Speech by E.A. Pamfilova at the 61st session of the UN Commission on Human Rights: "Effective functioning of human rights mechanisms"

Geneva, April 13, 2005

I head a public structure under the President of Russia, which in less than three years of work has accumulated unique experience in the interaction of representatives of Russian civil society with the country's highest authorities, and first and foremost – with the President. Together with my colleagues – leaders of leading Russian human rights organizations – we began working as members of the Commission on Human Rights under the President of Russia in 2002, exclusively on a voluntary basis. This allowed us, on the one hand, to maintain a certain independence from the state and the authorities, and on the other – to defend positions before the President on the most acute problems in the human rights sphere, proceeding precisely from public interests, rather than to please the narrow departmental approaches of our state bureaucracy.

Relying, first and foremost, on the public initiatives of many non-governmental organizations, their rich experience of live work and expert resources, we managed to find the President's support in a number of areas. In particular, the President supported our proposals on:

• The humanization of criminal procedure policy
• The reform of the penitentiary system
• The development of mechanisms for public control over the observance of human rights in places of detention
• The introduction of alternative methods of punishment
• Solving the problems of internally displaced persons from the Chechen Republic
• Problems of citizenship and migration
• The protection of the rights of military personnel

Our proposals on limiting the interference of law enforcement agencies in the financial and economic activities of enterprises of various forms of ownership were also supported. Quite recently, we managed to change the position of the authorities in the field of environmental protection, in the part concerning the preservation of state nature reserves.

Working closely with the NGO community in defending the interests of people, restoring their violated rights, and overcoming arbitrariness on the part of both state and non-state officials, we have come to the disappointing conclusion that more and more help is required for the non-governmental organizations themselves, and especially –

(+) Support from VVP [Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin]

(-) Shortcomings
Support for NGOs should be greater.

?
?
Who is this [arrow pointing to "non-state officials"]