ALTERNATIVE HEARINGS ON HUMAN RIGHTS IN TO BE HELD IN BRUSSELS ON SEPTEMBER 8 PARALLEL TO OFFICIAL EU-RUSSIA CONSULTATIONS

Press Statement by Initiative Group of Russian Human Rights Defenders

Moscow, September 5, 2005. On September 8, in Brussels, a second round of the “human rights consultations” between Russia and the European Union will be held. Russian human rights organizations welcome these consultations as such and are firmly convinced that they may develop into an important instrument of protecting human rights, strengthening stability, and promoting democratic values in Europe. For this reason, both Russia and the EU should be interested in an open and productive dialogue on the most urgent human rights issues; they should seek closer cooperation for the sake of step-by-step solution of the existing problems. Russian human rights defenders regard the newly organized consultations as especially important in view of the fact that in recent years the UN Human Rights Commission, the traditional mechanism of mutual control in the human rights sphere, has weakened.

At the same time, there is a danger that the discussions between the EU and Russia on human rights risk to be effectively removed from the public sphere and develop into “consultations for the sake of consultations,” that is, into just an imitation of a meaningful dialogue.

In order to remedy the situation, Russian and international NGOs working in the area of human rights and fundamental freedoms should be given a certain role to play in the dialogue between Russia and the EU on these issues. In particular, they should be informed of the agenda, acquire the possibility to suggest some agenda items and to supply the sides with agenda-related materials.

Political consultations should be doubled by expert consultations on the items of the agenda, in order to feed into the process, drawing upon the experiences of EU-China and EU-Iran comprehensive human rights dialogues.

Representatives of Russian and international NGOs should be given the right to be accredited at such meetings; this right should be extended at each particular meeting to those NGOs that supplied relevant materials and were recommended by at least one of the sides. It is also essential that Government delegations invite experts from key human rights NGOs to contribute to the actual discussion.

In July this year, a large group of leading Russian human rights organizations addressed the Governments of European Union States and the Russia Government with a detailed letter comprising these and other suggestions as well as outlining some priority topics for the inclusion in the agenda of the next two rounds of human rights consultations. They are as follows:

1. Observation of Human Rights by the Law Enforcement Agencies and Reform of the Law Enforcement System 2. Counterterrorism Struggle and Human Rights. Protection of Human Rights as an Important Element of Ensuring Security 3. Observation of Electoral Rights 4. Freedom of the Media 5. Persecution for Political Convictions and Problems of the Independence of the Judicial System 6. The Rights of the Military Servicemen and Alternative Servicemen 7. Migration and Human Rights, Ethnic Discrimination and Racially-Motivated Violence

1 Following on that letter, upon request of several European Governments, Russian human rights provided briefing papers on some of these topics. Also, in August, the UK Embassy in organized a special briefing for Russian human rights defenders with a group of British officials, as the United Kingdom, being the new President of the EU, is in the lead of organizing the September consultations in Brussels. At that meeting, Russian human rights defenders made their presentations on the aforementioned topics and discussed with the UK officials the prospects for the up-coming consultations. While the data and the advice of Russian NGOs were heartily welcomed by the British Government, the human rights defenders were told that their direct participation in the governmental consultations was not possible, as that would go against the regular procedure for official bilateral consultations.

Russian and international human rights organizations are convinced that both Russia and the EU will profit from an open public discussion of the human rights issues and from join quest for solutions. The EU and Russia are neighbors with common borders, and therefore any problems in the human rights sphere in Russia will immediately affect domestic developments in the EU member States. Therefore, tangible progress in the Russia-EU human rights consultations should serve as a condition for the progress in Russia-EU negotiations on “four common spaces” (including economics, security, visa regime, culture and science) and develop, in this way, the principles of the 1975 Helsinki Final Accord that speaks about indivisibility between security and human rights and says that human rights is not an “internal matter” of any state.

Unable to contribute to the official proceedings, Russian human rights defenders deemed it necessary to come to Brussels on the day of the official consultations and organize in cooperation with the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) special hearings on open to the media, interested governmental officials and the wide public. At these hearings, leading human rights experts from Moscow and the Northern Caucasus will give talks and launch a debate on the priority human rights issues, with a special focus on the situation in and around the so-called zone of counter-terrorist operation. *** Date and time of the hearings: September 8, 10.00 – 18.00 Venue: Hotel Tulip Inn, Avenue du Boulevard 17, Brussels Hearings are open to the public. No accreditation is required.

List of Russian experts: Ludmilla Alexeeva (, Moscow) Shakhman Akhbulatov (Human Rights Center “”, Ingushetia) Vissarion Aseev (human rights defender, Beslan, North Osetia) Ruslan Badalov (Chechen Committee for National Salvation, Ingushetia) Alexander Cherkasov (Human Rights Center “Memorial”, Moscow) Yuri Dzhibladze (Center for the Development of Democracy and Human Rights, Moscow) Svetlana Gannushkina (“Civic Assistance” Committee, Moscow) (International Society “Memorial”, Moscow) Ida Kuklina (Union of Soldier Mothers’ Committee, Moscow) Tanya Lokshina (Center “Demos”/International Helsinki Federation, Moscow) Lev Ponomaryov (Movement for Human Rights, Moscow) Ekaterina Sokirianskaya (Human Rights Center “Memorial”, Ingushetia) Boris Timoshenko (Glasnost Defense Foundation, Moscow)

Additional information: In Paris: Sasha Koulaeva, FIDH, tel. (33−1) 43−55−19−38, [email protected]; In Moscow: Tanya Lokshina, Center “Demos”, +7 916 624-1906, [email protected]

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