«When Homophobia Becomes the Norm» – Panel Discussion on the Current Situation in Russia
What is it about?
In recent years, lesbians, gays, bisexual and transgender persons (LGBT) have come increasingly under pressure in Russia. The violence against LGBT persons, hate speech and signs of intolerance by politicians, church officials and the media become more and more frequent. The victims of homophobic violence in Russia are neither granted protection from the police nor any other government agency. The freedom of assembly and the freedom of association of LGBT persons have been severely restricted. With the new legislation against so-called homophobic propaganda and against foreign agents, the Russian government strives to silence the LGBT-community and cut it off from foreign support.
How do the concerned men and women experience this situation and how can they defend themselves? Does this level of homophobia truly represent the general sentiment of the Russian population or is it limited to the authorities and extremist circles? How can this state-sanctioned pressure on the Russian LGBT community be interpreted from a foreign policy perspective? And what can human rights organisations as well as the political arena and authorities of Western Europe do about it?
These and other questions will be dealt with at a panel discussion organised by NETWORK on 6 September 2014 in Zurich. The panellists include Gulya Sultanova, LGBT Film Festival ‟Side by Side”, Saint Petersburg, Boris Dittrich, Human Rights Watch, former Dutch MP, Svetlana Zakharova, activist and spokesperson of the organisation ‟Russian LGBT Network”, Andreas Gross, Member of the Swiss National Council and representative of Switzerland at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Claude Wild, Ambassador and Head of the Division for Human Security, Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, as well as Max Schmid, Journalist and long-time correspondent of Swiss Radio SRF in Moscow. The panel is headed by Hans-Peter Fricker, founding member of NETWORK, current head of its political committee, and former director of WWF Switzerland.
The panel is followed by a plenary discussion. An aperitif is served at the end.
Location
UBS Conference Center Grünenhof
Nüschelerstrasse 9, Zürich The event begins at 11 a.m. programme. It is accessible to the public, the admission fee is 50 francs (for students 20 francs) registration
