I am teaching translation in St Petersburg State University 1 Oct-1 Nov 2004
but shall be checking email regularly.
Andrew Jameson
*********************************************************
Johnson's Russia List
#8383
28 September 2004
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A CDI Project
www.cdi.org
#5
Putin signs decree on state protection of human rights movement
MOSCOW. Sept 27 (Interfax) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a
decree on additional measures for state protection of the human rights
movement in Russia.
By this decree, the president approved the proposal on the presidential
human rights commission to set up an international human rights center, the
Kremlin press service told Interfax.
At the same time, the presidential administration and the Russian
government have been tasked with helping the human rights commission set up
this new human rights center, the decree says.
In addition, presidential envoys in federal districts have been tasked with
involving representatives of human rights organizations in the work of
advisory and consultative bodies they create, including by making these
individuals members of these bodies.
The presidential decree also recommends that regional executive authorities
provide logistical help to human rights commissions in regions of the
Russian Federation and take into account proposals made by human rights
organizations when advisory and consultative bodies and the aforementioned
commissions are formed.
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#6
Putin to Set Up Center to Protect Rights
By MARIA DANILOVA
September 27, 2004
MOSCOW (AP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree Monday to
set up a center that will help protect the rights of Russians in former
Soviet republics, which became independent when the Soviet Union collapsed.
The decree establishes the International Human Rights Center and instructs
Putin's regional envoys and local officials to cooperate with rights
groups, the Kremlin said in a news release.
The international center will help defend the rights of Russian citizens
abroad, said Ella Pamfilova, a former government minister and head of the
presidential human rights commission that called for the center's creation.
Russian authorities have often criticized the treatment of ethnic Russians
and Russian-speakers in the former Soviet republics, which became
independent in 1991, saying they are often deprived of jobs and of
education in their native language.
Russian officials have been particularly critical of the authorities in the
Baltic states, especially Latvia and Estonia, and have repeatedly called on
the European Union to protect the rights of Russians there.
Russian authorities also express concern about the fate of Russians in
Central Asian nations, including Turkmenistan.
In addition, many people in separatist regions in the former Soviet
republic of Georgia have been granted Russian passports, and Russian
officials say Mocow is obliged to protect their rights - a trend that
worries Georgian officials who fear it is aimed to undermine their authority.
Human rights activists also say that some of the worst violations occur in
Russia's far-flung regions, where the rule of law is sometimes less
prevalent than in Moscow.
``Developing the human rights movement, especially in the regions, is very
important,'' Pamfilolva said, according to the Interfax news agency.
But the decree's focus may be on monitoring the rights of Russians living
in what Russia calls ``the near abroad'' - the former Soviet republics.
Ethnic Russians make up sizable minitories in the former republics.
Some activists criticized the initiative as a sign of a return to
Soviet-style state control over society.
``This is the return of the Soviet system of quasi-public organizations,''
said Yuri Samodurov, an activist who heads the Sakharov Museum. During the
Soviet era, the Communist Party was in charge of every organization in the
country.
Samodurov expressed doubt over whether a state-funded public organization
can be truly independent.
``This is another step in building the so-called 'vertical of power,''' he
said, referring to measures Putin has taken to consolidate his authority
over the country. ``Now they are targeting the human rights movement - the
only sector which is not yet under their control.''
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