HRW: Amended Law in Russia Threatens NGOs
Human Rights Watch urged leaders of the Group of 8 nations to make a controversial bill on non-governmental organizations in Russia a central issue in upcoming summits and other meetings.
Amendments to a controversial bill on non-governmental organizations have not significantly changed the extremely negative impact it would have on Russian human rights organizations and may still result in the closure of affiliate offices of foreign human rights groups, Human Rights Watch warned on Wednesday.
The New York-based human rights organization urged leaders of the Group of 8 nations, of which Russia assumes the chairmanship on Jan. 1, to make the legislation a central issue in upcoming summits and other meetings. Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to sign the legislation before the end of the year.
“This unprecedented assault on the work of human rights groups will invariably undermine the rights of all Russians,” said Holly Cartner, executive director of Human Rights Watch’s Europe and Central Asia division, in a statement released on Wednesday. “Leaders of the G8 countries must put this issue at the top of their agenda with President Putin.”
According to previous reports, the bill, which was passed in the State Duma last month, requires all 450,000 civic groups in Russia to re-register with the Justice Ministry and places greater restrictions on foreign NGOs including greater state control of their activities and finances. Also, foreign NGOs have to re-register as a Russian local organization through a complex and costly process requiring more than one year of continuous residency.
World Vision, one of the largest Christian relief and development organizations in the world, is among the Christian NGOs that will be affected by the new bill along with The Salvation Army, Operation Blessing, Samaritan’s Purse, and others.
“Like virtually all international NGOs working in Russia, WV [in Russia] is registered as a representative office of World Vision International,” said David Womble, Program Manager for World Vision in the Russian Federation, earlier this month.
“The bill would prohibit the existence of representative offices and would require each international organization to re-register as a local public association,” he explained. “Further, only local Russians and foreigners with ‘permanent residency status’ would be permitted membership. Permanent residency status is a complex and costly procedure that can only be initiated after one year of continuous residency in country. The majority of expatriates working in Russia do not have this status.”
World Vision had written to the ambassadors of the G7 embassies in Russia, as well other European governments, the European Commission in Russia, and major international donors, requesting that they voice their opposition to the bill. Other foreign NGOs and groups also made their protests known.
Following criticism from the West, Putin ordered his office earlier this month to modify the bill, but insisted that the law’s limitations on NGOs are necessary “to prevent financing political activities from abroad.”
In explaining Putin’s claim, Womble noted that since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia still had a high degree of influence over her satellite republics. Central Asia and Eastern Europe, though independent, affiliated themselves with Russia rather than the West because of the common language, trading ties, history, etc.
However, especially in recent years, a series of "colored" revolutions have seen popular uprisings against former Soviet era leaders of newly independent states – Orange in Ukraine and Rose in Georgia – with new leaders aligning themselves with the West.
“Russia has accused western governments of ‘meddling’ in the affairs of Russia's strategic regional neighbors, and influencing popular dissent under the guise of international development programs, such as political party development, promoting a more open press, and developing civil society. In order to avoid any such revolution in its own country, Russia appears to seek tighter restrictions on civil society,” Womble stated.
Though World Vision and others involved in pure humanitarian assistance efforts have no political motive whatsoever, the bill does not differentiate between governance and human rights organizations – which Womble said WV feels that the impetus for this legislation is really focused more on – and other NGOs.
HRW also noted that the bill gives no definition of “political activism,” raising serious concerns that the term could be interpreted very broadly by government officials.
Regarding the modifications that were made to the bill, HRW stated, “Although the parliament has softened somewhat its original draconian bill, the legislation still obliges offices of foreign NGOs to inform the government registration office about their projects for the upcoming year, and about the money allotted for every specific project.”
“Russian government officials would have an unprecedented level of discretion in deciding what projects, or even parts of NGO projects, comply with Russia’s national interests, as required by the bill,” the group added.
The Russian government has claimed that the bill fully complies with international norms and standards. However, HRW noted that the broad and ambiguous scope of the law poses a serious threat to the rights to freedom of association and expression, in violation of Russia’s obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, said Human Rights Watch. The 1998 U.N. Declaration on Human Rights Defenders calls on states to respect the rights of human rights defenders through legislation and administration.
“Putting the bill into force will be catastrophic for the protection of human rights in Russia,” said HRW’s Cartner. “There’s still time for President Putin to stop this bill in its tracks, but that time is running out.”
Michelle Vu contributed reporting from Los Angeles for this article.
