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After a promising start in 2015, the EU-Russia Legal Dialogue Programme comes back with new formats and initiatives.
The first big event in 2016 will be the International Symposium “Domestic Law in a Global Upswing? The Strained Relationship between International and Domestic Law” on 30-31 May in Berlin, Germany.
A public expert discussion will be followed by a world café, where different aspects of this range of topics will be discussed: Is there a need for an all-European legal framework for NGOs? How to use international conventions and international courts in defending freedom of association? How to proceed with a legal framework for NGOs in disputed territories?
This is where you can contribute! We warmly invite all interested colleagues from member organisations of the EU-Russia Civil Society Forum to apply for participation by sending us a short proposal for a group discussion topic at legal.dialogue(at)eu-russia-csf.org by 18 April 2016.
Another opportunity to join the programme is to apply for the position of an editor for the quarterly Online Journal "Civic Perspectives on Rights and Law". The deadline for submission of applications is 24 April 2016.
Additionally to the Symposium, an expert conference on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Moscow Helsinki Group and the OSCE German Chairmanship in 2016 will be organised in Berlin by the Forum in cooperation with the Human Rights Watch and the German-Russian Exchange. We believe that the discussion on the relationship between international and domestic law as a common topic of the Symposium and the Expert conference will give the participants a good opportunity for mutual reflections and exchange.
Finally, the programme of the Symposium also includes several workshops in the sense of trainings and offer another opportunity for share of experiences and practices as well as preparation of further activities of the EU-Russia Legal Dialogue in 2016.
The working languages of the Symposium are English and Russian.
The Symposium as a part of the EU-Russia Legal Dialogue Programme is supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany and the Oak Foundation.
Should you have any further questions, don’t hesitate to contact us via e-mail.
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STEERING COMMITTEE
Statement "Stop Attacks on Human Rights Defenders and Journalists in the North Caucasus, Conduct Effective Investigation, and Bring Perpetrators to Justice"
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The Steering Committee of the EU-Russia Civil Society Forum expresses its indignation at a series of violent attacks that took place on 9 March 2016 in Chechnya and Ingushetia at independent journalists and staff of the Committee for the Prevention of Torture, a member of the EU-Russia Civil Society Forum.
In the evening, a minibus with human rights defenders and independent journalists from Russia, Sweden, and Norway, participating in a press tour organised by the Committee for the Prevention of Torture, experienced a shameless attack by a group of unknown persons at the administrative border between Chechnya and Ingushetia. Three cars blocked the bus on its way to Grozny, and around twenty young men in masks and with truncheons smashed the windows of the bus, forced the passengers and the driver get off the bus, brutally beat them all with truncheons and sticks, put the bus on fire with personal belongings and documents of the human rights defenders and journalists, and left. Four people among the attacked were admitted to a hospital with serious traumas.
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MEDIA
Alessio Scandurra (Antigone Association, Rome, Italy): 'In Prisons, Foreigners Enjoy Being Legitimate Members of the Community'
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To watch the interview, please follow the link
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Mr Scandurra, you have just joined the Forum with the “Antigone” Association, which was established at the end of the 1980s. In my opinion, you have a quite successful story behind you. What are the main topics you have been working at right now? And what have been achievements of these years for you?
“Antigone” was established, after some articles had been introduced to the Criminal Code to fight political terrorism. The things were getting harsher and harsher, and we had a feeling that that process should be monitored by the civil society. Afterwards, we focused more and more on the work in prisons, prisoners’ rights, and prison reforms. In the 1990s, the situation in Italian prisons was deteriorating significantly – and we worked much on these topics. Now we are in a situation of political reforms and can observe certain improvements. Due to the overcrowding of prisons, there was the declaration of the state of emergency by the Italian government in 2010. But after a decision against Italy by the European Court of Human Rights because of the overcrowding of prisons, a lot of reforms were introduced, so now the situation is improving. Even more: For the first time since I started working on prison issues, I can see the situation getting better. It is a very exciting moment for us in Italy.
There are still some issues on the agenda you are dealing with right now, for instance, the abolition of the life sentence. What are the most urgent issues you are working at right now, while the situation improved?
The situation improved mostly in numbers: There are less prisoners, so the situation is less harsh not only for detainees but also for the organisations working at prisoners’ rights. Now there is an opportunity to rethink many aspects of the prison system in Italy. At the moment, we have been working at some areas in particular. One is the introduction of the crime of torture, which has been not in the Italy’s Criminal Code so far. Hence, we face huge problems to address cases of beatings of prisoners or violence against them. We have been involved in many trials but a session usually ends up with the limitation of the length of the trial for technical reasons. So, we would really need the introduction of torturing to the Criminal Code and we have been campaigning for this for many years. Italy has had international obligations since the 1980s to reduce the number of such crimes, but in fact we have received an opportunity to get this done only recently. Now there is a bill pending in the Parliament, and we hope that Italy will have let torture into the Criminal Code by the end of 2016. There are many problematic aspects in prisons in Italy, for example, healthcare. The healthcare system is very poor at the moment. In 2008, there has been a shift in the responsibility of healthcare for prisoners from the Ministry of Justice to the national healthcare system, but this transfer of duties did not work out well. As a result, the situation is very hard at the moment, especially in some regions and parts of the country. Other issues are not considered at all by the penitentiary system, for instance, gay rights. The law is applied in the sense as if there were no gay people. There is a huge problem in the management of the sentences of gay people. Likewise, there are no facilities or legal grounds for disabled people. We see many problems but that is perhaps the right moment to address those.
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