Monitoring the World Society: LGBT Human Rights in Russia and Sweden

Abstract

Purpose: This chapter explores the relationship between international human rights and the domestic practices of nation-states around lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights.

Methodology/approach: Using Sweden and Russia as case studies, this chapter analyzes LGBT human rights recommendations from the cyclical United Nations Universal Periodic Review and how they affect practices within nation-states.

Findings: Sweden embraces recommendations to strengthen LGBT human rights and institutes stronger national LGBT rights policies of its own, while Russia’s compliance with LGBT rights recommendations is low. Further, reports of LGBT victimization show that the severity of attacks on LGBT people is pronounced in Russia.

Social implications: Relying on case studies limits the generalizability of this study, but the implications of these findings suggest that, to strengthen human rights compliance and improve the lives of minority citizens, human rights advocates should take note of domestic ideologies and leverage the institutional environment of the world society to provide information, resources, and pressure to facilitate nation-states’ compliance with international human rights recommendations.

Originality/value: This chapter deepens the discourse on the contested realm of international LGBT rights by highlighting the dynamics between international monitoring mechanisms, domestic discourse, and domestic law.

Citation

MacCartney, D. (2017), "Monitoring the World Society: LGBT Human Rights in Russia and Sweden", Demos, V. and Segal, M.T. (Ed.) Gender Panic, Gender Policy (Advances in Gender Research, Vol. 24), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 309-332. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1529-212620170000024017