Finland Times

A collective petition by volunteer, student and civic organizations in Turku will also be presented  to a representative of the City of Turku  on the occasion.

Roosa Laaksonen, the festival coordinator, Kirsi Mikkonen, vice-chairperson of Seta ry. (Turku division) as well as Mikko Lohikoski, communications manager for the City of Turku will be speaking and answering questions at the event.

The seminar recounts current information about the events taking place in Russia and especially in St. Petersburg, and clarifies the context in which this situation has risen. 

Repressive legislation targeting sexual and gender minorities and the hardening atmosphere in society at large has lead to a situation where authorities are restricting the rights of the people and violence, fear and worry for the future are ever more present in the lives of regular people as well as the actions of activists.

 An example of this is the nation-wide law forbidding the propagation of non-traditional values to minors that was passed in 2012. Although the law itself does not offer a detailed description as to what non-traditional values are, it has had several negative consequences: School nurses can no longer tell students about the diversity of sexuality in a positive light; couples no longer feel safe walking down the street holding hands for fear of being attacked. Currently, the lower house of the Russian parliament is processing a bill that questions the right same-sex parents have to their own children. Should the law pass, families will unnecessarily lose custody of their children and those with the possibility to leave will escape abroad in hopes of finding a more tolerant society to live in.  

A snapshot into the current situation of sexual and gender minorities will be offered by Roosa Laaksonen, who worked as an intern for The Russian LGBT Network during the summer of 2013. Mariya Riekkinen, a researcher from Åbo Akademi’s Human Rights Institute, will talk about the Russian society, how it functions, as well as shedding light to the possibilities citizens have to take part in democratic decision making in the country. The European perspective will be discussed by Freek van der Vet, a postgraduate student from the Aleksanteri Institute, with emphasis on the cases taken to the European Court of Human Rights by Russian citizens. Author Antti Rautiainen, as the last speaker, will discuss the way the Russian political system functions through an example case.

A panel discussion will follow the seminar. The panelists will reflect on the issues taken up during the day and discuss how the events in Russia are reflected in Finland and whether or not we should take a stand on the issue. Panelists will be the following: Li Andersson, Chairperson of The Left Youth of Finland and municipal politician in Turku; Elina Rantanen, the second vice-chairperson of the council of the City of Turku (Green Party); Antti Rautiainen, author as well as Roosa Laaksonen, the coordinator of Oh Russia! –festival, the press release added.