Center for Civil Society International ([email protected])
Tue, 12 Aug 1997 17:07:44 -0700 (PDT)
CCSI presents excerpts from the Agency for Social Information (ASI) e-mail
information bulletin. Translated from Russian by CCSI volunteer Michelle
Fuqua. 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 28 (137)
11 - 17 July 1997
In this issue:
I. The "Family World" Foundation begins work on a new family policy
II. Mutual Assistance Groups for Women Infected with HIV
will be formed in St. Petersburg
III. In Nizhny Novgorod: Movements for the Protection of Rights
IV. In St. Petersburg, the Third Stage began Implementing the Program
"Steep" -- which instructs teachers, consultants, and experts in the
area of small and medium business
V. The Commanding Officers of the Nizhny Novgorod Unit Turn to
Soldiers' Parents for Help
VI. The Moscow Regional Foundation to Aid Prisoners Asks for Help
in Liquidating the Results of a Fire in the Organization's Office
VII. The Institute for Humanitarian Communication Is Offering Courses
for Media Workers
VIII. The Nizhny Novgorod Society for the Rights of Man Offers the
Services of its Database
I
The "Family World" Foundation begins work on a new family policy
At the present time, the family policy of our government is
passive and does not meet the most vital demands of the family, asserts
Galina Zaitseva, president of the "Family World" Foundation. At the same
time, Russia, as never before, needs in principle a new family policy
directed at the "rebirth of the family as a social institution, the
restoration of the family way of life, a "familial" culture, and the
return to the family's historically important functions that have belonged
to it in the past." In instituting such a policy, voluntary
non-governmental organizations are prepared to be partners with the
government.
The first step in solving the problem will be taken by the
Foundation, which since the fall has been working on the implementation of
the project "Family Policy under the conditions of the formation of a
citizen's government in Russia." The project proposes the conducting of
research on the modern family and the causes leading to its crisis,
government family policy, as well as an analysis of the role and
possibilities of the third sector in the working out, formulation,
promotion, and realization of a new family policy. The results of this
research ought to be the principle concepts of the family policy, the
details of which voluntary associations hope to continue working on
together with the state structure.
The Foundation is prepared to consider any suggestions regarding
the project on the concepts of a new family policy. The Agency for Social
Information has the Foundation's telephone number. (ASI can be reached by
e-mail at [email protected]).
II
Mutual Assistance Groups for Women Infected with HIV
will be formed in St. Petersburg
According to the St. Petersburg branch of the "Names" Foundation,
in September in St. Petersburg on the basis of the Russian infectious
clinical hospital mutual assistance groups for HIV infected women will
begin working . . . For these women there will be regular lessons on the
psychological struggle with crisis conditions and stress, self-regulation,
and the search for possibilities to take part in social work. The program
was developed together with the Children's Foundation "Health and Family"
(city of Kolpino).
Contact telephone: (812) 464-9334 (Elena Vedmed).
III
In Nizhny Novgorod: Movements for the Protection of Rights
After a meeting of non-governmental organizations for the protection of
rights that took place in Nizhny Novgorod, the participants of the meeting
decided to form a consultative council. One of the basic goals of this
council will be to participate in the reform of the Russian judicial
system. . . The council will take an active part in the preparation of
the seminar "Improving the judicial system in modern Russia," which is
slated to take place in mid-September . . . Contact telephone: (8312)
36-52-20 (V. I. Chumak, A. V. Mokrousov).
Since 1992, the Nizhny Novgorod Society for the Rights of Man has
regularly collected data on the use of torture by police agencies.
According to the information collected by the Society, for the
last five years the situation has gone through several changes.
Specifically, there are seen more instances of taunting with the
application of not only physical force, but also special means (electric
shock, asphyxiation). Although the number of cases of violence from the
side of the administration of correctional institutions in the region has
diminished, the number of assaults on the part of special forces has
sharply increased . . .
Telephone number for information: (8312) 30-07-14.
IV
In St. Petersburg, the Third Stage began Implementing
the Program "Steep" -- which instructs teachers, consultants,
and experts in the area of small and medium business
"Steep" is a program designed to instruct specialists participating in the
development of strategy and practical support; and the development of
small and medium businesses, as well as teachers and consultants in
institutes and business schools that work with small business
organizations. The coordinators of the "Steep" program -- one of the
largest projects of the British "Know-How" Fund -- are the Committee for
foreign ties, the "Progress" Center of Management and Marketing, the
Baltic Academy, the Engineering Economics Academy, the Center for
Citizen's Initiatives, and the Association of Pro-rectors on International
Communications of the Higher Institutes of St. Petersburg. The selection
of participants is being conducted on the Russian side. Participants in
the Program will include Commercial and state organizations, over 20
higher educational institutions, centers and foundations which support
entrepreneurs, and the administration of St. Petersburg. The cost of the
project -- 1.4 million pounds sterling. The British "Know-How" Fund and
the City Administration's Committee for foreign ties favorably evaluated
the first two stages of the project, during which 35 people from
Petersburg attended a course held at the Manchester School of Business.
The third group is scheduled to leave for Britain at the end of August.
Contact telephone: (812) 276-6833; fax: 276-1633 (Tatyana Kazimirovna
Emelyanova, main specialist of the Committee for foreign ties, Russian
director of the "Steep" project); 164-9187; fax 112-0607 (department of
international communications of the Engineering Economics Academy).
V
The Commanding Officers of the Nizhny Novgorod Unit
Turn to Soldiers' Parents for Help
The Command of the unit turned to the regional Committee of
Soldiers' Mothers with a request for help in connection with the fact that
the command alone cannot improve the conditions of service for the
soldiers of the unit, which is located almost in the city center: the
soldiers are forced to live on food from the field kitchens and the heat
was turned off in March.
The unit was established more than 10 year ago on the initiative
of the city administration to protect law and order in the city, and at
first construction of the military complex was going actively. But the
financial means were little, and the administrations of the city and the
region lost interest . . .
At the meeting of soldiers' parents . . . which took place on June
11, a parents' committee was formed within the unit and a plan of action
was established for the next few months -- preparation of letters to the
governor of the Nizhny Novgorod region and the leaders of corresponding
governmental bodies. Moreover, negotiations have already begun with
kolkhozes to supply the enlisted with vegetables for the winter. The
basic goals of the committee will be to watch over the timely transfer of
funds to the unit and their useful expenditure.
Contact telephone: (8312) 49-17-75 (Ovchinnikova, Galina Vasilevna).
VI
The Moscow Regional Foundation to Aid Prisoners Asks for Help in
Liquidating the Results of a Fire in the Organization's Office
"FOPOZ" is turning to anyone who can aid in the liquidation of the
results of a fire that occurred in the organization's office on June 4 of
this year. The cost of repairs will run 20 million rubles, and the
organization, which is involved in charitable activities (the distribution
of clothing, medicines, and produce to prisoners, organizing concerts for
them, charitable activities) does not have such funds at its disposal.
Contact Telephone: 527-7053
VII
The Institute for Humanitarian Communication
Is Offering Courses for Media Workers
The Institute for Humanitarian Communication is a principally new
scientific learning center for teaching workers in the Russian mass media.
The institute offers over 60 courses for more than 30 categories
of students. Moreover, the institute can develop various and long-term
programs on special arrangements . . . Additional information can be
obtained by calling: (095) 231-2044, 233-5936 (Natalya Dorosheva, the
coordinator of the center).
VIII
The Nizhny Novgorod Society for the Rights of Man
Offers the Services of its Database
In the database, there are over 1199 documents on various
questions of citizens and legal rights, materials on international and
Russian human rights organizations, normative acts on personal rights and
freedoms, as well as other laws and statutes.
Contact telephone: (8312) 30-0714.
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| CCSI presents excerpts from the ASI Bulletin. The |
| ASI Bulletin is a publication of the Agency for Social |
| Information (ASI) in Moscow. Originally published in |
| Russian, selected stories are translated and posted to |
| the CCSI listserv "CivilSoc." English and Russian |
| archives are available on the CCSI Web site at: |
| |
| http://www.friends-partners.org/~ccsi/ |
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