by FIONA KEATING
Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (L) walks with Irish counterpart Taoiseach Leo Varadkar (C) and his partner Dr Matthew Barrett (R) PHOTO/Reuters
The federal government of Canada has been secretly helping gay Chechen men flee persecution in an under-the-radar programme.
The arrangement has been introduced under the guidance of Chrystia Freeland, Canada’s foreign affairs minister.
Ms Freeland “wanted to be able to save a few individuals”, according to a government source. “And we also wanted to allow Canada to serve as a demonstration for like-minded countries about what could be done.”
The deeply conservative republic of Chechnya, a federal subject of Russia, allegedly launched a “gay purge” this spring, originally reported by Russian opposition newspaper Novaya Gazeta.
The paper claimed that at least 100 men had been detained “in connection with their non-traditional sexual orientation”.
The MailOnline also reported the existence of a detention centre; a Nazi-style concentration camp in the town of Argun, designed to imprison and torture LGBT men so that they would leave the republic.
The Russian LGBT Network said that men were being hunted, rounded up and beaten, sometimes to death. They stated that 52 people had contacted them claiming to have been detained and tortured.
Reports on numbers vary, but at least 26 men are thought to have been murdered.
Over the last three months, 22 people, many of whom were living in Russian safe houses, are now safe in several Canadian cities, including Toronto. Other people fleeing Russia’s harsh anti-gay discrimination are expected to touch down in Canada over the next few weeks.
The asylum deal does not fall under the conventions of international law, but the North American country is carrying on despite this.
“Canada accepted a large number of people who are in great danger, and that is wonderful,” said Tanya Lokshina, the Russian program director for Human Rights Watch, in an interview with The Globe and Mail.
“The Canadian government deserves much praise for showing such openness and goodwill to provide sanctuary for these people. They did the right thing.”
The government scheme has been operating covertly for fear of reprisals. Kimahli Powell, the executive director of Rainbow Railroad, has spoken out, saying: “We needed to be discreet about the program for as long as possible to maintain their safety.”
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