Statement by a Russian representative at the 50th Session of the Human Rights Council in a dialogue with the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression
(June 24, 2022, Geneva)
Madam Vice-President,
We are forced to use the right of reply regarding the speech of the EU delegation on behalf of a group of States that have proclaimed themselves to be the standards in the human rights and appropriated the right to judge others for conducting independent foreign and domestic policy.
I wish to ask, who exactly are these judges? We have repeatedly drawn attention to the existence of systemic human rights problems in every EU country, the US and the UK. However, most recently the situation has not changed for the better, but rather worsened, since new problems have been added to the old ones.
Today, European countries and their “Big Brothers” overseas are overwhelmed by Russophobia, which is becoming increasingly ugly. Violations of the rights of Russians and Russian-speaking citizens in the "collective West" countries are massive. Among the most common are refusals to provide educational, medical and other services, arrests and seizure of property, intimidation into public repentance and condemnation of the actions of the Russian authorities, suspension from sports, music festivals and competitions, attacks, threats and insults. Domestic discrimination has flourished – Russian citizens or ethnic Russians are being fired from work, evicted from households.
Widespread discrimination against children, who have Russian citizenship or Russian ethnicity, is of particular concern. Today, they are being humiliated and bullied by classmates with the acquiescence of the teachers, psychologically pressured and put under stressful conditions that prevent a normal educational process.
Rabid Russophobia has invigorated the authorities of Poland, Ukraine and the Baltic states, competing in the most sophisticated ways to fight monuments and memorials to honor of the fallen Red Army soldiers, who perished in the battles to liberate Europe from Nazism. They whip up measures aimed at creating artificial restrictions for Russian-speaking residents in various spheres of public life. The authorities of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Ukraine are trying to squeeze the Russian language out of all educational institutions, thereby limiting the right of the people to receive education in their native language.
Determined efforts are being made to conceal the Nazi essence of the Kiev authorities’ policy. There is unrestricted whitewashing of the militants of the nationalist Azov battalion and other similar Ukrainian extremist groups.
Incidents of obstruction of the activities of Russian journalists or individuals representing the Russian media continue to take place. Purposeful efforts are being made to suppress alternative points of view, obstacles are being created to impede one of the fundamental human rights – the freedom of expression. France, Great Britain, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, as well as the USA and Ukraine have succeeded in this above everyone else.
This is only the treatment of Russians or Russian-speaking residents in the countries that consider themselves to be standards of democracy. If we add the systematic violations by the authorities of these states of the rights of their own citizens, the picture becomes even more depressing.
Therefore, I would like to ask the colleagues from the "collective West", who gave you the right to judge and label others? Wouldn't it be better to look at your own reflection first so that you don't feel painfully ashamed in front of the citizens of your countries? Although, apparently, the feeling of shame is unknown to you to begin with.
Thank you for your attention.