While few students may follow human rights issues abroad, a Russian journalist offered vivid description of compromising human rights during a guest lecture Thursday.

The lecture emphasized the scarcity of outlets for Russians to communicate discontent with the government, in stark contrast to the lives of citizens in the United States.

Tanya Lokshina described Russians being threatened by police and having their houses burnt to the ground if they filed complaints about law enforcement.

As a journalist who currently works as a researcher in the Moscow Office of Human Rights Watch, Lokshina has seen the brutality firsthand and interviewed many citizens who have dared to speak to her.

Lokshina spoke about the political turmoil in the North Caucuses of Russia. The problem, she said, lies with the government not having effective means of policing the activities of the Jihadist insurgents.

“In order to fight insurgency, the government needs support from citizens, but people in the Northern Caucuses are the ones who suffer during anti-insurgency operations,” Lokshina said. “They’re antagonized and do not trust the government.”

She also discussed the northern region of Chechnya, where an increased numbers of young people have begun joining these Islamic fundamentalist insurgencies in an act of revenge or personal protest.

Lokshina added there is little way in which discontented citizens living in Chechnya can express disagreement with Kadyrov and the system in a peaceful manner, though many young people do not support jihadist attitudes.

Once these individuals are [with the insurgents] they become indoctrinated, she added.

This phenomena, combined with fear of law enforcement, leads to a vicious cycle of the government attempting to fight insurgents, frightening the citizens and leading to the strengthening of the insurgency.

Women’s rights are also being compromised, according to Lokshina.

Because Kadyrov practices Islam, female residents of Chechnya are forced to wear headscarves. Law enforcement attack women who do not don them in public with paintball guns and have warned them if they do not soon comply, they will be “forced to resort to more drastic matters.”

University of Wisconsin graduate student Tom Van Booy said hearing about Chechnya interested him because people rarely discuss the region, even in Russia.

Political science professor Jon Pevehouse said the U.S. puts little pressure on Russia to assist the victims.

“The Obama Administration has tried hard to improve relations with Russia. So, frankly, human rights have gotten somewhat short shrift,” he said. “The U.S. needs Russia for any action on Iran’s nuclear program.”

Pevehouse also said because it looked as though the Senate might not approve the nuclear arms pact with Russia until the late ratification last month, the U.S. was not going to antagonize them on other issues.

Lokshina said though she had optimism for the future of human rights in Russia, the outlook remains bleak.

“The government is not ready to develop a new, well thought out policy in the Northern Caucus region that would actually have a strong human rights component…they must do something first about people’s frustrations,” she said.