Assembly of human rights activists

This is a personal blog. The text could be written in the interests of the author or third parties. The 7x7 editors are not involved in its creation and may not share the author’s opinion. The registration of blogs on 7x7 is open for authors of various views.

Last Saturday and Sunday, the Moscow Helsinki group managed to gather their regional partners at the conference. Well, Moscow human rights defenders, of course, were also invited. Such a general meeting was necessary, because the conditions for the work of human rights activists are changing sharply, as, indeed, the entire situation in the country. Of course, our colleagues in the regions follow what is happening and know about new laws, but we do not understand everything in Moscow in how this will affect all of us. And it is even more difficult for them to catch. Therefore, the conference was collected in order to explain the essence of the new laws (about rallies, about slander, about NPOs and others) to answer questions that our colleagues undoubtedly have, and together to think about how to work in the new conditions.

I opened this conference and said just about this:

“Of course, you know about these laws and understand their meaning. You understand that we have difficult times ahead. Such is the general vector of the authorities in relation to civil society. This is their reaction to its strengthening, which has been manifested in all its obviousness in the past six months.

The authorities were faced with a choice: to realize the changes that occurred in the country, to meet the awakened society, to satisfy the massive request for honesty, for respect for people, to attention to their needs and desires. They chose another way - to tighten the nuts. They chose what is more familiar and easier for them.

It depends on us how we will survive the upcoming difficulties. We will not lose heart - because if we are one, we are invincible.

What specific difficulties will we all come to us, and how we are all together and each of us can withstand it, this will be discussed today and tomorrow. ”

There were few performances. Mostly they listened to experts and asked them questions. And on the second day they discussed the law directly directed against our organizations - the Law on NPOs. Our colleagues who considered different opportunities for preserving human rights organizations in new circumstances performed. After all, not all human rights organizations have at least some means for work, many work as volunteers. But those who have paid projects - they receive funds from foreign, and not from Russian funds. It is clear why: human rights activists protect Russian citizens whose rights are violated by the state or its officials. To this, our state, of course, will not give money. There are businessmen who would like to help human rights defenders, because they also suffer from omnipotence of officials and security officials, but we do not have an independent business and everyone who risks helping a human rights organization, threatens his business, and maybe his freedom. Therefore, the most powerful human rights organizations with paid projects receive money from foreign funds and, according to the Law on NPOs, must register as “foreign agents” by the end of November.

What does the "foreign agent" mean, it is not necessary to explain Russian in Russian. Therefore, an alternative was discussed (in fact, absent). To abandon voluntary registration prescribed by this law means to put the organization under the jealous of closing. Maybe you still register with a "foreign agent"? But this, in addition to the shameful and unfair stigma, will still actually lead to the cessation of the organization. Not a single official will deal with an organization that recognized itself as a foreign agent. Many of our citizens will also shy away from such an organization - after all, on TV, we have long and stubbornly explain that all countries are against us, everyone wants the death of Russia. So in fact there is no alternative. This law is designed to destroy the human rights movement.

How can we be in these conditions? The conference participants were distributed by the statement of the human rights council, which includes the largest Moscow human rights organizations:

Application of the human rights Council of Russia

Supported by most participants
All -Russian conference of human rights organizations

Supported by the VI Congress of the All -Russian Movement "For Human Rights"

The just adopted law “On Amending Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation regarding the regulation of NPOs performing the functions of a foreign agent” is anti -legal in nature and contradicts the norms of the Constitution of the Russian Federation.

This law does not improve state control over the activities of non-governmental non-profit organizations receiving financial support from abroad. The work of such organizations before the adoption of new norms was absolutely transparent to the state and society. How, in what quantities and for what goals the non -governmental non -profit organizations spend the funds allocated by the sponsors and was constantly under the close attention of the inspection state bodies.

This law pursues only one goal - to provide an opportunity for a regime that ruling in our country, by an arbitrary choice, to humiliate and defeat non -governmental organizations that are objectionable to it. No wonder the object of this law will be those NPOs that are almost impossible to find financial support either from state structures or from the part of the Russian business intimidated by the state.

The law is based on the recognition of non -profit organizations whose activities are completely or partially financed from foreign sources, by organizations "performing the functions of a foreign agent." At the same time, an additional condition is introduced - such an organization must participate in political actions “in order to influence the adoption of decisions aimed at changing the state policy they pursue, as well as in the formation of public opinion for these purposes”. Due to the presence in the text of the law of such slurred and fuzzy formulations, it opens up the widest possibilities for arbitrariness. On the example of many others, the laws currently in force in our country see that such “rubber” norms are selectively “pulling” on those people or organizations that are objectionable, inconvenient, and seem hostile. This is how it will happen with this new law.

The adopted law perverts the principles of the activities of non-profit organizations receiving financial support from abroad. In the Russian language, the word “agent” denotes a person (physical or legal), acting on behalf of, in the interests of someone, as well as a secret or personnel employee of the special services. Our organizations never carried out instructions of any external to the organization of persons, including our sponsors. If any sponsor had ever tried to give us something similar to a “assignment”, then this would lead to an immediate gap of our relations with it.

Our organizations have always acted in the interests of citizens of our country. Based on these interests, members of Russian non -profit non -state organizations achieve holding to justice of those who torture people in police branches, act in courts against corrupt officials, become an obstacle to the destruction of nature by state or private corporations, help the formation of children, etc., etc.
Based on these interests, our representatives protect the interests of Russian citizens from the attacks of the Russian state in the European Court of Human Rights. Based on these interests, we participate in observing the elections and participating in mass protests against their falsification.

However, the new law establishes that an organization engaged in such activities and funded by foreign sponsors is obliged to recognize itself as a foreign agent. If this organization does not consider itself such an agent and therefore does not recognize such, it does not matter - officials who consider the organization a foreign agent attract the organization itself and its members to administrative or even criminal liability. Thus, the key circumstance - the organization’s belonging to the number of foreign agents - is established not by the court, but by the arbitrary discretion of employees of the executive authorities.

The punishable is not cooperation with any foreign structures, but an non-recognition of such cooperation. Such a practice - the punishment is not for a crime, but for refusing to admit actually guilty of the performance of a foreign agent - absolutely contradicts law.

The non -governmental organization and citizens who are its members act here not as equal subjects of legal relations, but as unreasonable objects of persecution by all -knowing officials. Thus, the new law obliges a significant part of the Russian NGOs to publicly declare a lie about itself.

All organizations with accounts for receiving funds on them are registered with the Ministry of Justice of Russia. The fact of registration means that the state does not see for the purposes and objectives of the organization nothing of concern for the interests of citizens of the Russian Federation and the country. Reports on the activities of NPOs in the established form are annually transferred to the Ministry of Justice and posted on the Ministry of Justice’s website by the organizations themselves. These reports are available to everyone. However, the new law provides for discrimination for some organizations that are not prohibited, and therefore, their activities are not recognized as socially dangerous.

Why do organizations that are striving to “influence the adoption of decisions aimed at changing the state policy” in the field of science or culture do not fall under the new law, and organizations engaged in the same in the field of education or human rights are subject to the observance of human rights? But those who refuse to follow the instructions of this law are threatened with strict sanctions, up to criminal prosecution and real terms of imprisonment.

Obviously, in protective heat, the authors of the bill forgot about Art. 13 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation. But according to part 4 of this article, “public associations are equal before the law,” and this means that the law is not entitled to discriminate against any of them.

All of the above leaves no other way out for us, except to decisively refuse to register as “NPOs that perform the functions of a foreign agent”. Such anti -legal acts should not be executed either to citizens, or to organizations, or officials, nor judges. On the contrary, it is for their execution earlier or later that punishment may follow. The history of Germany of the 30s-40s gives us such an example (for all the difference in the scale of the illegality of "lawmaking" there and in modern Russia). German judges bear criminal liability precisely for the execution of anti -law Nazi laws.


Lyudmila Alekseeva , Chairman of the Moscow Helsinki Group
Boris Altshuler , Chairman of the Board of ROO "Right of the Child", member of the Moscow Helsinki Group
Valery Borshchov , member of the Moscow Helsinki Group
Yuri Vdovin , member of the human rights Council of Russia, Deputy Chairman of the Human Rights Procedure Organization "Civil Control" (St. Petersburg)
Svetlana Gannushkina , Committee "Civil Assistance"
Sergey Kovalev , Chairman of the Council of the Museum and the Public Center named after A. Sakharov
Oleg Orlov , member of the Council of the Human Rights Center "Memorial"
Lev Ponomarev , Executive Director of the All -Russian Movement "For Human Rights", member of the Moscow Helsinki group;
Lilia Shibanova , Chairman of the Voter Rights Protection Association "Voice"

September 22, 2012 supported by the VI Congress of the All -Russian Movement "For Human Rights"
September 23 supported by most participants in the all -Russian conference of human rights organizations

We did not conduct formal voting in support of this document, in the sense that there was no counting of votes. They simply asked those who agree with this statement, raise their hands and convinced that this is the majority.

One thing worries me - so that in the difficult times that we have to survive, our human rights community has been preserved. It is possible that the heads of some organizations, unable to withstand the pressure, agree to register as "foreign agents". This will be a wrong step, because it will not make it possible to preserve the organization. But they will take this wrong step precisely in order to preserve it, and people cannot be condemned for the mistake made. The human rights community should not reject them. They will be doomed to difficult trials with this wrong step. I would really not want the righteous anger of their colleagues to fall upon them.

Our community, which can be safely called the Commonwealth, was created for more than one year, and in the trials it should not be destroyed, it must become stronger. Only with unity and with mutual support, can we survive these difficult times. Preservation of unity for me is the most important thing in the upcoming tests. I spoke about this in my final word at the conference and I want to hope that I was heard.