We developed the WELCOME TO CHECHNYA impact campaign with the input of activists and advocates working in Russia and elsewhere to bring an end to the anti-LGBTQ pogrom in Chechnya and to human rights abuses against LGBTQ people worldwide.
LGBTQ people are still at risk of harm in Chechnya — and around the world — but the film was successful in moving the needle in a number of ways: generating resources, access to decision makers, and platforms to share testimony for activists and survivors; amplifying the calls for accountability and justice from audience members, activists, and policy makers; creating greater political will for economic sanctions against the perpetrators; and motivating citizen activists to step up in the face of anti-LGBTQ policy and sentiment everywhere.
Nevertheless, the work is by no means over. We hope that activists and others will continue to use WELCOME TO CHECHNYA to impact social and policy change — and that we have laid the groundwork for them to succeed.
