Internet Conference Center

Sutyajnik has received funds from the MacArthur Foundation to continue the work of a previously funded project that developed an “Internet Conference Center” (“ICC”) to disseminate Human Rights – related information and data.

The new project will enhance the use of the ICC as a resource for offering practical training to various sectors of society on the requirements and protections contained in the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights (the “Convention”). These sectors will include NGOs in the Urals Region active in the protection of Human Rights, law enforcement agencies, and the general public.

The ICC  will serve as a fully accessible tool, through the internet and Sutyajnik’s web site (www.sutyajnik.ru), for the dissemination of the most up-to-date information about the Convention, and decisions and practices of the European Court of Human Rights. Training in methods by which the Convention can be applied at the local level will be made available by Sutyajnik’s ICC via video and internet film.

In addition, Sutyajnik will offer six-month stipends for internships to young NGO lawyers who have successfully completed a training at the ICC, to support their work in their Human Rights NGOs.

It is anticipated that the new project will complement two other newly funded projects (by the OSI, Budapest and the European Commission) and will result in  an improved distribution system for Human Rights information, improved communication and cooperation among the wide circle of Human Rights and socially activist NGOs, education of and cooperation with law enforcement agencies in raising their standards to comply with the Convention’s requirements, and motivation and assistance to ordinary citizens who wish to enjoy the rights protected by the Convention and guaranteed by the Constitution of the Russian Federation.