As Moscow welcomes tens of thousands of travelers to celebrate the capital's 850th anniversary, Moscow police hound "second-class" visitors --refugees and visitors from the CIS and from Russia's regions--in the name of enforcing its civilian registration, or propiska system. According to Moscow: Open Season, Closed City published today by Human Rights Watch/Helsinki, under this system police routinely check passports on the basis of skin color, invade the privacy of homes, illegally detain and fine refugees, and beat detainees with impunity.
"We do not question the need to monitor a civilian registration system, or to maintain law and order," declared Holly Cartner, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch/Helsinki. "We deplore, however, the predatory way the Moscow police go about it. For them, the registration system means open season on non-Muscovites and refugees, open season for violence and bribes."
Most troubling is the Moscow police's utter disregard for asylum seekers who are recognized as refugees by the UNHCR. "The police literally hound them in a most racist way, force them to pay 'fines' that are better described as extortion, and detain them routinely. We find appalling the Russian government's willingness to tolerate such a glaring violation of Russia's international obligations to protect refugees," asserted Ms. Cartner.
Moscow police routinely beat those stopped on passport checks. "The beatings follow a clearly-defined pattern, which suggests that it is unofficially sanctioned by the city police authorities," commented Ms. Cartner. "Should the detainee dare question the validity of the check, or respond to denigrating and racist remarks, police commonly respond with violence."
About 27,000 asylum seekers are registered by the UNHCR in Moscow, most of them in Moscow.
The report documents a well-established pattern of police "visits" to private apartments--frequently with the threat of use of force-- to carry out passport and registration checks. After threats of violence or arrest, they require refugees to pay a monthly bribe to shield them from further harassment. This is a violation of the right to privacy, which is protected in international and Russian law.
The Moscow registration system requires all visitors to the city to register within twenty-four hours, limits visits to six months, and makes visitors from the CIS pay a fee of about US$43. Its severe restrictions on permanent residence permits and its refugee policy are designed to achieve zero-population growth in the country's most populous city. The Human Rights Watch/Helsinki report called "discriminatory" the extra charge for CIS visitors, who do not need a visa to travel to Russia. "The current version of the registration system is an open invitation for police abuse," concluded Ms. Cartner. "Police set the fines arbitrarily, and more often than not seem to pocket what they collect."
The organization called on a qualified institution in the international community, such as the World Bank, to conduct a study of Moscow and Moscow region's infrastructure, housing stock, public health situation and the impact of past and projected migration on these public services. Such a study would initiate a review of Moscow's registration system.
Human Rights Watch/Helsinki recommendations include:
To the City of Moscow and the Moscow Region:
- Cancel the discriminatory fee for temporary stays in Moscow imposed on non-Russian Federation citizens who enjoy visa-free travel to Russia; streamline fines for violators in order to curb arbitrary fines assigned by police;
- Provide to each unsuccessful applicant for a permanent or temporary residence permit a written, reasoned decision explaining fully how his or her permanent residence would harm the public health, public order, public morals, national security or the rights and freedoms of others. This document would be admissible in court reviews of registration cases;
- Instruct the Moscow Main Department of Internal Affairs (GUVD) to accept UNHCR refugee identification as valid and exhaustive documents for registration with the police. UVIR should place a representative at the offices of the Moscow Migration Service to carry out police registration. A committee of representatives from the GUVD and such law enforcement branches should meet regularly with refugee advocates, beginning within one month of the dissemination of such an instruction, to check implementation;
- Release all those held in detention and awaiting deportation on such grounds;
- Cease conducting passport checks in private homes; and
- Launch a special campaign to encourage victims of police abuse to report their claims.
To the Federal Migration Service:
- Provide refugees and the internally displaced full, gratis and updated information on regions in Russia that are capable of receiving refugees and internally displaced persons. Such information would also include Russian and regional laws and normative acts concerning refugee policy, registration rules for permanent residence and temporary stays, and objective data about housing and job opportunities and other economic conditions in the regions. Points of distribution should include all regional migration service offices, Russian consulates abroad, and refugee and human rights organizations throughout Russia and the CIS.
- Provide full and true information on government-funded housing for refugees currently residing in Moscow hotels. In cooperation with refugee advocacy organizations, organize a conciliation commission that would investigate refugee claims of inappropriate, uninhabitable or non-existent housing assignments outside Moscow.
To the Russian Federation Government:
- The Procuracy General should oversee a full review of police abuse related to the registration system and should launch applicable disciplinary administrative criminal action against violators;
- Conduct a full review of the degree to which Moscow's regulations and practices in the of area of registration diverge from federal laws and rules and in ways that violate freedom of movement, the right to privacy and refugee rights;
- Order the Moscow Migration Service to cease rejecting applications for asylum on the grounds that the applicant is not a resident of Moscow or has no close relatives in the city. Ensure that the Moscow city and region governments facilitate asylum seekers in remaining in Moscow until the end of the asylum process.
- Ensure that no refugees residing in Moscow hotels who challenge their new housing assignments are evicted from their premises without a housing assignment.
To the UNHCR
- The High Commissioner should personally engage the Moscow city and Russian governments at the highest level to cease the illegal treatment of asylum seekers documented in this report and to secure guarantees that UNHCR refugee cards will be accepted as adequate identity documents.
