U.N. rights body urges Russia fight racism

By Robert Evans

GENEVA (Reuters) - A key United Nations rights body voiced alarm on Monday at mounting racial violence in Russia and called on Moscow to take firm action against ultra-nationalist and neo-Nazi groups and hate speech in the media.

The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination also urged the Russian government to hold an investigation into police repression of Georgians in Russia in 2006.

The Committee said it was "gravely concerned about the alarming increase in the incidence and severity of racially motivated violence, especially by young people belonging to extremist groups".

The targets of violence and hate speech, it said, were Chechens and other people from the Caucasus, people from Central Asia, Roma, Meskhetian Turks, ethnic minorities of Jewish or Muslim faith and Africans.

The Committee's report followed a discussion its 18 expert members held with a Russian delegation -- and with rights groups from the country -- earlier this month as part of a review of U.N. states' racism record.

Russian human rights activists said during the hearings that police often stood by when skinhead and neo-Nazi groups staged demonstrations against Jews, ethnic minorities or foreigners.

OFFICIAL RACISM

The Committee said a "thorough investigation" was needed into events in 2006, which Tbilisi at the time said reflected official racism against Georgians, stoking tension between the two former Soviet states.