On June 21st in Strausburg at a meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly to the Council of Europe, Written Declaration 481 was issued. This declaration expressed the ‘grave concern’ of those who signed over the ‘manifest failure of the Russian Federation to carry out its obligation to respect the European Convention on Human Rights’. This was with respect to its violent and repeated suppression of peaceful LGBT demonstrators in Moscow.
The Council of Europe website does not make it entirely clear which MPs were present at the meeting and which were not. There is a register of those who were present and those who sent their apologies listed on the website, but some who sent their apologies went on to speak at the meeting.
Those who were definitely present- and therefore had the chance to sign- are Paul Flynn (Labour); John Prescott (Labour); Lord John E. Tomlinson (Labour); Lord Donald Anderson (Labour); Joe Benton (Labour); Brian Binley (Conservative); Lord Tim Boswell (Conservative); Christopher Chope (Conservative); James Clappison (Conservative); Michael Connarty (Labour); Roger Gale (Conservative); Oliver Heald (Conservative); and Sir Alan Meale (Labour).
I commend and thank Paul Flynn, John Prescott, and Lord Tomlinson for signing the declaration. They have done the right thing.
For the rest of those listed above though- as well as any other UK MPs who were present and have been missed from the above list- I question their reasons for not signing. The declaration merely expressed concern at the situation and called on ‘the rapporteurs on Russia in the Monitoring Committee to give due consideration to these concerns in their next report’.
Are these other UK MPs not concerned by Russia’s human rights abuses?
One thing that is certain is that none of them can plead ignorance. Every UK MP who sits on the Parliamentary Assembly has been contacted regarding this issue in advance of the meeting. This has been done by multiple individuals through an email campaign set up by the Facebook group “UK Say NO to Russian LGBT Human Rights Abuse”.
Despite this only three out of at least 13 UK MPs who were present in Strausberg for this session of the Parliamentary Assembly signed the declaration.
So why did they remain silent? Using the website ‘Public Whip’- which allows UK MPs to be held to account over their voting record-it is clear that most MPs who were present at the meeting and failed to sign the declaration have a history of homophobic voting:
The figures show the percentage of occasions on which the MPs voted in favour of key LGBT equality legislation in the UK. These percentages are then categorised to say whether an MP is “Strongly For”; “Moderately For”; “Ambiguous”; “Moderately Against” or “Strongly Against” equality for the LGBT community.
If the two MPs on the list who have in the past voted “moderately for” LGBT equality are ignored (they may have declined to sign the declaration for other reasons) it is clear that based on their past voting record, the remaining 8 MPs who did not sign the declaration are on average strongly against LGBT equality.
This is compared to the scores of those who signed the declaration: Lord John Prescott 82.2%; Paul Flynn 85.5% and Lord John Tomlinson 96.9%- all “strongly for” LGBT equality based on their voting record.
The majority of the British Public support equal rights for LGBT citizens. MPs who did not sign the declaration are out of touch with their electorate. They must speak out through the Council of Europe against the homophobic Russian authorities or else risk alienating the British public on this issue.
With regard to the written declaration itself, this is a positive first step in holding the Russian Federation to account. Russia must now promptly respond to the concerns of peers within the Council of Europe over its undermining of the organisation and its Courts. If it does not then further action must be called for by members of the Parliamentary Assembly. Russia must legalise Moscow Pride for good or face further consequences notwithstanding suspension of its vote on the Council of Europe.
Russia must also accept that the October 2010 European Court ruling on Moscow Pride (referred to in Written Declaration 481) sets a precedent for the requirement to legalise Pride events in other parts of Russia. This must be further called for within the Council of Europe following the violence and arrests of protesters in St. Petersburg today at the banned Slavic Pride event.
The full text of Written Declaration 481 can be read here: http://assembly.coe.int/Mainf.asp?link=/Documents/WorkingDocs/Doc11/EDOC12648.htm#P39_1192
petergray1989 