Ludmilla Alexeeva who founded the first human rights organisation in Russia; the Helsinki Committee in Moscow in 1976, is visiting Norway between 21 and 25 May. The members of the Moscow Helsinki Group were the one to inform the West about the Soviet Union’s violations of the Helsinki declaration from1975. This led to pursuit, imprisonment and forced exile. Their work led to the creation of several sister- and solidarity-committees in other parts of the world. (21-May-07)

From the Norwegian Helsinki Committee´s webpage, translated by Nina Luhr/ HRH Oslo

The Norwegian Helsinki Committee, founded in 1977 was one of the first ones established. More than 30 years later Ludmilla Alexeeva is still the head of the Helsinki Committee in Moscow. The organisation is one of Russia’s strongest and most well known human rights organisations.

The Helsinki Movement started with the signing of the final declaration at the Conference for Safety and Cooperation in Europe held in 1975. The following year eleven dissidents founded the Moscow Helsinki Group in order to monitor the authorities.  They documented violations and informed about them. This had great made them very unpopular with the Russian authorities. Yuri Orlov, Ludmilla Alexeeva among others were imprisoned and forced to leave the country.

Their work led to the creation of several sister- and solidarity-committees in other parts of the world. Today the committees are interrelated in a network of 45 organisations in Europe, Central-Asia and North America. In Warsaw, Sarajevo, Zagreb, Moscow and Oslo the Committees are organised in local Human Rights Houses.