AI Index: EUR 46/013/2003 (Public)
News Service No: 019
29 January 2003
Russian Federation: Amnesty International calls on the Russian Government to
live up to its obligations to protect human rights
In a letter to President Vladimir Putin, Amnesty International is urging the government
of the Russian Federation to live up to its obligations to protect human rights.
The organization's members from around the world will be delivering the letter,
accompanied by a petition to embassies of the Russian Federation on Friday, 31
January 2003.
Amnesty International and its supporters in different countries express their
concern that accountability for human rights abuses and justice for victims of
such abuses in the country remains an abstract. They say: "People have no
confidence that state or judicial institutions will right the wrongs, and those
who violate human rights do so with confidence that they have every chance of
getting away with it."
In their letter accompanying the petition, Amnesty International's members and
supporters are urging President Vladimir Putin to:
Show a clear political commitment to promote and protect fundamental human rights
for everybody and to give an unequivocal message that violations of these rights
will not be tolerated. Ensure that prompt, impartial, independent and thorough
investigations of complaints relating to human rights abuses are carried out and
that those responsible are brought to justice in line with international human
rights standards. Protect ethnic minorities from arbitrary detention, particularly
in the context of checking residence permits or "propiska", and from torture and
ill-treatment by police. Change current practice so that children are held in
detention only as a measure of last resort, and introduce training for all law
enforcement officials on the special needs and rights of children in custody,
as spelled out in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Make domestic
violence a distinct criminal offence and introduce training for law enforcement
officials to recognize and prosecute violence against women, including domestic
violence and trafficking of women.
In only six weeks, since the start of Amnesty International's campaign on human
rights in the Russian Federation "Justice for Everybody" on 29 October 2002, the
organization's members collected over 150 000 signatures from around the world
under the petition to President Vladimir Putin. Amnesty International is continuing
to monitor the human rights situation in the Russian Federation, including
in the Chechen Republic.
For further information contact the Russia Campaign Press Officer Lydia
Aroyo on +44 20 7413 5599 or +44 7798 555 629, e-mail:
laroyo@amnesty.org; or the Russia Campaign Researcher Kim Wiesener on
+44 20 7413 5618.
Visit the Amnesty International Russia Campaign websites:
www.amnesty.org/russia
Public Document
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For more information please call Amnesty International's press office in London,
UK, on +44 20 7413 5566
Amnesty International, 1 Easton St., London WC1X 0DW. web: http:// www.amnesty.org
For latest human rights news view http://news.amnesty.org