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On 23-26 July 2015, the EU-Russia Civil Society Forum goes to the very heart of Europe - Lithuania. 80 young professionals aged between 25 and 35 from Azerbaijan, Belarus, the Czech Republic, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, Sweden, Ukraine will discuss current issues within the "Europe Lab" Forum. The competition was really tough both for the applicants and the jury: Of almost 300 applicants, every fourth only made it through to Lithuania.
The discussion "Change Makers: Tapping Potential for a Cross-Border Dialogue" will open the Forum on 23 July in the capital of Vilnius followed up by workshops on historical memory, visa and migration, urban space, and corruption at the Raseiniai Local History Museum. Besides, further interesting speakers are awaited for evening talks.
The list of speakers will include Julius von Freytag-Loringhoven, Project Director at the Moscow Office of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom (Germany-Russia); Olga Karach, Founder and Director at the Civic Campaign "Our House" (Belarus); András Pethő, investigative journalist und editor at the Direkt36.hu Portal (Hungary); Lilia Shibanova, Head of the "Golos" Association (Russia); Ionuț Sibian, Head of the Civil Society Development Foundation, member in the European Economic and Social Committee (Romania-Belgium).
In the course of the workshops, the participants will formulate their project ideas. Afetrwards, they will be converted into project proposals. The best projects will get consultations by prominent experts and funded. The project results will be presented on 7-9 December 2015 at the 6th General Assembly of the EU-Russia Civil Society Forum in Budapest (Hungary).
To learn more, please go to the website of the EU-Russia Civil Society Forum.
Forum for Young Professionals "Europe Lab" is organised by the EU-Russia Civil Society Forum in cooperation with the Raseiniai Regional Administration, the Raseiniai Local History Museum as well as the NGOs "Antikomplex" (Czech Republic), Transparency International Lithuania, and "Interra" (Russia). The project is suppoted by the European Commission, the Stefan Batory Foundation, and the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom.
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TOP NEWS
Save the Date: 6th General Assembly on 7-9 December 2015 in Budapest
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The 6th General Assembly (GA) of the EU-Russia Civil Society Forum will take place on 7-9 December 2015 in Budapest, Hungary. The Secretariat in cooperation with the Steering Committee as well as local partners has commenced preparation work for the event already.
The major discussion topics will be issues, which turned out to lately become acute for both the European Union and the Russian Federation, - crackdown on independent voices in various European countries, migration, rise of far-right movements and far-left populism, etc.
The EU-Russia Civil Society Forum encourages its members to save the date and come to the most important decision-making body of the Forum to Budapest. We also invite guests and observers to openly discuss challenges for civil societies on both sides as well as to contribute to this important event with their ideas and experiences.
See you in Budapest!
Read more on the GA format
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STEERING COMMITTEE
Statement "The Law on "Undesirable Organisations" Threatens to Cut Cooperation of Russian Civil Society with its International Partners"
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The Steering Committee of the EU-Russia Civil Society Forum expresses its deep concern and dismay over the adoption of the federal law introducing the legal notion of “undesirable organisations” (Federal Law No. 662902-6 “On the Introduction of Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation”).
The Russian authorities should hold on to the principles of international law and international obligations of the Russian Federation and repeal this law, believes the Steering Committee. We support the position by the Russia’s Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights, which claimed the character of this law was unconstitutional already at the drafting stage.
The law on “undesirable organisations” - along with the law on “foreign agents” adopted in 2012 - is another blow to the Russian civil society and its cooperation with partners and like-minded associations in other countries. It is another step towards international isolation. In the modern world, open dialogue, exchange of ideas, and useful criticism are indispensable for the development of democracy and the rule of law. This includes establishment of representations of international organisations in the country and their legitimate operation.
The law on “undesirable organisations” is violating these core democratic norms and is aimed at singling out organisations. In legal terms, the Russian legislation has enough instruments to shut down the entities, which ‘pose a threat to the country’s constitutional order, defence capacity, and state security’.
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STEERING COMMITTEE
Statement "Investigate All Attacks against the Joint Mobile Group and Ensure Safety for Human Rights Defenders in the Chechen Republic"
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The Steering Committee of the EU-Russia Civil Society Forum expresses its deep concern and indignation about recent and earlier attacks on human rights defenders from the Joint Mobile Group (JMG) of the Committee against Torture (CAT) in the Chechen Republic.
On 3 June 2015, a group of masked men carrying hammers and crowbars attacked the office of the JMG in Grozny. Members of the mob were a small part of a larger demonstration of several dozen Chechen residents, who gathered in front of the JMG office to protest against the CAT work in Chechnya; many participants came there at the orders of their superiors at work and did not even understand where they came to and for what purpose. A group of mobsters vandalised the JMG vehicle and stormed into the JMG office by prying open metal doors and climbing onto its balcony. When the JMG employees, fearing for their own safety, escaped the office through the window, the mob destroyed the organisation’s equipment and took away documents related to the ongoing legal cases the CAT is working on.
This is the second attack against the CAT in the last six months. In December 2014, the JMG’s office in Grozny was destroyed in a suspected arson attack. The JMG personnel was arrested, detained, and searched without any explanations or search warrants. Computers, photo cameras, and mobile phones of the JMG members were confiscated.
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MEDIA
Irina Protasova (Man and Law, Republic of Mari El, Russia): 'Our Colleagues from Abroad Don't Possess Authority We Have'
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To watch the interview in Russian please follow the link
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You represent a well-known regional organization – “Man and Law” from the Republic of Mari El. It has even become an interregional organisation lately. Can you please tell us more about how you manage to continue your activities in the light of the fact that “closed institutions” remain closed in Russia?
We have been doing the work on human rights protection for almost 16 years. Originally, our field of activities included human rights protection in the penal system and the police system, child rights protection, and protection of civil activity rights. Hence, we have several areas we have been involved in. One of them is civilian oversight over places of forced imprisonment in general and authorities in particular.
Our second area of activities is legal enlightenment of the public officials. Since 2004, we have had a very professional team of trainers, which works in almost 50 per cent of Russian regions. We had a seminar on human rights with the staff members of the Federal Penitentiary Service and the Ministry of the Interior. We are currently providing educational activities with our colleagues from other regions to enable them to conduct such seminars on human rights for staff members of the Federal Penitentiary System and the Ministry.
And the last area of our activities is legal assistance. All three areas of our activities (legal assistance, civilian oversight, and legal enlightenment) have proved to be efficient and turned out to be fruitful.
Read more
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