The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination begins examination of reports of Russian Federation

The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination began consideration this afternoon of the fifteenth to seventeenth periodic reports of the Russian Federation, questioning a Government delegation, among other things, on the situation of Gypsies and Chechens, and on efforts to prevent the activities of racist organizations.

Introducing his country's reports, Vladimir Yurievich Zorin, Minister of Issues of Nationalities of the Russian Federation, said the Russian Federation was the only country that defined autonomous territories for ethnic and national groups in which they had their own legislation. The Russian Federation also had put much effort into the promotion of the rights of its indigenous peoples within the context of the UN Decade for Indigenous Peoples, he added.

The reports were also introduced by Sergei Alekseevich, Deputy Head of the Department of Federal Security Law Supervision of tje Office of the Procurator General of the Russian Federation; and Abib Pulatovich Abdullaev, Director of the "MIR" publishing house.

Committee Expert Patrick Thornberry, the Committee Expert who served as country rapporteur for the reports of the Russian Federation, said among other things that it appeared there were no specialized institutions for addressing racial discrimination as such in the Russian Federation. He said there had been many allegations of racially selective inspections and identity checks, including targeting of the Roma population; and a great range of human rights violations had been alleged against Chechens within and outside Chechnya.

Also participating in the debate were Committee Experts Kurt Herndl, Regis de Gouttes, Luis Valencia Rodriguez, Morten Kjaerum, Alexander Sicilianos, Nourredine Amir, Mario Jorge Yutzis, and Raghavan Vasudevan Pillai.

Members of the Russian delegation included Vladimir A. Parchikov, Senior Counsellor of the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations Office at Geneva; Yuri A. Boichenko, Head of Division of the Department of International Humanitarian Cooperation and Human Rights of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Nikolai A. Rezvanov, Head of the Regional Programme Department of the Russian Federation; Alexander V. Tokarev, First Secretary of the Permanent Mission; Olga E. Gubanova and Sergey L. Chumarev, Second Secretaries, and Alexey D. Akzhigitov, Third Secretary; and Svetlana N. Artemyeva, Senior Inspector of the Department of International Humanitarian Cooperation and Human Rights of the Foreign Ministry.

As one of 167 States parties to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the Russian Federation must present periodic reports to the Committee on efforts to implement the provisions of the treaty.

When the Committee reconvenes at 10 a.m. Tuesday, 11 March, it will hear the responses of the Russian Federation to the questions put this afternoon.

Reports of Russian Federation

The fifteenth to seventeenth periodic reports of the Russian Federation (CERD/C/431/Add.2) describe efforts made by the State party to implement the provisions of the Convention on article-by-article basis. The reports affirm that the prohibition of racial discrimination is one of the staple provisions of the 1993 Constitution of the country. This Constitutional provision is fully consistent with Russia's international obligations.
The reports note that the Penal Code, which took effect on January 1997, devotes considerable attention to the prohibition of all forms of discrimination. Article 63 of the Code lays down the general rule that having "motives of national, racial or religious hatred or enmity" for committing a crime is an aggravating circumstance. The motives also constitute grounds for the imposition of severer penalties.

There are a range of unlawful voluntary associations whose by-laws contain no calls for the violent overthrow of the constitutional order of the formation of paramilitary units, for example, and which generally camouflaging their true aims and objectives as military and patriotic, the reports say. In such cases, there are no formal grounds for denying them registration, and the only option left to the Ministry of Justice is to keep a close eye on what they actually do. If they are found to be in breach of anti-discrimination legislation, they could be suspended after receiving two warnings.

It is noted that the Russian Federation has recently witnessed a proliferation of various forms of extremism which are provoking instability in society and contributing to an overall weakening of order in the State. This is reflected in the emergence of separatist sentiment in certain constituent entities of the Federation, which helps extremists to further their aims and goals, the report states. These developments are a real threat to the foundations of the Constitutional structure of the Russian Federation and can lead to violations of human rights and citizens' rights and freedoms, the reports contend.

Introduction of Reports

VLADIMIR YURIEVICH ZORIN, Minister of Issues of Nationalities of the Russian Federation, said the Russian Federation was the only country that defined autonomous territories for ethnic and national groups, in which the members of such groups exercised their rights, among other things through their own laws and legislation. Even smaller indigenous groups living in the north had their own autonomous legislative and administrative competence within their regions. The Russian Federation had also put much effort into the promotion of the rights of its indigenous peoples within the context of the UN Decade for Indigenous Peoples.

Mr. Zorin said the office of the country's Ombudsman -- formally the Federal Commissioner for Human Rights -- was established in accordance with the Russian Constitution to give effect to the State's guarantees of protection of citizens' rights and freedoms and to ensure that those rights were observed and respected by the State and local authorities. The Ombudsman represented 21 entities of the Russian Federation. The office of the Ombudsman was headed by well-known personality, who had conducted a number of discussions and seminars on the issue of racial discrimination. Non-governmental organizations had been involved in the work of the office dealing with the elimination of racial discrimination.

The issue of racial discrimination came under the attention of the highest federal authorities, with the President, Vladimir Putin, himself involved in the promotion of racial harmony, Mr. Zorin said. Recently, the President had taken part in the Third Congress of the Tartars and other conferences, such as one held by the Muslims. During the hostage-taking crisis caused by a group of Chechen individuals, the President had met with the leaders of various nationalities to avoid any misunderstanding concerning the Chechens as a whole. He had also made efforts to promote the rights of the indigenous peoples of the Russian Federation.

Mr. Zorin said that in the Russian Federation there were about 300 national-cultural entities working to satisfy the needs of their respective nationalities. There were also some 2,000 national organizations, including human rights organizations.

On the issue of religion, there were 20,000 religious organizations related to 68 confessions, the Minister said. The Russian Orthodox Church was represented by 52 per cent of the organizations, while 17 per cent represented Protestants, 14.9 per cent the Muslim community and 1.3 per cent the Catholics. All the confessional groups were represented. The Russian Federation had managed to avoid any serious conflicts through building on its noble tradition of tolerance.

Mr. Zorin said the country's 55,000 Gypsies had been fully integrated into modern society and were benefiting from various programmes intended to promote their rights. For the first time, an encyclopedia had been published in the Gypsy language. Interesting work had been accomplished aimed at the promotion of the Gypsy culture in the Samara and Volga regions. Russian Gypsies counted a number of renowned scientists and artists among their numbers.
Important political developments were taking in Chechnya with a referendum to be held soon to determine the direction of the region, the Minister said. The measure would bring Chechens back to peaceful life. The first step would be the implementation of a broad political process to legitimize institutions, including the formation of bicameral chamber, an executive branch, and a strong judicial structure. The draft Constitution for the region would be part of the referendum, which would suggest the assumption of sovereignty within the Russian Federation.

SERGEI ALEKSEEVICH VORONOV, Deputy Head of the Department of Security Law Supervision of the Office of the Procurator General of the Russian Federation, said the Russian Constitution provided rights to all people speaking different languages without limitation. The new Criminal Code had also provided for penalties for crimes of racial discrimination.

Mr. Voronov said human rights in the country were protected by several different legislative provisions, including the labour law and Civil Code. In 2002, a law had been adopted by the Duma (Parliament) to fight extremism; it prohibited the creation of extremist associations. A series of amendments had also been carried out to the Criminal Code regard acts inciting racial hatred.

HABIB PULATOVICH ABDULLAEV, Director of the "MIR" Publishing House, said respect for the languages of the country's national groups was the one of the policies of the Russian Federation. In 1996, a law had been adopted on the protection of national languages.

Mr. Abdullaev said 300 radio stations currently were broadcasting in 56 languages in the Russian Federation; and 450 television stations were transmitting in 69 languages. All the country's Republics allocated radio or television times in minority languages. Also, 414 newspapers and magazines were published.

Discussion

PATRICK THORNBERRY, the Committee Expert who served as the country rapporteur for the reports of the Russian Federation, said it appeared there were no specialized institutions for addressing racial discrimination as such in the Russian Federation, though one might observe and commend the work of the federal Commission on Human Rights. Superficially, the Commission's workload seemed great, and there did not seem to be a specialized anti-discrimination unit within the Commission. What was the situation at the regional level?

Mr. Thornberry said that there were many allegations of racially selective inspections and identity checks, including acts targeting the Roma population. Information was needed from the delegation, among other things on the choice of police terminology for "operation Tabor", which referred to a Roma encampment.

A major issue flagged by many NGOs (non-governmental organizations) was the registration system for residence in the Russian Federation, which was alleged to negate the positive benefits of Russian citizenship, Mr. Thornberry said. The Constitutional Court had declared unconstitutional restrictions placed on place of residence, but illegal provisions at the sub-Federal level were still in place in some areas of the Federation. He asked the delegation for information on the progress of rehabilitation of repressed peoples.

Mr. Thornberry said he wanted to know more about the funding of programmes and projects on the devolution of some responsibilities to nationalities. With regard to Cossack organizations, he said their status was not clearly defined. They were described as a formerly oppressed people. He wanted to know the degree of support they received from the State.

Mr. Thornberry said the Committee attached great importance to article 4 of the Convention and had devoted two general recommendations to the article, stressing its mandatory character and the need to ensure enforcement. General Recommendation 15 in particular emphasized prompt action to intervene against racist organizations and racist acts. Was there disciplinary responsibility imposed on officials for racist speech?
There was a great deal of evidence of the work of extreme nationalist organizations in the country, he said. Such organizations appeared to pour out racist propaganda, including anti-Semitic, anti-Muslim and anti-Roma printed, audio and visual materials. The 2002 law referred to was directed against extremism; and might be deemed capable of suppressing such activity. He asked for information on the progress of anti-racist activity in accordance with the law, and the nature and scope of the anti-extremist law. What measures were being taken against Fascist and racist publications?

Mr. Thornberry said there had been a resumption of armed conflict in Chechnya after the failure of the 1999 agreements on peace; and a great range of human rights violations alleged against Chechens within and outside Chechnya, including arbitrary identity checks, detention, ill-treatment, deportations, and fabrication of evidence. The Chechen situation was of great concern to many of the special mechanisms of the United Nations. He asked about the nature and scale of activities by public authorities in such matters as passport-checking and searching of Chechens outside the region.

Other members of the Committee also commented on the Russian reports. One said there were lacunae in the reports concerning the existence of legal provisions enabling the implementation of article 4 of the Convention on the prohibition of organizations based on racial superiority or inciting racial hatred. He said there had been a report addressed to the Russian Foreign Ministry indicating that diplomats of different colour and ethnic background based in Moscow had been subjected to harassment by law-enforcement authorities. What measures had been taken by the authorities to avert such racial discrimination against diplomats?

Another Expert said the current reports were discrete on the issue of Chechnya. A number of non-governmental organizations had provided the Committee with information on the issue. Amnesty International, in particular, had indicated that the Russian army had committed brutality against the civilian Chechen population. At least 160,000 persons had been displaced and were living in deplorable and terrible hygienic conditions. The situation of Chechnya had never been investigated by any international human rights organization due to lack of cooperation by Russian authorities with UN mechanisms, including Special Rapporteurs of the Commission on Human Rights, the Expert said.

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