MINELRES: Fwd: MRG: Russian Federation urged to review and implement anti-discrimination laws

[MINELRES moderator]

Original sender: Roma Network <romale@zahav.net.il>


Russian Federation urged to review and implement anti-discrimination
laws 

In 2003 not a single court case based on issues of discrimination was
won in the Russian Federation, a fact which has led some minority rights
advocates to suggest that existing laws and judicial procedures are
ineffective and inadequate. According to representatives of minority
rights organizations, discrimination against groups such as the Roma is
commonplace and reforms to domestic laws are necessary in order to bring
them into line with ant-discrimination provisions which exist under
international laws, to which the Russian Federation is a party.

According to representatives of the NGOs �Roma Ural� based in
Yekaterinburg, and the Caucasian Refugee Council based in Vladikavkaz,
Russia, action is required by the government to demonstrate that
existing laws are more than simply symbolic attempts to portray
government concern over discrimination. According to these
organizations, there is no notion of �discrimination� in the
Constitution of the Russian Federation. Article 136 of Criminal Code,
�Violation of Equality of Human and Citizen Rights and Freedoms� fails
to provide effective defence of these rights since its content is only
�declarative�. A representative of Roma Ural, stated: �It is so wide
that if the discrimination of human and minority rights took place, it
is impossible to provide their defence in the court�.

Highlighting the situation in the North Caucasus, it was pointed out
that the Federal Government has done little to improve the living
conditions of internally displaced people from the Ossetian-Inguish
conflict in 1992, and those who were displaced due to the Chechen
conflict. Recommendations made to the Working Group and the government
of the Russian Federation included the implementation of measures to
address this issue and to ensure conflict prevention on the territory of
North Ossetia-Alania. Amending the provisions of Article 136 of the
Criminal Code to comply with international law, it was suggested, would
ensure that this law could be used effectively in practice in
discrimination cases.

http://www.minorityrights.org/news_detail.asp?ID=231


Click here to download the full intervention delivered to the UN Working
Group on Minorities: 
http://www.unhchr.ch/minorities/statements10/YGNCA3b.doc