Russia: Open Call

Terms of Reference for the organisation of a roundtable todiscuss the follow-up of the UN Committee Against Torture’s review of Russia,

for the drafting of a follow-up shadowreport and for the organization of a jointadvocacy campaign on key CAT recommendations

I. ORGANIZATIONAL AND PROJECT BACKGROUND

A. The OMCT

The World Organization Against Torture (Organisation Mondiale Contre laTorture – OMCT) was founded in 1985. Based in Geneva but working through itslarge and active SOS-Torture Network working in more than 90 countries, it isamong the largest civil society coalitions fighting against torture and allother forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in theworld. The mission of the OMCT is to contribute to the eradication of torture,summary executions, disappearances, arbitrary detention and other cruel,inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and to provide protection tovictims and potential victims through its global network of civil societyorganizations (CSOs) working in partnership and solidarity. OMCT is the CSOcoordinator for the United Nations Committee Against Torture (hereinafter CAT)and provides support to CSOs engaging with CAT.

Further information about the OMCT and its activities with the UNCommittee Against Torture can be found on the website,as well as the OMCT’s CAT Blog, or through oursocial media outlets on Facebook and Twitter.

B. The Project

OMCT supported Russian CSOs in engaging with the CAT review of Russia duringits 64th session in 2018. As a follow up to this endeavor, OMCTwould like to support a Russian civil society organisation in arranging aroundtable discussion with members from Russian civil society and representativesfrom the Presidential Human Rights Council and the federal Ombudsperson forHuman Rights; and the subsequent drafting of a follow-up shadow report,[1]striving towards domestic implementation of the Convention Against Torture.

The OMCT would also like to support a Russian civil society organizationfor organizing an advocacy campaign inside Russia on theimplementation of key recommendations from the last CATconcluding observations.

OMCT contributes to the strengthening of domestic anti-torture coalitionsin the run up or follow-up to CAT reporting, supported by the European Union(EU), the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Swiss Ministry of ForeignAffairs (DFAE), and in working with and supporting the global anti-torturemovement. The total available amount for the organization of the roundtable andthe drafting of the follow-up report is capped at EUR 5,500. The totalavailable amount for the advocacy campaign is capped at EUR 4,000.

II.SCOPE OF THE ASSIGNMENT AND METHODOLOGY

A. Roundtable and shadow follow-up report

The roundtable and the drafting of the follow-up report will have to beorganized and finalized prior to the CAT deadline for submission of thefollow-up shadow report on 28 November 2019.

OMCT will provide technical support to the organisation of the roundtable,including participating in the roundtable introducing and explaining the CAT follow-upprocedure in detail. Technical support and orientation will also be providedduring the drafting of the follow-up shadow report.

The roundtable and the drafting of the follow-upshadow report will have to be organized in a manner taking due account of thesafety and security of the participating persons/organisations.

1. Roundtable todiscuss the follow-up of the UN Committee Against Torture’s review of Russia

The roundtable will have to include the participation and representationof a wide range of organisations from Russian civil society with a focus on theones that have submitted or participated in the submission of the CAT review ofRussia, as well as representatives from selected state institutions. ParticipatingCSO members will also have to represent particularly vulnerable groups in Russia,such as women, children and LGBT. The discussions will have to be held underthe Chatham House rule[2] forsafety issues.

The aim ofthis roundtable is to strengthen Russian civil society in the follow-up of theCAT review of Russia and the national implementation of the Convention ingeneral and the CAT recommendations in particular.

The roundtable should take place as a half or fullday event and will have to be organized in a manner facilitating the freeparticipation of all CSO representatives present at the event.

The roundtable discussions will have to treat theCAT follow-up issues on:

· the effective investigation of all incidents andallegations of torture and ill-treatment;

· effective protection of human rights defenders andjournalists;

· recent developments in Russia relating to theConvention or other CAT recommendations, such as the definition of torture indomestic law.

The roundtable and the report will also address therating of Russia’s implementation of the CAT recommendations from A(recommendation has largely been implemented) to E (the recommendation has beencounteracted).[3]

2. Drafting of the follow-up shadow report

The follow-up shadow report will have to make accountof the discussions held during the roundtable on the abovementioned follow-upissues. In drafting the follow-up shadow report, it is recommended that theelected organisation does the following:

· Provide in a structured manner information on theimplementation of the CAT follow-up issues in the Concluding Observations of Russia;

· Sustain the information with factual, reliable,precise and clear facts;

· Use concrete examples and statistics;

· Make constructive recommendations for improvement ofthe implementation of the Convention Against Torture in Russia;

· If relevant, refer to Concluding Observations,reports, statements issued by other UN treaty bodies and special procedures, aswell as by regional human rights mechanisms;

· Information should not contain names of victimsexcept if related to cases already in the public domain or if the consent ofthe victims or their families is obtained.

The word limit for the follow-up shadow report is 3500 words.

B. Advocacy campaign

The civil society organisation has to present a proposal for an advocacycampaign on the implementation of key recommendationsfrom the last CATconcluding observations.

OMCT will provide advice on the CAT implementation process.

The advocacy campaign will have to be completed by 31 December 2019.

IV.DURATION AND LOCATION

The organisation of the roundtable and the drafting of the follow-upshadow report are to be undertaken between September and November 2019 and mustbe completed by the 28 of November 2019. The advocacy campaign is to be completedby 31 December 2019. A narrative and financial report of the activities willhave to be submitted to OMCT 31 December 2019 (31 January 2020 for the advocacycampaign).

V.REQUIREMENTS and ELIGIBILITY

Organisations with the following profile and competencies are encouragedto express their interest:

• Russian civil societyorganisations specialized in working on the prohibition against tortureand on shadow reporting;
• Russian civil societyorganisations that have submitted or participated in the submission ofshadow reports to the CAT review of Afghanistan;
• Russian civil society organisations withprevious experience or interest in CSO coalition building;
• Russiancivil society organisations with demonstrated experience of the organisationof similar activities and with a sufficient financial and operationalcapacity;
• Fluency in English of theperson in charge of communication with OMCT is required.

VI. APPLICATIONS AND CONSIDERATION

Applications willbe accepted up to the 16th ofAugust 2019, only via email, to rl@omct.org . Thank you for understanding that we cannot answerphone enquiries.

In order foryour application to be considered, please send an email indicating "Russia CAT follow-up " in the subject heading, with the followingattachments:

· A short narrative application identifying the objectivesand expected results of the advocacy campaign and the roundtable and an outlinefor the follow-up shadow report and the methodology for informationcollection. The narrative applicationshould also include how the sustainability of the activities will be secured;

· A budget specifying the different expenses relatedto the organisation of the joint advocacy campaign, the roundtable and thedrafting of the follow-up shadow report;

· A timeline of the organisation of the advocacycampaign, the roundtable and the follow-up shadow report.

This document has been produced with the financialassistance of the European Union, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of theNetherlands and the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs. The contents of this documentare the sole responsibility of the OMCTand can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of theEuropean Union, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands or the Swiss Federal Department of ForeignAffairs.

[1]The CommitteeAgainst Torture has issued guidelines for follow-up to concluding observations(CAT/C/55/3), available at:
https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G15/210/35/PDF/G1521035.pdf?OpenElement.

[2]“When a meeting, or part thereof, is held underthe Chatham House Rule, participants are free to use the information received, butneither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of anyother participant, may be revealed”, Chatham House. The Royal Institute ofInternational Affairs, https://www.chathamhouse.org/chatham-house-rule.

[3]See para. 20of the CAT Guidelines for follow-up to concluding observations, available at:
https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G15/210/35/PDF/G1521035.pdf?OpenElement.