UN Special Rapporteur spotlights victims of violence perpetrated by Russian convicts returning from war

United Nations (UN) Particular Rapporteur on the scenario of human rights within the Russian Federation, Mariana Katzarova, condemned the violence perpetrated by former Russian convicts towards girls and youngsters upon their return from Ukraine throughout a press convention on Monday.

The Particular Rapporteur reported that “an estimated 170,000 convicted, violent criminals” who had been recruited to struggle in Ukraine and “supplied pardons and shortened sentences” in alternate for his or her service have change into perpetrators of recent violent crimes towards girls, ladies, and youngsters. These crimes embrace sexual violence and killings, contributing to the rising violence towards girls in Russia.

Katzarova emphasised that “[t]right here is not any legislation in Russia distinctly criminalizing home violence or gender-based violence,” noting a very detrimental scenario within the North Caucuses the place girls and ladies are “being subjected to compelled marriages, to so-called honor killings and crimes towards honor of their kinfolk and feminine genital mutilation.”

Condemning the Russian authorities’ inaction in addressing the scenario and failing to outlaw such practices, Katzarova reported that hundreds of girls die annually from home violence. The rising pattern of violence perpetrated by former convicts is linked to an official coverage of the Russian Ministry of Protection enacted earlier this yr, which allows the recruitment of convicted criminals to the navy.

Detailed extensively in her September 2023 report on the human rights scenario in Russia, Katzarova careworn “We can not take a look at the human rights scenario in Russia with out seeing the stark hyperlink between aggression overseas and repression at house.”