Moscow Helsinki Group Tells Putin Propaganda Law Is Harming Children

The Moscow Helsinki Group , (MHG) Russia’s oldest and most respected human rights group ,has released a report highly critical of Russia’s new “propaganda” law. The study points to the climate of homophobia the law has engendered, saying it has put the lives of teens at risk.

The MHG report says Russia is disregarding the United Nations provision that member countries must always act in best interest of the child. They say the propaganda law disregards what is truly in the best interest of Russian teens in favor of  ”preserving Russian family values”.

A spokesman for MGH said in a statement:

“With formal recognition of international law, [the propaganda law] denies one of the basic concepts of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child – the concept of the “best interests of the child”, created to customize the decisions taken within the framework of national legal systems in the interests of the individual child .”