On Feb 16-17th the Chairwoman of the Union of Soldiers` Mothers Committees of the Russian Federation (Russia Research Center for Human Rights) Valentina Melnikova and a member of the Board of the Union Ida Kuklina participated in the round table “The role of NGOs in the situation following the August 08 Conflict”, organized by the Conference of INGOs in Strasbourg. NGOs from South Ossetia, Abkhazia, Georgia, the Russian Federation, experts from different European countries and representatives of the NGOs Commission of Council of Europe took part in the discussion.
Due to the unforeseen delay of the Georgian delegation the time of the discussion was reduced. But still the participants discussed a number of problems including human rights violations in the region and possible ways of counteraction among NGOs. The participants expressed different viewpoints on the conflict and its consequences, but all agreed that the situation remains unstable and demands further attempts on joint search of more effective cooperation forms.
