Today, the deadline ran out for several hundred international organisations wanting to continue their work in the Russian Federation. Due to new legislation, all international organisations are required to re-register annually. Out of the approximately 500 organizations affected by this law, only some 150 have managed to collect the required paperwork in time. Human Rights Watch are among those who have not. (18-OCT-06)

Based on a press release from the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, this article has been translated and  prepared for publication here by HRH-F / Niels Jacob Harbitz.

Later this week, it will be announced which documents will be accepted and which organozations will be allowed to continue their work. many of the requirements are difficult or impossible to meet, like providing the home addresses of those who once founded the organization, and permission from each and every founder to open an office in the Russian Federation. Many organizations have exited for a long time, and the founders may even be dead.

The requirements to re-register: a moving target
Amnesty International and Medecins Sans Frontieres are among those who have submitted their applications, and are now awaiting their respective verdicts. According to BBC, the worldwide Human Rights Watch, however, have not been able to submit its re-egistration in time. The organization has tried to re-register repeatedly, but says that Russian authorities time and time again have changed the list of requirements.

-A purposeful, determined move to silence all independent voices
A new law on non-governmental organizations came into power in April 2006. Russian authorities say the law is meant to make the NGO sector more transparent, and that surveillance shall prevent foreign states from promoting and pursuing political goals through so-called independent organizations inside the Russian Federation. Critic, on the other hand, suggest that the law is no more than the most recent move in President Putin’s purposeful and determined move to silence all independent voices in the Russian Federation. After first having brought all his political opponents to silence, and thereafter taken control over the media, he now wants, with this new legislation in hand, to reduce significantly the influence of both Russian and international organizations.

For more information, please contact the Norwegian Helsinki Committee’s advisers
Aage Borchgrevink, +47 907 51 150
Inna Sangadzhiyeva, +47 976 99 458