EU-Russia human rights dialogue must be more public, include NGOs -human rights activists
MOSCOW. Sept 28 (Interfax) - Russian human rights activists have proposed changing the format of talks on human rights between Russia and the European Union. The next round of talks is scheduled to be held in Brussels in early October. "We suggest changing the format of these talks, to make them more public," head of the Russian human rights center, Memorial, Oleg Orlov told Interfax on Friday. "We are seeking an official status for non-governmental organizations at the talks, because it turns out that Russian and EU officials might discuss something there behind closed doors. Why wouldn't they invite expert, non-governmental organizations?" Orlov said. The EU expressed a willingness to expand the format to include more participants to the talks on human rights, he said. "The trouble is that the Russian delegation is reluctant to put civil society representatives on the list of the participants," Orlov said. Human rights activists would like to meet with delegations from Russia and the European Union in order to give them independent assessments on the human right situation, he said. "Unfortunately, the Russian delegation sent a refusal motivated by the fact that consultations on human rights are being held on an intergovernmental level and there is no place for human rights activists there. The Russian delegation is simply refusing to meet with us," Orlov said. EU officials will meet with a group of Russian and international human rights activists in Brussels before official EU-Russia talks on human rights. At a meeting with EU officials on October 2, Memorial activists will hand over their reports on the situation in Chechnya, in Ingushetia and on human rights violations experienced by foreigners deported from Russia. The meeting will be attended by leading Russian and international nongovernmental organizations. Attendees will include Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Memorial, Moscow Helsinki Group, For Human Rights Movement, the Demos Center, the Civil Assistance Committee and others.
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