Dispatches: An Open Invitation to Violence in Russia? | Human Rights Watch
Dispatches: An Open Invitation to Violence in Russia? | Human Rights Watch:
Earlier this month, Russian State Radio’s Vesti FM published on its website a map with the title “Illegal Aliens,” marking neighborhoods with supposedly dense populations of undocumented migrants in Moscow. For nearly two weeks, the station has been urging Muscovites to update the map in order to expose “the migrant underground.” Vesti FM’s site states that the map is based on reader comments, “raids” by their correspondents, and official data. “Moscow has been attacked by illegal aliens…” is just one of the headlines on the station’s website promoting the map.
An aggressive campaign against migrants, and especially migrant workers, has been under way for months in Russia. Police engage in ethnic profiling in Moscow and Sochi – the site of the 2014 winter Olympics – and other cities with large populations of migrant workers. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, are arbitrarily detained, often based on nothing more than their non-Slavic appearance. Some are treated poorly, held in inhuman conditions, and denied access to legal counsel. Many are then deported, based on rubber-stamp court rulings and often without getting paid for their work.
