Agence France Presse — English
June 9, 2006 Friday 10:42 AM GMT

UN anti-racism monitor heading to Russia

A UN anti-racism monitor is heading to Russia at the invitation of
authorities there, amid concerns over a wave of attacks and a rising
climate of intolerance in the country, officials said Friday.

Doudou Diene, the UN special rapporteur on racism and xenophobia,
will visit Moscow and Saint Petersburg and meet with officials from
June 12 to 17, said Jose Diaz, spokesman for the UN High Commissioner
for Human Rights.

“There has been a very serious rise in the number of racist attacks
in the Russian Federation, including murders, especially Moscow and
Saint Petersburg,” Diaz told journalists.

While that would be the main focus of Diene’s visit, the UN expert
will also take up wider problems related to intolerance, said Diaz.

Recognisable Russian ethnic minorities — especially Chechens and
other Caucasians — as well as Armenians, Roma gypsies and Jews, and
foreign nationals such as Africans and Asians have increasingly been
targeted in racist attacks.

Although a string of murders by skinheads has grabbed headlines,
human rights campaigners also accuse Russian security forces and
semi-official law enforcement militias of routine abuses and point to
a climate of near-impunity.