Moscow militia detains persons of Caucasian origin 20 times more often than Slavs

A study conducted in the Moscow metro shows that the number persons who are visually perceived as originating from the Caucasus or Middle Asia amounts to 50.9 % of persons stopped by militia, although the share of such people does not exceed 4.6% in the total passenger flow. Only in 3% of cases, offences have been registered, mainly constituting the lack of required documents.

The results of the study "Ethnically selective approach in the militia actions in Moscow metro" have been presented today at a press-conference held in the "Novosti" news agency press-centre. The monitoring aimed at analyzing the ethnically selective approach of militia in checking documents has been conducted within the framework of the joint "Legal Initiative" project implemented by "Open Society," non-government organization "Lawyers for Constitutional Rights and Freedoms " (URIKS) and the consulting company "Lamberth Consulting." Anita Soboleva, leader of the NGO URIKS, James Goldston, executive director of the "Legal Initiative" project of the "Open Society" institute, Yuri Jibladze, president of the Democracy and Human Rights Development centre, coordinator of the Russian Anti-discrimination Initiative, have taken part in the press-conference. The press-conference has been conducted by journalist Akram Murtazaev.

As announced at the press-conference, such a study was carried out in Russia for the first time and aimed at a scientific confirmation of the fact of ethnically selective approach by law-enforcement officers in the course of checking documents in the metro. Additionally, the researchers set the task of analyzing the efficiency of checking the documents of persons with "non-Slavonic" appearance for the purpose of ensuring public safety and precluding offences.

The monitoring of actions by law-enforcement officers in the Moscow metro has been conducted from May to September 2005. Data on more than 1500 stops of passengers at 15 metro stations have been analyzed. Also, part of the information has been obtained in the course of interviews with 367 passengers selected among those stopped by militia.

The study results show that the probability of being stopped by militia is 21.8 times higher for persons with Caucasian or Asian appearance than for those with Slavonic appearance. It is the highest level of ethnic selectivity among the previously conducted studies. For comparison, similar monitoring in US and UK have revealed that the probability of being stopped by police is maximum 4-5 times higher for representative of national minorities (Africans, Asians, Latin Americans) than for representatives of the white population.

An important part of the study is the conclusion on the inefficiency of the actions of militia based on ethnically selective approach. Illegal migration and terrorist acts connected with events in North Caucasus are the main arguments of the law-enforcement agencies and the public in favour of checking documents of persons with non-Slavonic appearance. Yet, the Moscow metro monitoring has demonstrated that militia reveals offences only in 3% of cases out of the total number of stops. All of them have been connected with the lack of the required documents.

In the opinion of the authors of the report, ethnically selective approach in checking documents is absolutely inefficient. It substitutes the real work on preventing offences and, at the same time, results in mass violations of human rights.

However, as Yuri Jibladze notes, "the study and the information in it are not aimed at attacking the MIA. Our goal is to identify the problem, document it and discuss, what can be changed together with militia, firstly, for militia to operate more efficiently and, secondly, to prevent racial and ethnic discrimination."

"The problem of ethnically selective approach by law-enforcement agencies is part of a wider problem of ethnic and racial discrimination, xenophobia and intolerance in Russia. The selective approach towards people takes place in different situations, i.e. in granting citizenship, issuing residence permits, granting the status of forced immigrants, and in many other cases. In this context, it is very important to be able to identify the problem in terms of documented and measurable indicators, so that we not only speak about them but efficiently manage the situation by way of changing the legislation and the state policy and by way of elaborating mechanisms of public influence on the state and cooperation of public with the state," says Jibladze.

In her presentation, Anita Soboleva, leader of the NGO URIKS, listed the recommendations of the authors of the report.

The research team suggests that the Ministry of Internal Affairs should work out instructions regulating the procedure of stopping individuals by militiamen, based on behavioural or other objective criteria. Today, militiamen, in conformance with the law, are entitled to stop any person whom he suspects of committing an offence or a crime. Absence of registration is also regarded as an offence. The authors of the study consider it necessary to introduce records of all individuals who have been stopped, the way it is done, for instance, in Great Britain. There, they register the fact of stopping each person, and a copy of the record is handed to the person. Militiamen's salaries must be significantly raised, so that the command can select professionally fit individuals, avoid a high turnover of personnel and train militia officers. It is recommended that the Moscow city department of internal affairs should arrange bulletin boards at all metro stations with information on the citizens' rights and duties and the procedure of complaining against militiamen's actions.

The public, in its turn, should work out and implement an independent system of civil monitoring of the militia actions.

The authors think that such measures will not yield success unless legislation is amended. They propose sanctions for the lack of registration should be removed from the administrative code. The working team is sure that this revolutionary measure will not hinder order in Moscow but will considerably subdue the wish of unscrupulous militiamen to stop individuals exclusively for checking their registration. It is proposed to amend the law on the identification documents of RF citizens. These should include, along with passport, any ID issued by state agencies, for instance, the driver's license.

The studies " Ethnically selective approach in the law enforcement agencies" are being conducted in many countries of the world. Today, they are especially topical in the countries facing terrorist attacks. The authors of the study "Ethnically selective approach in the militia actions in Moscow metro" have naturally taken into account the experience of such countries. The conclusion of the authors of the Russian study matches the conclusions made in the studies conducted in other countries: the ethnically selective approach is inefficient as a method of ensuring law enforcement.

" Ethnically selective approach in the actions of law-enforcement and other agencies is typical for many countries of Europe and North America. "In the USA, for example, such figures of speech have been introduced as "to drive a car being coloured" or "get on a plane being a Muslim"" said James Goldston, executive director of the "Legal Initiative" project of the "Open Society" institute, in his presentation.

"The fact that such an approach exists in the actions of law-enforcement agencies, firstly, legitimizes other methods of ethnic discrimination, for instance, in shops, educational institutions, etc. Secondly, this approach damages the relations between ethnic communities and the law-enforcement agencies. Police alienate themselves from ethnic communities which could cooperate with them in preventing crimes."

Additionally, according to James Goldston, criminals and terrorists are the first who respond to the ethnically selective approach of police. The more predictable the police behaviour, the easier for the criminal to avoid detention.