From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng  (Original Message)    Sent: 7/5/2006 3:51 AM

Terry Davis / Photo from www.kommersant.ru
Terry Davis / Photo from www.kommersant.ru
Russia Has Higher Human Rights Standards Than Belarus

05.07.2006

Kommersant Daily

The summer session of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly ended last week. Russia was the chairman of the assembly for the first time at that session. Kommersant correspondent Nargiz Asadova asked Council of Europe General Secretary Terry Davis to comment on the outcome of the session.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov did not come to the first session of the PACE under Russia’s chairmanship. Some members took that as a slap in the face. How do you feel about it?

I know that Mr. Lavrov had business in Paris then that could not be put off. I was very satisfied when [Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander] Grushko came to Strasbourg.

The fourth resolution obliging Russia to ratify the sixth protocol on the abolition of the death penalty was passed by the PACE this year. Does the CE have any other mechanisms to convince Russia to change its legislation on the death penalty?

It’s not a matter of passing resolutions. Russia joined the CE ten years ago and accepted a number of obligations before the CE. One of the most important was to abolish the death penalty legislatively. Of course, Russia imposed a moratorium on the death penalty, and we note with satisfaction that there has not been a single case of the use of the death penalty since the moratorium was imposed. The CE has to convince Russia that it should meet those obligations that it still hasn’t met.

If it doesn’t do it, could the Assembly deprive Russia of its membership in the CE?

The Assembly cannot discontinue Russia’s membership in the CE, but the Cabinet of Ministers can. That is envisaged in the charter, but it has never been done. I can tell you for sure that the possibility of depriving Russia of its membership in the CE has not been discussed in the Cabinet of Ministers yet, even though Russia has not met its obligations. When I met with representatives of the Russian authorities, they always assured me that Russia is about to abolish the death penalty.

At the current session of the PACE, Latvia was taken off monitoring. Russian authorities hold that that was premature, since Latvia continues to violate the rights of its Russian-speaking minority. Maybe monitoring should be restored?

The monitoring procedure was begun and ended by the PACE. It is within its competence. You most likely know that the PACE is made up of representatives from the parliaments of the CE countries. They are independent. Neither I nor anyone else can dictate decisions to the PACE. As for the Russian-speaking minority in Latvia, I have repeatedly expressed my concern for them. I even visited Latvia for that purpose and made a report on my visit. In my view, the conditions of the Russian-speaking minority in that country have improved since then. Of course, the best path for the Russian-speaking minority is to become Latvian citizens. Then they can fight for improvements using democratic methods. Those who convince Russian-speakers not to become Latvian citizens do a disservice to both the Russian and Latvian communities in Latvia.

At the beginning of 2000, Russia proposed unified standards for monitoring elections. Why doesn’t the CE want to consider Russia’s proposal?

The Russian representatives have just not been able to convince their European colleagues and representatives of other countries of the need to adopt unified elections standards. Such standards exist in the world, and there are plenty of them, in general.

The CE plans to continue its dialog with Belarusian authorities. But how can you invite Belarusian authorities to visit if the majority of them are on the blacklist and aren’t allowed into Europe?

We will carry on that dialog in Minsk. The Belarusians claim that they are ready for negotiations. We have had similar dialogs before, a CE representative was in Minsk and representatives of the Belarusian opposition have been in Strasbourg. That went on for two for three years, but I have to say that the results were disappointing. And I have to note regretfully that standards and norms of human rights and basic freedoms are much lower in Belarus than in Russia.

The PACE recently passed a resolution obliging Russia to free two Moldovans from prison in Transdniestria. Russia considers the demand misaddressed. What do you think?

It much more important that there was a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights on that subject before the resolution. CE members, all of our representatives, are required to enforce the rulings of the ECHR. That applies to Russia as well. The ECHR judges went to Transdniestria and were in that prison and wrote a report that said the prison was controlled by Russian authorities. Russia states that it has no relationship to those prisons but the ECHR judges wrote in black and white that Russia controls them. Therefore, Russia is obliged to free those prisoners. Hardly anyone would deny that Russia has huge influence on Tiraspol.

http://www.mosnews.com/interview/2006/07/05/councilofeuropegeneralsecretary.shtml