#12
Amnesty International
Russian Federation
Media Advisory
Amnesty International Calls on the Russian Government
to Live up to its Obligations to Protect Human Rights
AI Index: EUR 46/013/2003
Publish date: 29 January 2003
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.
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