Supporting Human Rights and Democracy: The U.S. Record 2004 - 2005
Russia Country Report
Although the Government generally respected the human rights of its citizens in 2004 in some areas, it was poor in some areas and worsened in others. A move from election to nomination by the President of regional governors further strengthened the power of the executive branch. This, coupled with media restrictions, a compliant State Duma, shortcomings in recent national elections, law enforcement corruption, and political pressure on the judiciary raised concerns about the erosion of government leaders' accountability to the people. Government pressure further weakened freedom of expression and undermined the effectiveness of independent non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The Government's record remained poor in Chechnya, where there were credible reports of serious violations, including numerous reports of unlawful killings and abuses of civilians by both federal security forces and Chechen government security forces. Rebel fighters also committed acts of terrorism and human rights abuses in the North Caucasus region. Law enforcement personnel reportedly engaged in torture, violence, and other brutal or humiliating behavior, often with impunity. A series of cases involving alleged espionage caused continued concerns regarding due process and the influence of the Federal Security Service in the judicial system. Authorities imposed restrictions on some minority religious groups. Minorities experienced widespread discrimination, and, increasingly, racially-motivated attacks. Limits on workers' rights increased, as did reports of forced and child labor. Trafficking in persons (TIP) remained a serious problem despite steps to combat trafficking.
The U.S. human rights and democracy strategy in Russia promotes democratic institutions and processes, a vibrant civil society, fundamental freedoms, rule of law, human rights and anti-trafficking measures.
Senior U.S. officials including the President, the Secretary of State and Ambassador raised human rights and democracy concerns with their Russian counterparts. For example, in his February 2005 and November 2004 meetings with President Putin in Bratislava, Slovakia and Santiago, Chile, President Bush raised a broad range of bilateral issues including democracy and human rights concerns.
Senior U.S. officials made human rights and democracy a major public diplomacy theme. Secretary of State Powell wrote in a January op-ed in the newspaper Izvestiya that Russia had not yet found the "essential balance among the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government" and that political power was not yet "fully tethered to law." His op-ed was quoted in Russian, U.S. and European media for months afterward. Secretary Powell published an op-ed in May in the newspaper Kommersant under the headline, "Colin Powell: Those Guilty of Violations in Iraq Will Not Escape Punishment." The Ambassador and other Embassy staff also communicated U.S. concerns privately to Russian national and regional officials and worked with NGOs to support a more favorable climate.
To celebrate International Human Rights Day, Ambassador Vershbow addressed and took questions from 150 Moscow State University students on the subject of human rights and democracy. The Embassy sponsored a year-long course on American Diplomacy and Foreign Policy, given by U.S. diplomats, at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, perhaps Russia's most prominent university for diplomats, where human rights and democracy were pervasive themes.
Ambassador Vershbow's June interview with the newspaper Novaya Gazeta, published under the headline "We Have Concerns that Russia Is Moving Towards a New Self-Isolation," voiced concern about President Putin's criticism of Western NGOs working in Russia, rule of law problems in the Yukos case and human rights abuses in Chechnya. The Ambassador conveyed U.S. concerns about the erosion of democratic institutions and the rule of law in several other interviews with Russian newspapers and websites, and in speeches and seminars.
Numerous Embassy-sponsored speakers from the United States addressed Russian audiences on topics ranging from U.S. state government interaction with media and NGOs to the 2004 U.S. presidential election and the future of U.S.-Russian relations. The Embassy distributed 29 sets of over 100 books on democracy, freedom of expression, tolerance, and human rights.
Despite U.S. efforts during 2004, negative developments raised serious questions over the strength and depth of Russian commitment to human rights, democratic reform and the rule of law. As a result of these adverse developments, the Secretary of State was unable for the first time to certify the Russian Government's commitment to observe internationally recognized human rights under the Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) Act. In order to allow the United States to continue to work with the Russian Government on essential weapons reduction and nonproliferation projects, the president waived the requirement to certify Russia for CTR assistance.
Like the December 2003 Duma elections, the March presidential election did not meet international standards in a number of areas, although the outcome was generally understood to have represented the will of the people. The United States promoted democratic institutions and processes diplomatically and programmatically. Diplomatically, U.S. officials raised concerns with Russian officials before and after the national presidential, and Chechen presidential elections.
Programmatically, the United States supported the monitoring of the March presidential election by a Russian election watchdog organization and the training of mass media representatives in political and election reporting. With U.S. funding, NGO partners trained independent observers to monitor the work of deputies in regional legislatures. The United States supported training and development activities for Russian political parties. In April, the United States began a program to expand citizen monitoring of regional legislators' actions, encouraging interaction and accountability between constituents and their elected officials. The United States contributes to the promotion of elections that meet international standards through development of regional-level media expertise, facilitation of advocacy and public dialogue about the role of free media and promotion of more professional media in the regions.
Russian government efforts "to manage" civil society, including increased scrutiny of many foreign-funded � as well as domestic � NGOs, continued. To promote a vibrant civil society, U.S. programs support NGOs, resource centers, advocacy and watchdog groups, policy think tanks, business associations and labor unions. Using U.S. funding, NGO partners promoted volunteerism and community service, and advocated for citizens' rights and against corruption. United States assistance supported more than 1,000 environmental protection, public advocacy, and other events throughout Russia, with participation of at least 120,000 activists.
As further backsliding occurred in media freedom, the United States worked to strengthen regional broadcast media activities and improve access to sources of non-state information. Over 200 smaller TV stations sent more than 1,600 professionals to seminars at Regional Training Centers. This represented the first professional training for a number of them. By 2004, a total of 502 regional TV outlets took part in at least one public awareness campaign. The United States also organized International Visitors Programs (IVPs) on television station management and the functions of press secretaries.
To promote the rule of law, the United States supports exchange and technical assistance programs aimed at bolstering judicial independence, ethical conduct, transparency and professionalism. The court system enjoyed a larger budget than ever before, and further professionalized its operations with increasing use of computerization, professional court administrators, justices of the peace, judicial assistants (law clerks) and court press officers. Programs supported by the United States inspired many of these improvements. Innovations adopted in U.S.-funded pilot courts have improved customer service, efficiency and transparency of operations. Russian officials are considering expanding them throughout the court system. The judiciary adopted a new Code of Judicial Ethics, to which U.S. experts contributed. Russia's practicing lawyers took first steps toward a continuing legal education program, funded in part by the United States. Other U.S. programs continue to support legal clinics, work on gender-related issues (such as domestic violence and trafficking), labor and migrant rights, and NGO advocacy skills. The Open World program expanded ties between Russian legal professionals and U.S. counterparts.
The United States has supported the successful use of the legal system by NGOs, which have won the majority of over 1,600 cases taken to court since 2002. Most cases were on behalf of refugees and labor union activists. Hits on a U.S.-support-ed human rights website jumped from 1,400 in 2003 to 67,000 in 2004. United States-supported law school legal clinics have spread to approximately 80 law schools, many of which provide representation to indigent persons, with some now beginning to specialize in subjects such as the rights of women, children and prisoners.
The gravest threat to human rights in Russia continued to be the conflict in Chechnya and its expansion to other areas of the North Caucasus. Senior U.S. officials, including Secretary Powell and the Ambassador, regularly expressed concern to Russian political and military leaders about the conduct of the Russian military and Chechen allies in Chechnya. United States officials used Congressional testimony, meetings with Russian officials, media interviews and public speeches to highlight shortcomings. They stressed that the United States supports a political, not military, solution, that Russian forces in Chechnya should end their abuses and that the Russian Government should prosecute those found responsible when violations occurred. The United States also called on Chechen fighters to end terrorist acts and violence against civilians, repudiate terrorism, and cut all ties to Chechen and international terrorists. The United States recognizes the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation.
The United States voted for the EU's resolution on Chechnya before the 2004 UN Commission on Human Rights and used Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) fora to convey its concerns about Chechnya. United States funding supported efforts to promote accountability for abuses in Chechnya. United States officials repeatedly stressed to Russian officials that all returns of internally displaced persons (IDPs) to Chechnya should be purely voluntary and that alternative shelter be provided to those IDPs who wish to remain in Ingushetiya. The United States supported legal assistance to indigent people, including through an NGO that assisted 6,373 IDPs in the North Caucasus in FY 2004. The United States funded international humanitarian assistance programs addressing a wide range of IDP needs in the North Caucasus. The United States also provided humanitarian assistance in response to the terrorist attack on the school in Beslan, North Ossetia.
To ensure that the United States trains individuals who have not violated human rights, it uses a vetting procedure in accordance with the Leahy Amendment.
Gender issues remained a central element of U.S. human rights strategy. An Embassy working group coordinated Embassy efforts on women's issues. A U.S. program trained 22 legal specialists and 100 social advocates in 2003 and 2004 to handle domestic violence cases and other gender-related issues. The program also worked to change how law enforcement bodies respond to domestic violence complaints. In his extensive travels to Russia's regions, the Ambassador hosted roundtable discussions and meetings with civil society activists including those working on such women's issues as the role of women in the private sector.
The United States also continued working to promote the rights of the disabled and children. A U.S.-assisted NGO project promoted the use of legal advocacy to secure access to education for disabled students and conducted public campaigns on disabled and inclusive education. The United States supported seminars on the rights of the disabled for thousands of government and educational officials, community leaders, media representatives and lawyers, and supported development of a university course on disability law. While traveling in Russia's regions, the Ambassador hosted a number of roundtable discussions for civil society activists that included advocates for the rights of the disabled and children. The Ambassador's wife spoke at a conference on the rights of orphans.
Senior U.S. officials, including the Ambassador, maintained an active dialogue on freedom of religion and religious, racial and ethnic tolerance with government officials, religious denominations and NGOs. The Ambassador led a roundtable discussion on human rights and religious freedom in Bryansk, which has been the scene of anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim incidents.
The United States continued to monitor crucial court cases and visa issues affecting religious workers. The United States helped two of the country's major police academies institute tolerance courses as part of their curriculum. The Embassy continued the Tolerance Grants Initiative under the Democracy Commission and provided grants to 14 NGOs working to improve inter-eth-nic and inter-religious tolerance. Building on previous projects, the United States supported the creation of tolerance councils in two additional regions � for a total of five � that brought together the general public, law enforcement officials, local NGOs and local governments to combat intolerant attitudes toward ethnic and religious groups.
International Visitors Leadership and speaker programs focused on Islam in America and on Tolerance and Diversity for Russian Muslim leaders. In several regions, the United States supported the introduction of tolerance-related training curriculum for future Ministry of Internal Affairs officials and for public schools. An Embassy Democracy Commission grant helped an organization conduct interviews with victims of hate crimes and political prosecutions.
Support from the United States to the Russian labor movement � for years provided through a U.S. implementer � in 2004 for the first time went directly to a Russian partner organization. This grant supports a nation-wide association of lawyers and other labor advocates who operate centers in seven cities. The organization provides individual trade unions and their members with expert legal advice on a wide range of labor contract issues. In 2004 alone, the organization represented in court the interests of its clients in a total of 272 hearings. Those hearings resulted in 87 decisions (56 positive and 31 negative for their clients). It appealed one of these cases to the European Court of Human Rights, which is expected to hear the case in 2005.
To promote anti-trafficking efforts, the United States worked successfully with supportive Russian authorities on the creation of legislation that establishes and funds a Russian witness protection program. This program will protect human trafficking victims as witnesses, and their families. The United States supported the efforts of the Russian Government in implementing last year's new trafficking legislation specifically criminalizing TIP. Additionally, Embassy legal experts testified before the Russian Duma in support of strengthening a draft law on trafficking that would cover the broader issues of prevention and protection. The United States conducted a "train-the-trainer" seminar on trafficking for representatives from all 23 Interior Ministry training institutes. The Embassy coordinated with anti-trafficking organizations engaged in public outreach, service provision and promotion of legislation. Its support of NGO partners throughout Russia raised awareness about trafficking, increased Russia's capacity for research on trafficking issues and enabled scholars to play a greater role in advising Russian policymakers on trafficking-related laws, policies and enforcement mechanisms. The United States continued to support efforts of a Russian coalition of organizations to address issues of domestic violence and TIP. With the support of U.S. funding, NGOs in three regions conducted informational seminars for 1,865 students to raise awareness about trafficking issues, and a crisis center network of 13 centers continued to provide legal and psychological counseling to more than 2,000 women.