Thu. July 6, 2017
The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation's largest LGBT rights advocate, is calling on President Donald Trump to ask Russian President Vladimir Putin about attacks on gay men in Chechnya.
Trump is scheduled to meet with Putin on Friday at the G-20 summit in Hamburg, Germany.
HRC President Chad Griffin called on Trump to "forcefully raise" the issue during the meeting.
"I urge you to stand with the victims by calling on President Putin to take immediate action to bring the violence to an end and the perpetrators of these horrendous crimes to justice," Griffin wrote.
In April, Novaya Gaceta reported that authorities in Chechnya, a semi-autonomous Muslim-majority republic of Russia, have rounded up dozens of suspected gay men and killed three. The paper has since reported that the men are being held at six secret prisons without due process and that the campaign has resulted in the deaths of 26 men since the start of the year.
"The U.S. must not step back from its essential role as a human rights leader and as a champion of the world's most vulnerable," Griffin continued. "Failure to speak out against these atrocities signals to dictators and human rights violators that the U.S. will turn a blind eye to their crimes. We can, and must, serve as a beacon of hope."
(Related: Rex Tillerson has not raised the issue of attacks on gay men in Chechnya with Russia.)
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