Geneva [Switzerland], September 17: Human rights are increasingly being disregarded in Russia, according to a UN report published on Monday.
"There is now a structural, state-sponsored system of human rights violations legalized by new or revised legislation utilized to suppress civil society, dissenting views and political opposition," wrote Mariana Katzarova, the UN Human Rights Council's special rapporteur, describing the situation in Russia in 2023.
Critics of Russia's war on Ukraine and dissidents are subject to ever harsher treatment, said Katzarova.
She estimated the number of convicted political prisoners at 1,372 and said the various human rights defenders, journalists and war critics have been charged on spurious grounds and sentenced to lengthy prison terms.
Some have been tortured in custody, she said, while others are being held in solitary confinement or forcibly admitted to psychiatric hospitals.
Furthermore, a growing number of people are being classified as "foreign agents," the designation they are given by the Russian authorities if they receive funding from abroad.
This significantly restricts their working possibilities and forces many to give up, based on a law that dates back to 2012.
As of August 16, 846 individuals and organisations have been labelled foreign agents, most since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
This includes some 200 media groups and more than 100 journalists. Only 336 were classified as "foreign agents" between 2012 and March 2022.
Katzarova said that Russia is refusing to cooperate with her.
Source: Qatar Tribune