Civil Action Program against Fascism

Adopted by the participants of the conference "Fascism - a threat to the future of Russia" on May 14, 2006

We, the participants of the anti-fascist conference in Moscow on May 14, 2006, express our extreme concern about the growing threat of fascism to the future of Russia. We are convinced that neo-Nazism, xenophobia, discrimination on ethnic, racial and other grounds threaten the development of the country and the fundamental values ​​of society. The prospects for the development of a stable, prosperous, democratic Russia require the state to show its responsibility and intensify efforts to eradicate these phenomena. However, it is impossible to defeat this evil through the efforts of the authorities alone, without the active actions of the Russian citizens themselves. The preservation of the integrity of our country and the prospects for its peaceful development lies in the nationwide counteraction to the threat of fascism, in the joint actions of the state and society to uphold the foundations of the constitutional order, the values ​​of the rule of law and democracy. We, citizens of Russia, participants of the anti-fascist conference, are aware of this challenge and our responsibility and adopt the following program of civil actions against fascism:

Self-organization of anti-fascist forces

1. Consolidate the efforts of all Russian civil forces concerned about the threat of fascism - non-governmental organizations, political parties, national-cultural associations, informal anti-fascist groups, youth associations, public figures and politicians, representatives of the expert community, journalists, scientists and cultural figures - in the fight against various forms of neo-Nazism , xenophobia and racial discrimination in Russia both in their institutional form and in everyday "everyday" practice. In the near future, to conduct active consultations with various institutions of civil society, including national-cultural associations, on the creation of a broad civil movement against fascism - the Anti-Fascist Front . Along with this, start consultations with the aim of creating an inter-regional Student Anti-Fascist Organization.

2. Create a database of successful models of civil counteraction to manifestations of neo-Nazism, xenophobia and racial discrimination and promote their wide dissemination in practice. To form a system for the rapid exchange of information and teaching methods. Organize inter-regional networking campaigns using successful models.

3. Coordinate monitoring studies in order to influence state policy, legislation, law enforcement practice and public opinion, to identify systemic mechanisms of ethnic and racial discrimination and practices leading to its occurrence. These studies should focus on areas such as law enforcement, labor relations, education, housing, health and welfare, citizenship, refugee status and internally displaced persons.

4. Actively condemn in public speeches and printed materials any xenophobic statements by statesmen and public politicians. Refuse cooperation themselves and call on others to boycott political parties, public associations, specific politicians and public figures, journalists, cultural figures proclaiming nationalist and xenophobic views and appeals. Require representatives of the authorities to clearly and substantively express the position of the state in relation to such statements. Seek criminal prosecution of these individuals and organizations in cases where they clearly violate the law, but law enforcement agencies do not respond or respond inadequately to such actions.

5. Develop coordinated positions of civil society institutions regarding the mechanisms of public control in the field of legislative, institutional and other practical measures taken by state authorities in the field of combating national extremist activities, xenophobia and racial discrimination.

6. Actively denounce political parties of a racist or xenophobic nature in any form, overt or covert, and refuse to receive support from such parties. Demand from political parties:

7. sign the Charter of European Political Parties for a Society Free from Racism and follow its principles in all party affairs;

8. not allow party candidates in any election to use slogans with racist or xenophobic overtones in their election campaign.

9. Actively cooperate with international anti-fascist and human rights organizations.

10. Start issuing a Newsletter to publish monitoring data on manifestations of racism and discrimination, the reaction of the authorities, information about anti-fascist activities at home and abroad, and for discussions on all this range of problems. Create a website for the Anti-Fascist Front.

11. Continue the work of the organizing committee of the conference. Gather practical proposals from the conference participants and form working groups to discuss and implement specific plans based on this Program. In particular, to systematize the work to provide assistance to those who have suffered from attacks motivated by hatred.

Legislation and law enforcement

1. Together with the state, develop a mechanism for monitoring cases of attacks motivated by racial, ethnic and other ideological hatred and law enforcement in these cases. Monitoring must be carried out on the basis of a clear methodology that defines the main criteria that constitute a racist attack. This information needs to be made available to government authorities, non-governmental organizations and the general public.

2. Together with the state, develop amendments to the legislation, including the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, and seek their adoption in order to bring the legal norms into fuller compliance with the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and other international obligations of Russia, and most importantly, to promote effective law enforcement and reduce the scope for arbitrary law enforcement. In particular, to contribute to the concretization of the definition of extremist activity.

3. Contribute to a broad public and professional discussion in order to overcome the broad and repressive interpretation in society and in power of legal norms and ideas aimed at protecting the foundations of democracy, human rights and minorities (the so-called anti-extremist legislation).

4. Contribute to the revision of Russian legislation in order to ensure the prohibition and punishment of a wider range of manifestations of racial discrimination than at present, in particular, to introduce into the legislation the definitions of discrimination, segregation, incitement to discrimination, coercion of discrimination and support for discrimination. Promote the inclusion in legislation of an explicit prohibition of discrimination and segregation in areas such as housing, education and leisure.

5. Encourage amendments to procedural legislation that would allow public organizations to file claims related to discrimination and incitement to racial and ethnic hatred in defense of an indefinite number of persons.

6. Make greater use of civil society's capacity to initiate legal cases to protect citizens from racially motivated violence and racial discrimination and provide legal assistance to victims.

Education

1. Organize, independently and jointly with the authorities, public discussions throughout the country, mass educational campaigns and actions aimed at initiating a broad public dialogue in the country on the problem of the danger of neo-Nazism, xenophobia and racial discrimination for the future of Russia, creating an atmosphere of their moral rejection and condemnation, on the development of intercultural dialogue, civil solidarity, protection of the rights of all people without any discrimination, and the consolidation of social forces.

2. Together with the authorities, develop, implement and improve the effectiveness of preventive measures to overcome manifestations of racism and racial discrimination, in particular, by educating the rejection of racism and respect for cultural diversity among government officials in all spheres of society, especially the police, judges and others law enforcement, military personnel, educators and other educators, health and welfare workers, including through the adoption and implementation of codes of conduct and professional ethics.

3. Independently and jointly with the authorities, take measures in the field of education and youth work to overcome prejudices that lead to discrimination and racism, in particular:

4. to inculcate knowledge about cultural diversity and promote positive coverage of this topic in the education of children and young people in order to prevent the formation of stereotypes, misinformation and exclusion, which can lead to manifestations of racism and discrimination;

5. to introduce courses on human rights, combating xenophobia and developing life skills in a multicultural society into the national curriculum of primary and secondary general education schools, developing and introducing educational and methodological literature on a competitive basis for this purpose, adjusting existing curricula in the spirit of respect for cultural diversity;

6. include education in the field of human rights, combating xenophobia and developing skills for living in a multicultural society in the professional training programs for teachers.

7. cooperate with already existing state programs, federal and regional, civic education and development of tolerance.

8. Develop mechanisms for civil and professional control of educational practice; carry out, independently and jointly with the authorities, the examination of curricula, teaching methods and textbooks in all subjects in all areas and at all levels of education for children and adults in order to exclude provisions that lead to the formation of prejudice, racist attitudes and negative ethnic stereotypes, encouraging hatred and cause racial, ethnic or religious hostility, paying particular attention to the unbiased teaching of history and social sciences; seek state support for initiatives to educate members of the most vulnerable groups in their own language.

9. Preserve and spread the memory of the Holocaust, the Stalinist deportations of peoples and other facts of genocide. To develop various forms of perpetuating the memory of the Holocaust and other facts of genocide, along with the memory of the Great Patriotic War, including the annual Holocaust Remembrance Days and the International Day against Fascism and Anti-Semitism.

Mass media

1. Collaborate with the media and the journalistic community and assist the media to:

2. objectively and harmoniously reflect the life of society in its cultural, ethnic and religious diversity; promote understanding and appreciation of the value of diversity;

3. avoid stereotypical depiction of representatives of cultural, ethnic or religious communities, including by refraining from improper reference to a person's belonging to a particular ethnic group, especially when covering crime chronicles;

4. report reliable factual material about acts of ethnic and racial discrimination, racism and intolerance;

5. report ethnically charged conflicts objectively and culturally;

6. to draw public attention to how dangerous intolerance and neo-fascism are, in particular, by revealing the background of racist statements by politicians and public figures;

7. not restrict the public's right to know about the dangerous activities of national extremists, but also not allow them to live broadcast, and always accompany information about their actions with an adequate editorial commentary.

8. Collaborate with the media community in developing professional standards, ethical norms and mechanisms for self-regulation in covering ethnic, racial, religious topics, in raising the awareness of journalists of the problem of replicating myths, the use of stereotypes, the language of intolerance, as well as issues of discrimination, respect for the rights and status of various minorities, and seek the adoption of such media standards and codes. To publicly encourage and support those journalists and media that are successfully working in this direction.

9. Collaborate with ISPs to develop codes of conduct and self-regulation for hosting websites, forums, blogs and other forms of communication. Engage in dialogue with all ISPs to discuss their voluntary adoption of measures to limit or exclude racist and xenophobic content. Explore ways to use the Internet to combat neo-Nazism, xenophobia and discrimination.

10. Facilitate the development and implementation at journalism departments of special courses on ethical principles and professional skills in covering cultural, ethnic and religious diversity and similar training programs for already working journalists, editors, media managers.

We will demand from the state:

1. Collaborate with civil society in all areas mentioned above.

2. At the level of state leaders, recognize the seriousness of the problem of neo-Nazism, xenophobia and racial discrimination for the future of the country and the need to take coordinated measures with civil society to solve it; to put an end to the state's inadequate response to the sharp increase in the number and activity of openly extremist nationalist and neo-Nazi groups that openly propagate ideas of racial superiority, spread calls for national and racial hatred and commit acts of violence motivated by racial hatred. Society needs clear and concrete speeches by government officials at all levels against neo-Nazism, racism and discrimination.

3. Take measures to ensure that the criminal justice system is an effective weapon in the fight against manifestations of national extremism, racism and racial discrimination. In particular:

4. qualify crimes motivated by racial and ethnic hatred, racially motivated violence and organized racist activities precisely as such, and not as "hooliganism" or crimes committed "with hooligan motives";

5. prevent unreasonable refusals to accept and consider applications related to such crimes;

6. thoroughly and promptly investigate offenses of a racist and xenophobic nature;

7. in line with Russia's international human rights obligations, develop clear instructions and provide training for police officers, prosecutors and judges dealing with such cases;

8. create a database of judgments on cases related to hate crimes, including both convictions and acquittals, which could serve as an information base for law enforcement activities in this area;

9. ensure that victims of racially motivated violence enjoy the right to fair and adequate compensation.

10. Put an end to the broad interpretation and application of Art. 282 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and the use of anti-extremist legislation not to combat racism and national extremism, but to prosecute political and public organizations objectionable to the authorities, civil activists and journalists, to abuse power in relation to freedom of speech and public associations.

11. Do not condone the growing practice of using "anti-fascist" rhetoric against political opponents who are not involved in the promotion of racial, religious, ethnic hatred or other hate crimes.

12. Ensure that effective measures are in place to protect neo-Nazism and racism fighters who face threats to their security from non-state actors, and remove barriers to the effective work of human rights and anti-fascist associations and activists, including:

13. effectively investigate all cases of persecution and violence by neo-Nazis against anti-fascists, adequately punish the perpetrators, ensure that the results of such investigations become public, do not allow inaction in such situations and, moreover, assistance to national extremists on the part of government officials;

14. to provide the necessary protection for persons acting as witnesses in criminal cases against alleged participants in racist attacks, as provided for by Russian law;

15. to ensure the full inclusion of the principles laid down in the 1998 UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders in the system of national law and mechanisms for the protection of human rights, as well as to ensure their full implementation in practice; ensure that human rights defenders, non-governmental organizations and other civil activists are guaranteed the rights enshrined in the Declaration so that they can carry out their activities without fear for their safety;

16. declare unequivocally and publicly their commitment to the promotion of human rights and the protection of human rights defenders and recognize the legitimacy of the work of human rights defenders.

17. Stop - including by law enforcement agencies - discrimination against ethnic minorities (which especially affects people from the Caucasus and Central Asia, as well as Roma), in the first place - ethnically selective treatment during checks of documents and the registration regime; segregation in school education; discriminatory denials of registration at the place of residence and sojourn, leading to the de facto deprivation of members of minorities of access to education, medical care, housing, social security; the practice of fabricating criminal cases against Chechens and other minorities; and police operations based on the principle of collective responsibility, such as Operation Tabor. Take urgent and necessary measures to correct the situation in those regions of the Russian Federation where human rights violations are most gross and systematic; pay the necessary attention to the situation of minorities in the regions, in particular, the so-called "non-titular" population in the republics within the Russian Federation.

18. Amend the Federal Law of the Russian Federation "On the Fundamentals of the Civil Service of the Russian Federation" and the Code of Administrative Offenses, which would provide for the responsibility of civil servants for manifestations of racism and racial discrimination resulting from their actions or inaction. Introduce a system that ensures thorough, timely, transparent and independent investigation of complaints of discriminatory practices by police officers and other officials.

19. Take urgent measures to ensure that the regulatory framework and practice in the field of migration (including also refugees, asylum seekers and internally displaced persons) becomes more transparent and humane, especially in relation to persons already living in Russia, and excludes any grounds for discrimination.

20. Deny state subsidies to those media that promote any form of racism and discrimination, practice "hate speech" and xenophobic statements in their publications.

21. Sign and ratify, without delay and reservations, international documents proclaiming equality and prohibition of discrimination, to which Russia is not yet a party, in particular:

22. 12th Additional Protocol to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms;

23. the Revised European Social Charter;

24. the 1990 UN Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families;

25. the European Convention on Nationality of 1997;

26. Statute of the International Criminal Court;

27. International Labor Organization Convention No. 97 on Migrant Workers;

ensure the full and effective implementation of these treaties at the national level; implement the recommendations of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the European Commission on Racism and Intolerance and other relevant international bodies.