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NGO SUTYAJNIK: IT'S TIME // 2004 ANNUAL REPORT
Major funding for innovative
promotion of human rights
In 2004 Sutyajnik received major grants
from the European Commission (Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights), the
MacArthur Foundation, and the Open Society Institute (Budapest) to conduct
innovate projects that promote Human Rights.
Internet Conference Center
Sutyajnik 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 ICC as
a resource center of practical training on requirements and protections
contained in the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights (the «Convention»).
ICC activities are targeted at human rights NGOs in the Urals Region, law
enforcement agencies, and the general public.
Through the internet and Sutyajnik’s
web site (www.sutyajnik.ru), the ICC will disseminate up-to-date
information about the Convention, and decisions and practices of the European
Court of Human Rights. Training methods to explain local application of the
Convention will be available via video and internet film.
In addition, Sutyajnik will offer
six-month stipends to young NGO lawyers who have successfully completed training
at the ICC and wish to intern at human rights NGOs.
This new project is designed to
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 a wide
circle of Human Rights and socially activist NGOs, education of and cooperation
with law enforcement agencies in raising their compliance 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.
Litigation of Human Rights Cases in the Higher Russian Courts (Constitutional
and Supreme) and in the European Court of Human Rights
The Open Society Institute (Budapest)
has agreed to fund a two-year Sutyajnik project to prepare and litigate human
rights cases in higher Russian Courts and the European Court of Human Rights.
This project will build upon Sutyajnik’s previous OSI-funded project. Our goal
is to resolve domestic human rights problems fostering domestic judicial
practices that conform to international human rights standards stated in such
international agreements as the European Convention for the Protection of Human
Rights, the UN Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the UN Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
Strategic litigation is key to
achieving this goal. Through consultations with the public and the legal
establishment and review of the media, Sutyajnik will identify and challenge
actions at the local, regional, and federal level that violate international
norms of human rights and identify the need for new legislation to reform
institutions that violate human rights.
Sutyajnik will continue to operate the
Consultative Bureau funded previously by the OSI, providing advice on the
practical application of human rights norms to the actions of the local,
regional, and federal government.
In connection with this project,
Sutyajnik will focus on those areas previously identified as most frequently
subject to violation: discrimination, violence directed by law enforcement
agencies against citizens and foreigners, and barriers to NGOs enjoyment of the
right of association.
To initiate this project, Sutyajnik
will host a conference on bringing Russian legal practices and legislation into
conformity with international human rights standards, participants of which will
include representatives of NGOs, government authorities, the mass media and the
education establishment.
Sutyajnik will also publish materials
on the protection of human rights. At the conclusion of the project Sutyajnik
will prepare a report on Russian legislation and legal practices that must be
enacted or reformed to conform to international human rights standards.
Sutyajnik will also continue to update its web-accessible database of its human
rights cases in the European Court.
Lastly Sutyajnik will train and utilize
young legal interns as new soldiers in the battle for human rights.
Practical School of International Human Rights Protection for
Young Lawyers
Sutyajnik received an 18-month grant
from the European Commission as part of the Commission’s European Initiative for
Democracy and Human Rights to conduct a «Practical School of International Human
Rights Protection for Young Lawyers».
This project will target
student-lawyers, young representatives and lawyers of human rights NGOs and
newly hired advocates and lawyers of municipal and state authorities. We will
establish a resource educational centre offering practical training to these
young lawyers in the international protection of human rights from torture,
discrimination and xenophobia. By strengthening connections between regional
NGOs, specializing in protecting victims of torture, inhuman and degrading
treatment, discrimination and xenophobia, we will expand the publicly available
network of free, qualified legal assistance.
By creating an informal network of such
organizations, the project will assist participants in establishing a strategy
for the effective selection of cases and a management system to optimize the
work of all participating organizations.
The Practical School will offer
participants five sessions, each running three or four days, with sufficient
time in between for substantial homework on a variety of human rights topics.
Handbooks and videos are to be issued on the project. At its conclusion,
participants will compete for five three-week internships at Sutyajnik.
The Cooperating with the International Senior Lawyers Project NGO SUTYAJNIK
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IT'S TIME // 2004 Annual Report