EU Should Raise Russian Human Rights Abuses at the Summit in Helsinki Vienna, 23 November 2006. On the eve of the EU-Russia Summit in Helsinki on 24 November 2006, the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF) urges the European Union to express concern about the serious setback in human rights and democracy in Russia. Human rights have been increasingly undermined under the banner of protecting national security. In the recent years the Kremlin, in both practice and rhetoric, has been persistently moving away from the compliance with the international human right obligations of the Russian Federation. To eliminate independent control over the executive branch, the Russian authorities have practically destroyed such pillars of civil society as independent media, independent political parties, and independent judiciary. The last targets of this campaign are independent non-governmental organizations, whose work is now put under a grave threat with the new, restrictive NGO law and the recent dangerous amendments to the anti-extremism legislation. The IHF welcomes the efforts of the EU to conduct a human rights dialogue with the Russian Federation and to involve NGOs in this dialogue. We are, however, concerned that the introduction of specific human rights consultation meetings has resulted in that human rights issues are no longer discussed at EU-Russia summits, bilateral summits by Russia and EU member states and other high profile EU-Russia events. This development weakens the efficacy of the human rights dialogue. At the margins of the EU-Russia human rights consultations on 7 November 2006, EU representatives held a more than three-hour meeting with a number of Russian and international NGOs. The delegation of the Russian Federation had also been invited to this meeting, which concerned human rights issues in both Russia and the EU, but declined to take part. The Russian NGOs who participated in the meeting made presentations regarding a wide range of most pressing human rights problems in Russia, including freedom of the press, the human rights crisis in Chechnya and broader in the North Caucasus, the implementation of the recent anti-extremism and NGO laws, racism and xenophobia. Some of the briefing papers tabled by Russian NGOs at that meeting are available on the IHF-webpage. Recently, a group of Russian human rights NGOs also submitted an alternative report on Russia to the UN Committee Against Torture, which examined the fourth periodic report submitted by Russia under the UN Convention against Torture at its session on 6-24 November 2006. According to this report, some positive changes have taken place in the Russian penitentiary system in recent years, but serious concerns remain with respect to impunity for torture, conflicting functions of prosecution authorities resulting in ineffective torture investigations and the absence of an adequate system of compensation for torture victims. The report contains a special chapter on the problem of torture and cruel and degrading treatment in Chechnya and the North Caucasus. The full report as well as a summary is available on the IHF-webpage. The IHF is convinced that the EU must call upon the Russia • to put and end to gross and massive human rights violations and impunity in Chechnya, • to efficiently prosecute and prevent torture, • to earnestly cooperate with the regional and universal human rights protection mechanisms, including the UN special rapporteur on torture, whose visit to the Northern Caucasus, planned for October 2006, had to be cancelled due to the refusal of the Russian competent authorities to fully collaborate with his mandate, and • to effectively cooperate with the European Court on Human Rights especially in connection with implementation of its judgments both on level of individual and general measures. The IHF cannot but stress that by failing to raise the human rights concerns with Russia at the Summit in Helsinki the EU will not do a good service to Russia, on the one hand, and will actually become complicit in the deterioration of the human rights situation in the Russian Federation and in the erosion of human rights in Europe as a whole. The partnership between Russia and the EU will never become truly effective unless it is based on the human rights principles and values. For further information: International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights, Vienna Dr. Aaron Rhodes, Executive Director, +43-676-635 6612 Representatives of the Russian NGOs for the Meeting at the Margins of the EU-Russia Human Rights Consultations Tanya Lokshina, “Demos” Center, +7-916-624 1906 Yuri Dzhibladse, Center for the Development of Democracy and Human Rights, +7 916-673 5153 Svetlana Gannushkina, Human Rights Center “Memorial”, Civic Assistance Committee, +7-495-105 9145 Representatives of the Russian NGOs for the Shadow Repot to CAT Natalia Taubina, Public Verdict Foundation, +7 916 671 9230 Tanya Lokshina, “Demos” Center, +7-916-624 1906 Igor Kalyapin, Nizhny Novgorod Committee Against Torture, +7 8319-026 539