Human Rights Watch have condemned a draft bill to amend the Family Code, which has been placed before Russia’s State Duma Committee on Family, Women and Children. This bill seeks to ban same-sex marriage, undermine the rights of transgender people, and prohibit child adoption by same-sex couples. Such an approach to LGBTQ+ rights in Russia is nothing new, rather it is just the most recent attempt by lawmakers to remove what few legal protections are afforded to the LGBTQ+ community. If enacted, this bill will leave an entire section of Russian society vulnerable to social, political, and legal persecution.
CHANGES IN THE DRAFT BILL
Under Article 1(3)(2) of the draft bill, the official legal definition of marriage would be “[a] union between a man and a woman,” thereby excluding same-sex marriage from legal recognition. Prior to a national referendum in July 2020, there was no explicit federal ban on same-sex marriage, but registry offices across Russia refused to register same-sex marriages, thus in fact invalidating them. However, the Russian state was willing to recognise same-sex marriages entered into in, and recognised by, another country, thus offering some protection for same-sex spouses. This new draft bill would remove any formal legal process by which the state could officially recognise same-sex marriage.
Furthermore, the bill seeks to ban same-sex couples from accessing adoption services and thus excludes them from consideration as eligible guardians. This ban has been introduced despite a recognised decrease in adoption and Russian orphanages struggling to find suitable adoptive parents. Another section of the bill seeks to remove the legal process by which an individual can change their gender from that which they were assigned at birth. Under the current system, which came into force in 2018, an individual can change their gender after undertaking a series of psychiatric evaluations and medical procedures. The proposed bill removes this option.
VIOLATION OF THE ECHR
These legislative amendments would constitute a blatant violation of an individual’s right to private and family life under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The Russian Federation is a signatory to the ECHR by virtue of its membership of the Council of Europe. Although the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) is yet to recognise the existence of a right to same-sex marriage under the ECHR, a refusal to recognise an individual’s right to change their gender has for some time been regarded as a violation of the convention. In addition, the right to adoption for same-sex couples has been recognised by the ECtHR both in cases of single-parent and second-parent adoption. Therefore, the introduction of the amendments outlined in the draft bill would be a clear and unequivocal violation of the ECHR and directly contravene the jurisprudence of the ECtHR on the issues of transgender rights and adoption rights of LGBTQ+ persons.
UNDERSTANDING THE BROADER CONTEXT
Russian President Vladimir Putin, in his dogmatic idolisation of traditional values, has adopted a political ideology that has been characterised as “conservative heteronationalism”. This ideology conflates conceptions of national identity with the idea of traditional values, inherent in which is an animosity towards “non-traditional values” such as homosexuality. To that end, the Russian state adopted Law No. 135-FZ of 2013, an anti-gay propaganda law, which empowers the state to filter any published information that may be deemed detrimental to a child’s “moral or spiritual development”. This not only diminishes the availability of information to Russia’s LGBTQ+ community, including young people, but also further stigmatises homosexuality and trans identities. The infamous anti-gay propaganda law has also been used to limit the number of safe spaces available for the LGBTQ+ community.
In one example, Russia’s largest LGBTQ+ website was deactivated after an investigation by the national internet regulatory authority found that it violated several provisions of the legislation. The law was thereafter challenged before the ECtHR in Bayev and Others v. Russia, and the Court held that the legislation was in violation of the right to freedom of expression in Article 10 of the ECHR. Despite this ruling, the law remains in force and serves as a testimony to the levels to which the Russian state will go to undermine LGBTQ+ rights. The Centre for Information and Analysis (SOVA), a prominent Russian human rights organisation, reported that there was a significant increase in hate crimes against Russia’s LGBTQ+ community in 2019. Unfortunately, the Russian government does not publish official statistics on reports of violence against the LGBTQ+ community.
Upon a broader examination, it is clear that this draft bill is only a small aspect of the Russian state’s systematic oppression of LGBTQ+ rights. Worryingly, within the political climate focused on pursuing traditional values, this bill seems to be just another step along a road of heightening targeted oppression of Russia’s LGBTQ+ community.
William has recently completed an undergraduate law degree at the University of Bristol, during which time he developed a passion for human rights issues, with a specific focus on the development of human rights in Europe and Asia. As an aspiring barrister he will be embarking on the BPC this September at the University of Law.