UN Secretary General Kofi Annan visits the Russian Foreign Ministry press centre during his visit to Moscow.
Photo: Ilya Pitalev
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Russia’s Human Right Defenders Hardly Have Any Rights Themselves
International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH) and World Organization Against Torture (OMCT) presented yesterday an annual report dedicated to human right defenders of 90 countries of the world. For Russia’s right advocates, the life is getting worse and worse, the report makes clear, specifying that authorities step up attacks on them, ban their rallies, intimidate them and accuse of links with western secret services. Any critical statements made against Putin’s regime would lead to severe punishment.
The role that OMCT plays in protection of human right defenders, HRDs, is hard to overestimate. Pioneer in that undertaking, OMCT has always denounced the repression to which they are submitted. In 1997, OMCT created in tandem with FIDH the Observatory for the Protection of Human Right Defenders.
Founded in 1922, FIDH unites 141 organizations today, while OMCT leads 282 institutes of right defenders in 92 countries worldwide.
The annual report of these two authorities are released in four languages, including Russian. The jubilee edition was presented yesterday, July 26, 2007. Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas Hammarberg and former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan wrote an opening address.
The report describes around 1, 300 cases of attacks on HRDs that took place in 2006. A sizeable portion is predictably dedicated to Russia. The report accuses the Kremlin of stepping up crackdown on HRDs, blaming on them spying for foreign countries and banning their rallies. The report also specifies growing intolerance of authorities to sexual minority coupled with extreme tolerance to any rallies of nationalists. In Russia, the report emphasizes, the authorities revised laws to further complicate registration of nongovernmental organizations.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of July 27, 2007
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