Center for Civil Society International ([email protected])
Wed, 4 Dec 1996 13:56:38 -0800 (PST)
CCSI presents excerpts from the Agency for Social Information (ASI) e-mail
information bulletin. Translated from Russian by CCSI volunteer Tom
Sorenson, J.D., Ph.D., Edmonds, Washington, USA. For more information on
how to receive ASI's bulletin regularly, contact:
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AGENTSTVO SOTSIALNOI INFORMATSII
Kutuzovskyi pr. 22 pod. 14a,
Moscow, 121151
Tel./fax: (095) 249-3989
E-mail: [email protected]
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N 46
November 12-18, 1996
I
The Problems of Forced Conscription can be Solved Only By
A Transition to Voluntary Recruitment
The date for the State Duma's review of the draft law "On Alternative
Civil Service" is approaching. In connection with this [review], the
Liberal Union Young Solidarity has issued a statement which indicates in
particular that at the present time the absence of a law on alternative
civil service allows some young people to avoid military slavery by
demanding to be allowed civil substitute service, the right to which is
prescribed in the Constitution of the Russian Federation.
Some democrats who support the law "On Alternative Civil Service," the
statement further explains, wish for only the illusion of success. They
hope that most people will prefer alternative service, the ranks of
soldiers will be reduced, and the generals will be forced to begin the
transition to a professional army. But the draft law "On Alternative
Civil Service," under which the term [of alternative service] is 3 years,
is quite discriminatory, and we may not hope for this result.
In the opinion of the Union, even the most ideal alternative service will
not solve the problem of forced conscription. The only way out is the
quickest possible transition to a voluntary system of recruitment of the
armed forces.
"Adoption of the law in question," the conclusion [of the statement]
says," will promptly announce our total rejection of any type of
obligatory service, whether military or civil, on the basis of Art. 4 of
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights."
Contact telephone: 291-4355
II.
In Five Year the Moscow House of Charity has Helped Nearly6 650,000 Muscovites
On November 16 at the Moscow Mayor's office there was a conference
dedicated to the 5 year anniversary of the volunteer movement in Moscow
presented by the Volunteer Center Moscow House of Charity [MHC] on the
topic "Volunteerism--The Basis for the Constr uction of Civil Society."
The conference was made possible thanks to support from the Committee on
Social and Regional Relations of the Moscow city government and
sponsorship by the director of the society DOR Constantine Chikin (San
Francisco, USA), the firms Nabisco and Fererra, and also by the
international law firm Business and Law and others.
Created in 1991 as a nongovernmental charitable foundation, MHC combined
the forces of social organizations, volunteers, and state and commercial
entities in the cause of giving aid to needy Muscovites. MHC and its
continuous chairman Galina Bodrankova accepted greetings from
representatives of the state, commercial enterprises, and social
organizations.
State Duma deputy Valerii Borshchev called MHC's activity "a moral
alternative to the burdens of contemporary life without which the renewal
of Russia is impossible." Volunteer S. Vasil'ev from the northeast
administrative district called it "an anchor" of salvation for socially
vulnerable citizens, from children with disabilities to the elderly.
It is no secret that of the 148 million Russians, one out of three is in
need of help. In Moscow alone this category includes 3.5 million people.
Charity and the sympathy of volunteers are the last hope of the elderly
and the ill. In Galina Bodrenkova' s words, "In the 5 years of its
existence around 650,000 people have received help in the form of various
social services thanks to the efforts of MHC's volunteers."
It is well known that the level of development of a society is determined
by the level of its care for those in need independent of the government.
One of the Volunteer Center's chief tasks today is the spreading of the
volunteer movement in society. With this goal in mind it was decided to
broaden cooperation with the government, business circles, and the third
sector. As the Chairman of the Social Security Committee of the City of
Moscow O. Klemanova said, "the coordinating activity of the Committee and
MHC in the 2 years of their work together has brought in 8 billion rubles
that were directed toward organizing social and charitable measures."
One of the fundamental principles of MHC's activity has been to organize
the work of noncommercial, charitable organizations on a territorial
basis. The conference participants noted in particular that "MHC became
the successor to the historical traditions of social initiatives in the
cause of helping the needy when in 1894 (sic) the Moscow City Duma created
a system of city guardianship for the poor." The undoubted leaders among
64 territorial agencies were named the Family Support Center of the
Sviblovo district, the territorial agency Femina, and the Center for
Families with Numerous Children "Hearth" of the northeast administrative
district, a winner of the prestigious international award "Torch of
Birmingham." In the words of the director of Hearth E. Gavrilova "the
aim of our society is the development of family volunteerism. Hearth
should become a center of light and good for families, to help develop
goodwill and spirituality in children."
Contact telephone: 291-3041
III
A New Profession--Noncommercial Organization Manager--
Is Being Born Before our Eyes
The Academy of Social Initiatives was opened in October, created by the
social organizations The National Foundation and The National Foundation
for Cooperation in the Liquidation of Communal Apartments with support
from American partner organizations.
Since November the Academy has acted as a consultation and training center
under the name The Civil Initiative School. The first course, consisting
of 5 lessons, is called "How to Create A Local Social Organization." At
the first lesson, which took place Nov. 12, the participants (the
directors of the Istrinskii Artisans Center, the Krasnogorskii Union of
Persons With Numerous Children, etc.) were to answer the questions "why
have we come together?" and "what sort of organization will work well?"
As a result a collective portrait of a prospective organization was
created. Such an organization will work well if its goals are clearly
defined and it has an activity plan including a leader and a board. In
addition, the goals of the organization should be socially significant.
The students were required to think up their own project and "spend"
$5,000 on its realization. It became clear that whatever organizations
the imagination of the students created that acted (according to the rules
of the exercise) in one region, they reinforce each other. By combining
their forces each could save nearly one half of its expenditures.
The students had homework--to create a questionnaire for the residents of
the region and for neighboring social organizations to study the problems
of the region and to determine what to address first.
Trainers Kirill Zandrikov and Elena Egorova led the first lesson. "We
have practically no educational institutions that prepare directors for
social organizations," said National Foundation worker E. Egorova. "We
decided to prepare specialists who wish to work in the third sector, in
local social agencies. A new profession is being born before our eyes."
Contact telephone: 244-0042
IV
Creation of the Ekaterinburg Center for the Support of Social Initiatives
More than 20 social agencies in Ekaterinburg and its oblast have founded a
new social institution, the Ekaterinburg regional center for the support
of civil initiatives "Civil Society."
It all began with the creation in Sverdlovsk in 1987 of the group "Meeting
87." Over the course of nearly 10 years this informal group has provided
organizational, technical, informational and legal assistance for the
activities of nongovernmental organizations that have as their goal the
realization of the legal rights and interests of citizens, the destruction
of the totalitarian regime, and the construction of civil society.
The charter tasks of the newly created Center are to provide technical,
legal and other assistance to give citizens the possibility of defending
their legal rights and interests and to enable the creation of civil
society; to cooperate in the professionalization of the activity of
social organizations; contacts; exchange of information; cooperation and
solidarity with social entities in the region and in Russia; legal
education; and the creation of social defense of rights in the region.
The legal form of the Center--a social institution--was dictated by the
necessity of ensuring the clear organization of services for social
initiatives and the creation of conditions for coordination of the
resources of organizations. Vladimir Nev'iantsev was chosen as Executive
Director of the Center.
Contact telephone: (3432) 34-3820.
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