Succesfully discrimination challenge in Russia

St. Petersburg (Russia) and Budapest (Hungary), 21 September 2005 – In a written judgment made available on 20 September 2005,a Russian district court found that the Russian state railway had discriminated against a potential employee whose military card was marked with “mental disorder” solely on the basis of his homosexuality.

Mr. VP was diagnosed with “perverse psychopathy” in 1992 solely because of his homosexual orientation, which was considered a “mental disorder” in the nomenclature of diseases in the

Soviet Union. At that time a note was entered into Mr. VP’s registry in a local psychiatric clinic, and he was required to attend periodic psychiatric assessments. He was classified as incapable of serving in the army and issued a military card with the diagnostic code 7b which expressly referred to a psychopathic mental disorder in the Soviet nomenclature of disorders.

In 2003 his entry in the psychiatric registry of the local psychiatric clinic was deleted. However, the military registration office refused to cancel his diagnosis and confirmed that the office still considered him unable to serve in the army because of his homosexuality which they had (wrongly) re-classified as “other disorders of sexual identity,” a classification in the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) (Since publication of the tenth edition in 1992, the ICD has not classified homosexuality as a mental disorder.) As of 1999, the Ministry of Health in

Russia obliged all medical professionals to use ICD-10 diagnoses, and homosexuality was expressly deleted from the list of conditions limiting someone’s ability to serve in the military under the 2003 Russian nomenclature of disorders.

Later in 2003, Mr. VP applied to the St. Petersburg “Dorozhnaya Poliklinika” [Railway Clinic] to obtain a health certificate which would enable him to begin training as a railway guard, a profession he wanted to pursue. The Railway Clinic refused to declare him professionally fit for the job because of the diagnostic code in his military card (every man in Russia has a military card, which must be presented to employers when applying for a job) and because of his former entry in the psychiatric registry. The Railway Clinic did this knowing that Mr. VP was no longer listed in the psychiatric registry. The Railway Clinic maintained that the diagnostic code on Mr. VP’s military card was sufficient grounds to find him professionally unfit according to the list of medical conditions which are incompatible with high risk professions.

MDAC represented Mr. VP in his claim challenging the Railway Clinic’s decision, arguing that it violated Mr. VP’s rights to education and employment guaranteed by the Russian Constitution. The issue at stake was whether his “bad military card” or a former record of a mental illness was lawful grounds for limiting his professional ability. In its submission, MDAC also argued that the applicant’s homosexuality should have never been considered as a mental disorder.

On 20 September, the Frunzensky Distict Court of St. Petersburg made available its written judgment. In its judgment, the Court declared unlawful the decision of the medical expert commission of the state railway health care institution of 6 February 2003. The court ruled on two important issues:

1. The court declared unlawful the practice of using military data to restrict human rights: The court found that the military card is a document of military registration and information regarding health status contained on the military card should only be used for the purpose of military registration and not for establishing health status related to employment. The court noted that Federal regulations require employers to assess only certificates from the specialized health institutions authorized to issue such certificates, and in this case Mr. VP had a recent certificate from such an institution which the Railway Clinic had wrongly ignored.

2. The court confirmed that Mr VP’s 1992 diagnosis of “perverse psychopathy” was based exclusively on his homosexual orientation. The court re-stated that homosexuality is not a mental disorder.

MDAC welcomes this judgment, which will contribute to the fight against stigma about both homosexuality and mental disability in Russia. It is unfortunately common that Soviet system psychiatric diagnoses continue to be used to restrict everyday life. People with former records of psychiatric disorders or “bad military cards” – limited ability to serve in the military because of a (former) mental disorder – are routinely prevented from getting jobs. Records of former mental disability have been used to deny certificates of professional ability. And, military card diagnostic entries have been used to deny driver’s licenses. This judgment goes some of the way toward restoring dignity to people who have had their rights unjustly curtailed in these ways. To broaden impact, MDAC is disseminating the court’s decision within Russia and beyond.

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The Mental Disability Advocacy Center (MDAC) is an international non-governmental organization based in Budapest (Hungary). MDAC protects the rights of people labeled with mental health problems or intellectual disabilities in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia through litigation, law reform, research and intergovernmental advocacy. MDAC has participatory status at the Council of Europe and is a cooperating Organization of the International Helsinki Federation of Human Rights.

Contact information

Dmitri Bartenev (St. Petersburg) +7 905 222 8915

Oliver Lewis (Budapest) +36 1 413 2730

Mental Disability Advocacy Center (MDAC)
H-1073 Budapest, Erzsébet krt. 52, Hungary
Tel: +36 1 413 2730
Mob: +36 30 343 6732

Fax: +36 1 413 2739
Email: olewis@mdac.info
Web: www.mdac.info