NGOs officially portrayed as “foreign agents”, “anti-constitutional” and “anti-Russian”, what next?
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights defenders
Anti-Discrimination Centre Memorial
Public Human Rights Organisation "Citizen Watch"
Geneva-Paris, November 23, 2015. The “war” against the human rightsmovement in Russia is reaching a new stage.While more than a hundred NGOs have been officially labelled as “foreignagents” since June 2013, they are now being targeted for so-called“anti-constitutional” and “anti-Russian” activities - accusations reminiscent ofthe Soviet era repressive rhetoric. Several recent draft laws wouldallow the ConstitutionalCourt to overrule decisions handed down by international jurisdictions, prohibit Russian citizens from providinginformation to international organizationswithout the authorities' permission,and criminalise “publicexpression of non-traditional sexual relationships”. While the law on “foreign agents” has drastically restricted freedom ofassociation, the Observatory fears that this new legislative attack simply aimsat eradicating the entire human rights movement in Russia.
Following an inspection planned and conducted in October 2015, the Ministryof Justice concluded that the Human Rights Center “Memorial” “undermines theConstitution”, “calls for the dismantling of the authority and changing thecountry’s political regime”, expresses in its statements and publications“disagreement to the authorities” and contributes to the “formation of negativepublic opinion towards the official policy pursued by the Russian authorities”.Furthemore, the Ministry of Justice reportedly sent its findings to theProsecutor General, in violation of the law in force, according to which an NGOhas two weeks to challenge the findings of the audit. If the court agrees withthe Ministry of Justice's findings, “Memorial” may be shut down.
“The accusations of being anti-constitutional,anti-Russian, or in “disagreement with the authorities” are not only vague andlegally absurd, but also mark a new step in the attempt by the Russianauthorities to silence human rights defenders and annihilate the very idea ofhuman rights protection”, declared Karim Lahidji, FIDHPresident.
On November 6, 2015, another human rights organisation, Mashr (“Peace”), ahuman rights organisation operating in Ingushetia, led by Mr. MagomedMutsolgov, was subjected to a search on suspicions of conducting“anti-Russian” and “extremist” activities. A dozen national security agents,with some wearing masks, raided the offices of the NGO, confiscatingdocumentation, computers, and mobile phones. the operation was based on asearch warrant issued by the Chief Department for Investigation in Russia’sNorth Caucasus Federal District on allegations that Mr. Mutsolgov carried outacts of sabotage to incite inter-religious conflicts in the North Caucasus.This raid occurred while Mashr had successfully undergone severaladministrative inspections. In November 2015, a court decision confirmed thelegality of its activities. Under these circumstances, the Observatory fearsthat the search conducted recently aims at intimidating local human rightsdefenders.
“Defending the rights set out in the Russian Constitution should be thestates and citizens duty. Sadly, in the Russia of today, exercising anddefending the very rights protected in the Constitution and in the treatiesratified by the Russian State can be declared unconstitutional, anti-Russian orsubversive”, saidGerald Staberock, OMCT Secretary General. “And it can get worse: thepotential control of any communication on human rights violations to globalorganisations is a new dimension of suffocating any critical voice leavingvictims of torture and other violations unheard”, he added in a comment.
A new bill, introduced in November before the Parliament, if adopted, willallow the prosecution of Russian citizens and organisations for communicatinginformation to any international body, in violation of Russia's human rightsobligations under international law. Offenders risk fines of a maximum of50,000 Rubles (approx. 700 Euros) if they are natural persons, of one millionRubles (approx. 14,000 Euros) managers and 10 million Rubles (approx. 140,000Euros) legal entities. The new provisions blatantly contradict the right toaccess and communicate with international bodies as enshrined in the UNDeclaration on Human Rights Defenders. Similarly, another bill risks to deprivecitizens of their right to seek remedies for human rights violations beforeregional and international courts by authorizing the ConstitutionalCourt of Russia to overlook decisions handed down by such courts.
In the current period, every week, new draft laws marked by very repressiveprovisions are being introduced before the Parliament. These new attackstargeting human rights organisations add to previous legislative initiativesallowing the authorities to impose the label of “foreign agent” or “undesirableorganisation” against independent civil society organisations critical of thecountry's human rights record. These concepts were introduced into the Russianlegislation despite their pejorative and non-legal character. The defence ofuniversal human rights, such as the prohibition of torture and ill-treatment,is considered by Russian courts as “political activity”. As a result, theAnti-Discrimination Centre “Memorial” (ADC Memorial) became the first humanrights organisation officially declared to be a “foreign agent” in April 2014;last week, the media NGO Glasnost Defence Foundation (GDF) and Human RightsInstitute led by Mr. Sergei Kovalev were included in the register of“foreign agents”.
For more information, please contact:
•FIDH: Audrey Couprie - Tel: +33 6 48 05 91 57(Paris) / Arthur Manet - Tel: +33 6 72 28 42 94 (Paris)
• OMCT: DelphineReculeau - Tel: +41 22 809 49 39 (Geneva) / Miguel Martín Zumalacárregui - Tel:+32 2 218 37 19 (Brussels)
