HEAD OF THE MOSCOW HELSINKI
GROUP: THERE ARE MORE DEFEATS THAN VICTORIES
On February 27, the presidential human rights commission will meet to discuss
its plans for the year ahead. Liudmila Alexeeva, head of the Moscow Helsinki Group
(MHG), comments on those plans.
Question: How has the human rights situation changed recently?
Liudmila Alexeeva: On the whole, it has neither improved nor worsened. Some regions
have seen improvement, while in others things have deteriorated. In general, violations
of human rights are widespread, with officials facing no punishment for that.
Chechnya is the biggest problem. It is hard to say, but I might compare the
situation there to conditions in Nazi-occupied areas of the Soviet Union during
World War II. Soldiers, often drunk or on drugs, set about "restoring constitutional
order" - and ordinary citizens have no protection against them. They are worse
off than they were during the first war in Chechnya.
Question: What are some other primary concerns in terms of human rights abuses?
Liudmila Alexeeva: Beatings and torture at police stations. Two years ago we drafted
a law on public oversight of the prison system. It passed through three
readings in the Duma, but the government turned it down. We are going to
propose it once again. In the meantime, there has been considerable improvement
of conditions in preliminary detention centers. The number of inmates has
substantially decreased, so conditions improved.
Question: How do human rights activists know this? Do you have access to preliminary
detention centers?
Liudmila Alexeeva: In some regions we have, in some we do not. But we work fairly
closely with the Justice Ministry, which is responsible for the prison system.
Question: It seems to me that human rights activists inform the public about the
situation, rather than changing it.
Liudmila Alexeeva: The capabilities of human rights activists are underestimated
in Russia. Still, we do help people, and the authorities take us into consideration.
Our voice has become louder recently, since the number of independent media outlets
has been reduced, while we remain independent.
Question: How many human rights groups are there in Russia?
Liudmila Alexeeva: Our database lists over 2,000, but that is not all, of course.
I think there are tens of thousands of people involved nationwide.
Question: What are the sources of funding for human rights activists?
Liudmila Alexeeva: Out of thousands of organizations, only a few hundred have
any financial assistance. Most organizations simply do their work. Those who have
money receive it from two sources. In the past, money mostly came from western
grants: the foundations of Soros, Ford, Bell. We cannot use state funding, because
our objective is to protect citizens from the state.
Question: How do you get on with the authorities?
Liudmila Alexeeva: All leading human rights organizations are represented in the
presidential human rights commission.
Question: Does the president listen to human rights advocates?
Liudmila Alexeeva: Last December we spoke out on the subject of Chechen
refugee camps in Ingushetia, which had been threatened with closure by December
20. We stated our opinion to Mr. Voloshin, and the result is as follows:
around 19,000 people currently live in those camps and no one is going to
evict them. If the president had not given his instruction, the situation
would be quite different now. Recently, at a meeting with regional leaders,
the president advised them to listen to human rights activists.
Question: You have applied so much effort, even established contact with the president;
but the situation in Russia, according to you, remains as it was. Don't
you feel somewhat disappointed about your work?
Liudmila Alexeeva: A job like ours cannot yield results rapidly, especially
in a country with such deeply-rooted problems. We need to be optimists,
for there are more defeats than victories at the moment.