The participants of the international conference dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the Moscow Helsinki Group recognize the growth of antisemitic tendencies in Russian society in the past 2-3 years. Numerous incidents of propaganda of interethnic and religious intolerance and enmity by a number of deputies in both houses of the Russian parliament, governors, other officials, and in the press and the use of xenophobia and antisemitism as a tactic in election campaigns are not being met with the needed resistance by federal structures and law enforcement agencies. Often, the leaders in power themselves participate in the spreading of interethnic tension. The growth of xenophobia is a real threat to the civil peace and integrity of the country. Neither economic nor social reforms are possible to carry out in an atmosphere of intolerance and hatred.
Xenophobia affects the observance of human rights in the worst way.
We call on the President of the Russian Federation to uphold the ethnic and religious dignity of all citizens. We ask Russia's human rights organizations to increase the monitoring of instances of all forms of xenophobia and antisemitism, and to widely publish this information both inside and outside the country and strive for the effective defense of victims of xenophobia and other types of ethnic or religious discrimination. Copyright 2001, Union of Councils for Soviet Jews.