Publication in Russian of the part on “Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States”

Paris-Geneva, July 18, 2008. While the situation of human rights defenders is increasingly deteriorating in Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), is publishing today the Russian version of its Annual Report 2007 devoted to this region[1]. To that extent, a press conference is being organised in Saint-Petersburg, in the presence of the Russian civil society and representatives of the Observatory.

Sixty years after the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and on the eve of the tenth anniversary of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, this new annual report indeed confirms the tendency observed in recent years, i.e. the continuing repression of defenders ever more harshly.

As Eric Sottas, OMCT Secretary General, said, “in 1998 after difficult negotiations that led to the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, we expected the States to adopt measures compliant with their commitments. The 2007 evaluation shows the contrary, that, this year more than ever before, defenders’ rights have been abused in an effort to prevent them from carrying out their vital work to defend and protect human rights”.

“We have to recognise”, said Souhayr Belhassan, FIDH President, “that defenders now are suffering from an unprecedented backlash which requires us to be more vigilant than ever”.

The Russian version of the report focuses on the Europe and CIS region. It outlines the main trends of repression witnessed in 2007 and provides a compilation of cases of repression against defenders. It shows that freedoms of assembly and peaceful gathering remained flouted in many countries. In the Russian Federation, new liberty-killing amendments were passed, which enable the authorities to consider any criticism as “extremist”, and peaceful demonstrations as “mass disorders”. Freedom of association was also hindered in 2007 through reinforced monitoring of the activities of NGOs (Kyrgyzstan, Russian Federation), obstacles to legal recognition of associations (Belarus, Russian Federation) and dissolution (Russian Federation). Sadly, arbitrary detentions, judicial proceedings and harassment of defenders also remained commonplace in the countries addressed in the report (Albania, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Greece, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russian Federation, Serbia, Slovenia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan).

The Russian version of the Annual Report 2007 of the Observatory is available on both OMCT and FIDH websites.

The whole versions of the Annual Report in English, French and Spanish are also available on both OMCT and FIDH websites, and an annex containing all cases dealt with by the Observatory in 2007 will be available on a CD-Rom later on

For further information, please contact:
FIDH: Gaël Grilhot: + 33 1 43 55 25 18, Sacha Koulaeva: +33 1 43 55 19 38
OMCT: Delphine Reculeau: + 41 22 809 52 42

[1] The Annual Report of the Observatory has been published every year in three languages (French, English and Spanish) since the creation of this programme in 1997. The report is published in French, English and Spanish in its entirety and the French, English and Spanish versions of the Annual Report 2007 were published on June 19, 2008. The Arabic version focusing on the Maghreb and Middle East region will be available shortly.