June 2004: NGO
Sutyajnik Update by Anton Burkov
Sutyanik’s recent and upcoming activities include the following:
1. Happy Anniversary, NGO SUTYAJNIK.
SUTYAJNIK (Yekaterinburg, Russia), a non-governmental human rights organization
founded in Yekaterinburg in1994, has released its 2003 Annual Report WE
ARE TEN, a comprehensive overview of work completed in its 10th year of
operations. As a resource centre for many non-governmental public interest
groups of the Urals region, Sutyajnik provides free legal defense of the
rights and interests of citizens and their associations. Featuring introduction
by Tatyana Merzlyakova, the Ombudsman of Sverdlovsk oblast, the Report
provides information on the main three areas of Sutyajnik engagement—legal
services (legal counselling, the defense of human rights in
domestic and international forums), general projects, and public education
(sponsoring panels and seminars, interviews on the media, publications).
Please click http://www.sutyajnik.ru/rus/reports/report_2003_eng.html
for the report in html format, in its entirety.
2. A Russian represents France in the Model
UN Conference.
“Anton Burkov writes a fascinating account of his attendance at the
Model UN Conference. As one of the Chevening scholar team, Anton was chosen
to represent France at the Commission on Human Rights, although he is actually
a native of Russia. This entailed some hard work to get up to speed with
French foreign policy and the whole experience provides a glimpse into
the inner workings of international diplomacy” (Stephen.Farnsworth - British
Chevening Scholarships web-site).
For the essay please refer to http://www.sutyajnik.ru/rus/library/publizistica/model_UN_eng.html
3. Sutyajnik v. Russia Case
The European Court of Human Rights is examining situation with right
to a fair trial and right to association in Russia.
The European Court has admitted the application of non governmental
organization Sutyajnik against Russia. Sutyajnik has charged the Russian
Federation with violation of the right to a fair trial set by Article 6
of the European Convention on Human Rights. The Sutyajnik v. Russia case
is significant for Russian NGOs because of the 1995 law On non-governmental
organizations which forced all NGOs in Russia to undergo re-registration
process.
For more details please refer to http://www.sutyajnik.ru/eng/news/2004/sutyajnik_v_russia.html
4. The NGO Sutyajnik’s Website
In March 2004 Sutyajnik launched a new website, www.sutyajnik.ru
, which makes available human rights news reported by the News Agency Sutyajnik-Press,
the publications of the organization's attorneys and interns, organisation’s
cases, projects, conferences, reports on human rights situation in Urals,
legal advice, etc. The 2003 and 2002 Annual Reports are posted on the website.
One can also visit the website to see our faces, register complaints about
us, review published interviews given by us - “sutyajniks,” and find out
what we - “sutyajniks” and the press, the Ombudsman of Sverdlovsk oblast,
and the well-known Russian lexicographer Vladimir Dal, think about Sutyajnik
5. The book entitled The Right to a Fair
Trial: European Standards and Russian Practice.
In June 2004, Sutyajnik published a book entitled The Right to a Fair
Trial: European Standards and Russian Practice. It will be the second volume
of the series “International Human Rights Protection”. The authors are:
Jeremy McBride, senior lecturer of Birmingham University and Vice-President
of the International Centre for the Legal Protection for Human Rights “Interights,”
Anna Demeneva and Elena Goncharova, lawyers with the Urals Centre for Constitutional
and International Human Rights Protection of the NGO Sutyajnik, and Svetlana
Muchambetova, a lawyer with Social Fund “Pravoborets”. The book contains
the legal analysis of Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights
and judgments of the European Court of Human Rights. Also several Russian
authors explore the Russian judicial practice and existing problems in
the sphere of the right to a fair trial. The book is in the Russian language.
For more details in Russian please refer to http://www.sutyajnik.ru/rus/library/sborniki/echr2/index.html
6. Collected Cases on the 10-year Implementation
of the Russian Constitution in a book The Russian Constitution – 10
Years of Implementation.
This book due to be published in August 2004 is dedicated to the 10th
Year Anniversary of the NGO Sutyajnik. Featuring introduction by the well-known
professor of Russian Administrative Law and a member of the Sutyajnik’s
Board of Directors Demyan Bakhrakh the book is composed of the judgments
of the Russian courts of different levels and jurisdictions on the human
rights cases advocated by the staff of Sutyajnik. All the judgments serve
as examples of the direct and effective implementation of the Russian Constitution
which is 10 years old as well. The book is edited by Anna Demeneva, an
attorney with the NGO Sutyajnik, a post-graduate law student at the Urals
State Law Academy (Russia) and Anton Burkov, an attorney, with the NGO
Sutyajnik, lecturer in the Department of Administrative Law at the Urals
State Law Academy (Russia), as well as a post-graduate law student (LLM
in International Human Rights Law) at the University of Essex (Colchester,
the UK). The book is in the Russian language.
For more details in Russian please refer to http://www.sutyajnik.ru/rus/library/sborniki/konst_10_let_primen/index.html
The update was published in Justice Initiative Fellows Newsletter,
October 2004
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