Day: January 31, 2015

Front Line Defenders, the International Foundation for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, is appealing for people to show their support for a Russian author and LGBTI educator and activist.

LENA KLIMOVA, a journalist based in the city of Nizhny Tagil, is the author of a series of articles on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) teenagers.  She also published a book on the subject in 2014.

In 2013, Lena set up Children-404, an online community with a presence on Facebook and on Vkontakte, a Russian social networking site.  Children-404 aims to provide a safe space for teenagers to discuss LGBTI issues and support each other. The community, which lists up to 45,000 members, also organises online discussions with leaders of the LGBTI movement and has a network of voluntary psychologists who provide online support.

In 2014 Lena received the International GALAS award. The GALAS is presented annually to one human rights defender chosen by the Lesbian and Gay Federation of Ireland as international activist of the year.

However, in July 2013, a Russian federal law banning ‘propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations’ among minors was adopted. Despite some vague wording, the bill was passed on its first reading.

Under this law propaganda was broadly defined as:

• spreading information in order to form non-traditional sexual desires in children

• describing such relations as attractive

• promoting a distorted understanding of the social equality of traditional and non-traditional relations

• providing unwanted exposure to information that could provoke interest in such relations.

Last week (January 23) a court found Lena Klimova guilty of “propagating non-traditional sexual relations among minors” via the Children-404 site, and fined her 50,000 roubles (the equivalent of 650 euros).

In 2014, local authorities in Nizhny Tagil had brought a similar case against her based on previous publications but the charges were subsequently dismissed.

Lena is appealing against the current fine. Meanwhile there is a possibility that the Russian authorities will request that the Children-404 pages are taken down. In the meantime Lena has received homophobic death threats because of her work.

A spokesperson for Front Line Defenders writes: “Lena Klimova is the victim of homophobic threats, including death threats, for her peaceful and legitimate human rights work in support of LGBTI teenagers in the Russian Federation. Front Line Defenders is gravely concerned that the authorities are attempting to restrict the rights of Lena Klimova due to her human rights activities, rather than protecting her from such threats.”

Front Line Defenders was founded in Dublin in 2001 with the specific aim of protecting human rights defenders at risk for their non-violent championing of any or all of the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).

To support Lena Klimova, visit her page on the Front Line Defenders website.

To view the website, click here: