CONGRESSIONAL RECORD— Extensions of Remarks E780 HON
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Helsinki Watch Committees in the Soviet Republics: Implications For
FINAL REPORT T O NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR SOVIET AND EAST EUROPEAN RESEARC H TITLE : HELSINKI WATCH COMMITTEES IN THE SOVIET REPUBLICS : IMPLICATIONS FOR THE SOVIET NATIONALITY QUESTIO N AUTHORS : Yaroslav Bilinsky Tönu Parming CONTRACTOR : University of Delawar e PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS : Yaroslav Bilinsky, Project Director an d Co-Principal Investigato r Tönu Parming, Co-Principal Investigato r COUNCIL CONTRACT NUMBER : 621- 9 The work leading to this report was supported in whole or in part fro m funds provided by the National Council for Soviet and East European Research . NOTICE OF INTENTION TO APPLY FOR COPYRIGH T This work has been requested for manuscrip t review for publication . It is not to be quote d without express written permission by the authors , who hereby reserve all the rights herein . Th e contractual exception to this is as follows : The [US] Government will have th e right to publish or release Fina l Reports, but only in same forma t in which such Final Reports ar e delivered to it by the Council . Th e Government will not have the righ t to authorize others to publish suc h Final Reports without the consent o f the authors, and the individua l researchers will have the right t o apply for and obtain copyright o n any work products which may b e derived from work funded by th e Council under this Contract . ii EXEC 1 Overall Executive Summary HELSINKI WATCH COMMITTEES IN THE SOVIET REPUBLICS : IMPLICATIONS FOR THE SOVIET NATIONALITY QUESTION by Yaroslav Bilinsky, University of Delawar e d Tönu Parming, University of Marylan August 1, 1975, after more than two years of intensive negotiations, 35 Head s of Governments--President Ford of the United States, Prime Minister Trudeau of Canada , Secretary-General Brezhnev of the USSR, and the Chief Executives of 32 othe r European States--signed the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperatio n in Europe (CSCE) . -
Dissidents Versus Communists
DISSIDENTS VERSUS COMMUNISTS An Examination of the Soviet Dissidence Movement Matthew Williams Professor Transchel History 419 May 12, 2016 Williams 1 On February 25, 1956, Nikita Khrushchev gave a speech to the Twentieth Congress and to the Communist Party stating that Joseph Stalin was responsible for all of the empire’s then-current issues. He also gave insight into the criminal actions performed by the man during his lifetime. This speech was called the “Secret Speech” as it was not publicized at first, but once word got out about the true nature of Stalin, people began to doubt everything they knew to be true. Khrushchev decreased the censorship and restrictions on people and also freed millions of political prisoners from Gulags, beginning what would come to be referred to as the “thaw”. Many people had practically worshipped Stalin and knew him to represent the Communist party’s creed of infallibility. The tarnishing of his image led many people to seriously doubt the capabilities of the party.1 As truths came out and people began to discuss issues, there was increasing dissatisfaction with the Communist Party and a community of dissenters was born. This community of dissenters would ultimately keep the fight for freedom going long after the end of the thaw era, until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. This paper will examine the dissent movement, from its roots in the end of the Stalin era to the collapse in 1991; it will address how the dissent movement came into being, and how it evolved as new challenges were presented to it. -
Russia 2012-2013: Attack on Freedom / 3 Introduction
RUSSIA 2012-2013 : Attack on Freedom Article 1: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. Article 2: Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty. Article 3: Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person. Article 4: No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms. Article 5: No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, February 2014 / N°625a Cover photo: Demonstration in front of the State Duma (Russian Parliament) in Moscow on 18 July 2013, after the conviction of Alexei Navalny. © AFP PHOTO / Ivan Novikov 2 / Titre du rapport – FIDH Introduction -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4 1. Authoritarian Methods to Suppress Rights and Freedoms -------------------------------- 6 2. Repressive Laws ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 8 2.1. Restrictions on Freedom -
The Moscow Helsinki Group the Seed from Which the Helsinki Movement Grew
Helsinki Committees The 1975 Helsinki Final Act recognized respect for human rights and funda- mental freedoms, including the freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief as one of the ten basic principles guiding relations between participat- ing States. It affirmed “the right of the individual to know and act upon his rights and duties in this field.” The Helsinki Final Act, or the Helsinki Accords, as the agreement was often called, was published in full by the main newspapers of the 35 participating States, informing the people of what their leaders had signed up to. Public acceptance of human rights and fundamental freedoms inspired the estab- lishment of Helsinki Committees in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, which were soon supported by similar groups in North America and Western Europe. It was dangerous at the time to report on violations of the Helsinki Final Act. In spite of the danger, their reports were tabled at the CSCE Follow- up meetings in the 1970s and 1980s and brought changes to people’s lives. Violations of human rights continue across the OSCE region. The work of the Helsinki Committees and related groups is as relevant today as it was 35 years ago. The Moscow Helsinki Group The seed from which the Helsinki movement grew by Ludmilla Alexeeva public group to monitor compliance with the Hel- observe the Helsinki Accords in full measure, including sinki Accords in the USSR, the Moscow Helsinki the humanitarian articles. Violation of these agreements A Group (MHG), was established in Moscow on 12 May could have led to the collapse of the Helsinki Accords, 1976 on the basis of the third “basket” of the Helsinki something the Soviet leadership could not accept. -
Statement on Moscow Helsinki Group's 30 Anniversary
PC.DEL/459/06 19 May 2006 ENGLISH only United States Mission to the OSCE Statement on Moscow Helsinki Group’s 30th Anniversary As delivered by Political Counselor Bruce Connuck to the Permanent Council, Vienna May 18, 2006 Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Last week marked the 30th anniversary of the founding of the Moscow Helsinki Group. The United States applauds the Group's three decades of contributions to the worldwide movement for human rights. Established on May 12th, 1976 by a small circle of steadfast human rights activists, the Moscow Helsinki Group sought to promote the Soviet Union's implementation of the 1974 Helsinki accord -- an agreement linking security among states to respect for human rights within states. At a press conference held in Nobel Laureate Andrei Sakharov's apartment announcing the Group's formation, the Group's leader, physicist Yuri Orlov, asked those present to join him in the traditional toast of Soviet dissidents: "To the success of our hopeless cause!" Thanks in great measure to the courage, perseverance and sacrifice of the Moscow Helsinki Group members -- and the work of the NGOs that they inspired in the Soviet Union and Eastern and central Europe -- the Helsinki process has not just borne witness to historic changes once thought to be hopeless causes; it has helped to bring those changes about. We recognize the pioneering contributions the Group has made and the importance of NGOs to the development of civil society in supporting OSCE commitments. Mr. Chairman, even today, citizens of some OSCE participating States face harassment or arrest for meeting quietly in private homes and apartments. -
From Helsinki to Human Rights Watch: How an American Cold War Monitoring Group Became an International Human Rights Institution
Peter Slezkine From Helsinki to Human Rights Watch: How an American Cold War Monitoring Group Became an International Human Rights Institution On September 7, 2010, George Soros gave Human Rights Watch (HRW) a $100 million grant, the largest in its history. ‘‘I’m afraid the United States has lost the moral high ground under the Bush administration, but the principles that Human Rights Watch promotes have not lost their universal applicability,’’ he said. ‘‘So to be more effective, I think the organization has to be seen as more international, less an American organization.’’1 Today, it is taken for granted that HRW’s scope should be international and its principles universally applicable. It seems self-evident that an organization called Human Rights Watch should strive to monitor abuses wherever they occur and to enforce universal standards on a global scale. It is also understood that to be most effective (and least vulnerable to criticism), HRW should appear to reflect the univer- sality of its principles. In its ideal form, it would operate outside the world of particular allegiances, origins, and ideologies; at the very least, it would embody a global cross-section of particular concerns. Of course, such perfect impartiality and universal representativeness must always remain elusive. A headquarters in New York and a significant percentage of American donors and staff risk tying HRW’s moral standing to that of the U.S. government, as Soros pointed out. And the opening of each new office, the issuing of each new report, and the acceptance of each new donation may be construed as examples of particular biases that would undermine HRW’s declared universalism. -
The Paradigm of Scientists for Sakharov, Orlov and Sharansky (Sos)
GUERRILLA TACTICS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS: THE PARADIGM OF SCIENTISTS FOR SAKHAROV, ORLOV AND SHARANSKY (SOS) (Invited speech on the occasion of the Sakharov Prize Award at the 2010 “April” meeting of the American Physical Society) February 15, 2010 Morris (Moishe ) Pripstein Physics Division, National Science Foundation I would like to thank the American Physical Society for honoring me as a co-recipient of the Sakharov Prize along with such illustrious human-rights activists as my colleagues Joe Birman and Herman Winick. I would also like to thank my wife, Flo, for her major contributions to the activities described below which led to this award and to our children, David, Jeremy and Laura, for their unstinting support throughout that hectic period. In addition, I want to express my deep appreciation to Elena Bonner for her very generous comments presented earlier in this session by her daughter, Tatiana Yankelevich, and to Tatiana and her brother Alexey Semyonov and his wife, Liza, for joining us in this occasion. This award is especially meaningful to me as it pays homage to the great scientist and human- rights champion Andrei Sakharov, a role model to many of us, and because of the outstanding previous awardees, Yuri Orlov and Xu Liangying. While many scientists have valiantly engaged in the struggle for human rights, it is this group, along with Natan Sharansky, Elena Bonner, Fang Li Zhi and the long list of other dissident and refusenik scientists who put their own lives at risk on behalf of human rights, who are the heroes of the movement and a special inspiration to the rest of us. -
The Observance of the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights by the Soviet Union
AO-A093 577 DEPARTM4ENT OF STATE WASHINGTON DC OFFICE OF EXTERNAL--ETC F/S 5/14 POLITICAL RIGHTS BY--ETCfUI 17A-A 1- 7 THE OBSERVANCE OF THE COVENANT ON CIVIL AND IUNCLASSIFIED FAR-3013 NL UflMENEMffllf INSTITUTE ON SOC& T LAW V VALERY CHALIDZE N JHE OBSERVANCE OF THE COVENANT ON CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS BY THE SOVIET UNION. Chief Consultant- Leon Lipson Consultants: Alexander Volpin I Konstantin Simis co George Ginsburgs Translation of the basic text: George Ginsburgs Collection of examples: Ludmilla Alexeyeva Pavel Litvinov This paper is written to order of the U.S. State Department I 'Lij New York, 1980 I 6'v Was p si fr~D epar~ter! of S~ i DIMUU'RIBTI NST ENT A f4rnea nerem ccu: nc, be .!-erpre!,-j 3z rev ,nt~ Approved for pu-Uc relea ;.;CY :" > "er e <- 9, i,•"-" THE OBSERVANCE OF THE COVENANT ON CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS BY THE SOVIET UNION Table of Contents Page Introduction 1 Article 1. The Right of Self-Determination 9 Article 2. The Duty of States Party to the Covenant to 25 Respect and Ensure Human Rights Article 3. The Right of Men and Women to Equal Enjoyment 39 of all Civil and Political Rights Set Forth in the Covenant Article 4. The Right of States Party to the Present 41 Covenant to Take Measures Derogating from their obligations under the Present Covenant Article 5. Protection from Curtailment of any of the Rights 43 and Freedoms Recognized in the Present Covenant Article 6. Protection of the Right to Life 44 Article 7. -
The Helsinki Watch Committees in the Soviet Republics
FINAL REPORT T O NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR SOVIET AND EAST EUROPEAN RESEARC H TITLE : The Helsinki Watch Committees i n the Soviet Republics : Implica - tions for Soviet Nationalit y Policy AUTHOR : Yaroslav Bilinsky T8nu Parmin g CONTRACTOR : University of Delawar e PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR : Yaroslav Bilinsk y COUNCIL CONTRACT NUMBER : 621- 9 The work leading to this report was supported in whole or in part from funds provided by the National Council for Sovie t and East European Research . Yaroslav Bilinsky (University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19711, USA ) Tönu Parmin g (University of Maryland, College Park, ND 20742, USA ) HELSINKI WATCH COMMITTEES IN THE SOVIET REPUBLICS : IMPLICATIONS FOR SOVIETY NATIONALITY POLICY * Paper presented at Second World Congres s on Soviet and East European Studies , Garmisch-Partenkirchen, German Federal Republic , September 30 - October 4, 198 0 *This paper is based on the authors' longer study, The Helsinki Watch Committees in the Soviet Republics : Implications for the Sovie t Nationality Question, which was supported in whole or in part fro m funds provided by the National Council for Soviet and East Europea n Research, under Council Contract Number 621-9 . Travel to Garmisch- Partenkirchen has been--in Bilinsky's case—made possible by grant s from the American Council of Learned Societies and the University o f Delaware . The authors would like to thank their benefactors an d explicitly stress that the authors alone are responsible for th e contents of this paper . 2 Unexpectedly, within two years of the signing by the Sovie t Union, the United States, Canada, and thirty-two European states , of the long and solemn Final Act of the Conference on Security an d Cooperation in Europe in Helsinki, August l, 1975, there sprang u p as many as five groups of Soviet dissenters claiming that th e Helsinki Final Act justified their existence and activity . -
Extensions of Remarks
12658 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS May 17, 1983 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS CHIPOLA JUNIOR COLLEGE 4-E Albert Folds, medical director at Sun Perhaps the centerpiece of the pro CONFERENCE AT MARIANNA, land Training Center; gram was the student science fair, FLA., TREMENDOUS Bill Holmberg, U.S. Energy Depart which drew 156 entries from our great ment; Mrs. Merle Houston, public af State. Particular credit is due Paul fairs for Chipola; Norwood Jackson, Coley, Dr. Sims, and Paul Huang for HON. DON FUQUA manager of the Jackson County making this such a tremendous suc OF FLORIDA Chamber of Commerce; David Nichol cess. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES son, instructor at Chipola; Scott Crossfield, one of the world's Tuesday, May 17, 1983 Dr. Dale O'Daniel, dean of business greatest test pilots and aeronautical at Chipola; Mike Peacock, Florida engineers, who now serves on our com •Mr. FUQUA. Mr. Speaker, If ever public utilities; Pete Pylant, Com mittee staff, went down as a special this Nation comes to grips with the in merce Department of the State of guest to talk to young people and creasing problems we face in providing Florida, Tallahassee; judge the exhibits. energy for future generations, it will Dr. Joyner Sims, dean of students at The West Florida Electric Coopera be because the American people are Chipola; Ken Stoutamire, director of tive provided a fried chicken dinner convinced that it is a real and serious vocational training at Sunland; Tom for over 1,100 young people who at problem. I am convinced that realiza Thayer, Governor's Energy Office, tion will only come about because of tended the science fair. -
US Cuts Back on Official Exchanges with USSR Soviet Union Responds
Nature Vol. 283 7 February 1980 513 Andrei Sakharov even if limiting activities in these channels, what such discussions should aim. US cuts back on was supported by Academy President Dr Dr Paul J Flory, for example, Emeritus Philip Handler, who will be leading the US Professor of Chemistry at Stanford official exchanges delegation to the scientific forum in University and a member of the US Hamburg later this month to discuss the delegation, suggested that the scientific with USSR progress of the Helsinki accords of 1975. community should "reshape its criteria for THE US scientific community has been But he emphasised the Academy's position participation" and lay down a set of almost unanimous in condemning recent that the main responsibility lay on the minimum conditions for future inter moves by the government of the USSR, in shoulders of individual scientists. national collaboration. the occupation of Afghanistan and the Uncertainty over how tough the These might include the condition that internal exile of physicist Andrei administration should be is reflected in the "negotiations should be in the hands of Sakharov. debate over what type of strategy the US scientists, not governments", and that But while many support the legitimacy delegation should pursue at the Hamburg participants be selected "without regard of individual protest, there remains science forum. for their political conformity, race or uncertainty over how far official reaction Few currently support a complete ethnic background''. should undermine the network of bilateral boycott of the meeting. And there seems Others have suggested more modest exchange agreements which have, in recent general agreement that human righs con goals. -
Human Rights in the Cold
17 HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE COLD WAR Sarah B. Snyder Scholars interested in human rights during the Cold War are increasingly producing innovative new work on the issue.1 Unfortunately, human rights has not yet warranted serious, sustained consideration by those writing survey accounts of the Cold War. For example, John Lewis Gaddis’ The Cold War mentions human rights in connection with only four subjects: the Jackson-Vanik Amendment, Jimmy Carter’s foreign policy, the United Nations, and the Helsinki Final Act.2 Yet, human rights mattered to international relations at far more points in the Cold War. We can think of the Cold War as bookended by two major human rights developments – agreement to the 1948 United Nations (UN) Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the influence of human rights and human rights advocacy on the end of the Cold War. In between, attention to human rights abuses internationally was inconsistent and often overshadowed by the perceived stakes of the Cold War in political, military, ideological, and economic terms. Existing scholarship on human rights in the Cold War has repeatedly pointed to two human rights “booms” – one in the late 1940s and one in the 1970s.3 This chapter, however, will argue that the pattern was more undulating and that moments might be a more useful framework for understanding when human rights emerged as a priority in international relations.4 Human Rights during the Early Cold War Building upon the UN Charter’s affirmation of respect for human rights, the UN Human Rights Commission began drafting a document that outlined international human rights norms and protected individual freedoms in 1947.5 Members of the Human Rights Commission considered the devastation of World War Two and former United States President Franklin D.