Two-day seminar Practice of Cooperation between State Bodies and Non-governmental Organizations in the Area of Implementation of International Human Rights Standards in National Practice was held in Voronezh on 20-21 of May, 2010.
The seminar was organized by Youth Human Rights Movement and International Human Rights Group with support of Directorate of Human Rights of European Union and Community Liaison Office of Federal Ombudsman (in Voronezh region).
The seminar was opened by hospitable speeches of the guests from Strasbourg, Gennady Kosjak, Adviser of Cooperation Programs of the Directorate General and Dovidas Vitkauskas, Consultant of Human Rights, expert of European Council and European Commission, former Lawyer of European Council for Human Rights (presently, a candidate for a post of judge), now a Legal Adviser of President Administration of RF on Appeals and Advocate Secrets, expert of European Council Project of Juridical Reform in the Russian Federation.
The seminar was aimed at practical discussion of different aspects of implementation of European Covention for Human Rights in Voronezh region. The participants represented different target groups – bodies of executive powers, courts, public prosecutions office, Ministry of Interior, non-government organizations, Federal Ombudsmen, etc.
Though the Russian Federation ratified European Convention for Human Rights more then 12 years ago and it has the same power as Russian Constitution and other national laws on the whole territory of Russian Federation, the standards entrenched in E.C.H.R. are often misunderstood and the role of this document in the system of human rights protection is often not clear for representatives of state bodies, lawyers and citizens. Another problem is overflow of complaint from Russian citizens to European Court of Human Rights. Round 30 000 complaints are being lodged by Russian citizens annually. People treat European Court as a forth institution of justice. But as Dovidas Vitkauskas said ‘European Court should not pass judgments on private cases but attract attention of the State to systematic violations of legislation.’
The second day of the seminar was devoted to the legal education of students of judicial departments in Voronezh. The Director of the Public Liaison Office of Federal Ombudsman (in Voronezh region) Andrei Urov gave a lecture on Introduction of Human Rights Concept and mechanism of human rights protection.
Within the seminar Russian Research Center for Human Rights presented an international project ‘Electronic Human Rights Education for Lawyers”, which is a part of an international educational program for lawyers and human rights defenders (http://humanrightshouse.org/Projects/ILIA/EHREL/index.html) and is been realizing in cooperation with Human Rights House Foundation (Norway) with the financial support of Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nordic Council of Ministers and The German Marshal Fund f the United States. The program aims to increase the knowledge and skills of lawyers in international human rights protection; facilitate the implementation of international human rights standards in national practice and provide better protection for HR defenders and victims of fundamental rights violations.
The main objective of the project is to enable lawyers and human rights defenders to get systematic distant education in the sphere of human rights, to promote a greater understanding of HR law among lawyers, to improve their abilities to apply international human law in their everyday work on a national level. The project will contribute to better defense of fundamental freedoms in countries where the population and civil society would benefit from the direct application of international HR standards within national court procedures and practice by legal professionals.
Now the project is been realizing as a pilot one in Azerbaijan, Belorussia, Georgia and the Russian Federation.
As a conclusion, Gennady Kosjak underlined the fact that ‘it is important for Strasbourg not to abuse the Russian Federation but to aware that political will to change the situation with human rights exists in the Russian Federation. European Convention aims at developing effective legal mechanisms, and increase legal culture of citizens.’
