistently and continuously fails to protect the right to demonstrate for human rights,
• We are concerned that homophobic violence will continue to threaten homosexuals as well as peaceful demonstrators in the near future if situations like the one in Moscow do no receive strong international disapproval,
• We therefore call upon the European Council and individual Member States of the European Union to act upon this disgrace for democracy and put pressure on the Russian government that fails to protect democracy and fight against homophobia.