Center for Civil Society International ([email protected])
Tue, 24 Feb 1998 10:18:10 -0800 (PST)
CCSI presents excerpts from the Agency for Social Information
(ASI) e-mail information bulletin. Translated from Russian by
CCSI volunteer Alyssa Deutschler. 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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ASI Bulletin No. 5
6-12 February, 1998
In this issue:
I. Russian Procurator General Meets With Mother of Soldier
Killed in Chechnya
II. Two of Russia's Largest Civic Movements to Form New
Association
III. Aluminum Plant Provides Aid to Residents of Krasnoyarsk Krai
IV. Ministry of Labour and Social Development to Work with
Organizations for the Handicapped
V. International Conference on Key Ornithological Territories of
Central Asia
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Russian Procurator General Meets
With Mother of Soldier Killed in Chechnya
After numerous petitions and appeals, Liubov' Tumaeva finally got the
chance to meet with Russian Procurator General Yu. Skuratov on February
11 in Moscow. Tumaeva, a resident of Nizhnii Novgorod, had been trying
to arrange the meeting with Skuratov for more than a year.
The "Mothers' Rights" Foundation has been helping Tumaeva for two years
now. Her son Sergei was killed in Chechnya on January 8, 1995, and she
subsequently received written testimonies from several soldiers
indicating that Sergei's body was erroneously shipped, without
undergoing any identification process, to a family in the Altai region.
However, Tumaeva has been unable to have the remains formally
identified.
The meeting between Tumaeva and the Procurator General was slated for
only 30 minutes but continued for more than an hour. A representative
from the Military Procurator's office who was present at the meeting
didn't even try to convince Tumaeva of his department's innocence, but
rather, complained to Skuratov about the "threat" she posed and
practically accused her of being a terrorist. Never mind that this
"threat" is completely devoid of physical strength; Tumaeva had left a
hospital in Nizhnii Novgorod where she was being treated for heart
problems in order to travel to Moscow for the February 11th meeting.
Skuratov ended the meeting by promising Tumaeva that he would
personally oversee the investigation of her son's case.
Contact telephone: (095) 206-0581 ("Mother's Rights" Foundation)
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Two of Russia's Largest Civic Movements
to Form New Association
A new association that unites the Russian human rights and
environmental movements has been created by the "Glasnost" Foundation,
the Center for Environmental Politics in Russia, and the Social-
Ecological Union. A series of meetings has already been held in Moscow
between members of the two social movements; and currently, members of
the new association are working to establish its charter and programs.
The creation of the association is supported by many prominent local
organizations, including the Moscow Helsinki Group and the "Memorial"
Center, as well as Duma deputy Sergei Kovalev.
>From the point of view of the new association's creators, the need for
a association of activists for human rights and the environment is
obvious. Nikolai Gudskov, a member of the "Glasnost" Foundation, told
an ASI correspondent: "In accordance with the constitution, citizens
of the Russian Federation are guaranteed certain rights, including
ecological ones. However, the "green" movement has displeased the
powers that be and thus, is under a lot of pressure--even to the point
of arrests." Aleksei Yablokov, director of the Center for
Environmental Politics, commented on the current situation thusly, "The
recent presidential decree on government secrets shows that Russian
citizens have no ecological rights whatsoever. Of course, this applies
to the right to information about the environment also. We can see
evidence of this in the legal proceedings against Nikitin and Pas'ko,
in the constant persecutions, in the lack of public access to
information in various governmental departments. To protect our rights
we must unite." The new association's first proposed action is a
campaign to support Grigorii Pas'ko.
********************
Aluminum Plant Provides Aid
to Residents of Krasnoyarsk Krai
In accordance with a resolution passed by the board of directors, the
Krasnoyarsk Aluminum Plant is carrying out a charity program to benefit
area residents. Representatives from departments for social protection
in five regions in Krasnoyarsk Krai and the Krasnoyarsk Medical College
received industrial goods and medical supplies worth a total of 8
million rubles as a result of the charitable program. Regional were
given clothes, shoes and toys for children. The social protection
departments were given clothes, shoes, and toys for children, while the
medical college received equipment to measure blood sugar levels,
dental supplies, and more.
In 1997 the Krasnoyarsk Aluminum Plant gave more than 9 billion rubles
to charitable programs. Since autumn of last year, the plant has been
experiencing economic troubles, but their charitable work hasn't
stopped. Not long ago, the director of the krai's main museum turned
to the aluminum plant for financial help. The board of directors has
promised to help the museum.
Contact telephone: (3912) 56-3438 (Krasnoyarsk Aluminum Plant)
********************
Ministry of Labour and Social Development
to Work with Organizations for the Handicapped
On March 6, representatives of the Ministry of Labour and Social
Development signed a partnership agreement with third sector
organizations working with the disabled. The agreement was drafted by
leaders of NGOs from 20 cities across Russia. Its goal is to
strengthen cooperation between the government and the third sector and
to set a precedent of social partnership between the Ministry and an
association of over 26 NGOs active in the sphere of social protection.
The agreement was signed on behalf of the Ministry by Galina Karelova,
Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Development. On the side of the
third sector organizations, the signing of the agreement was delegated
to a special group of representatives. The groups represented
included: the Moscow Club for the Disabled, "Kontakty-1;" the St.
Petersburg Association of Parents of Handicapped Children; the
Interregional Society of Aid for Handicapped Children; the Nizhegorod
Regional Organization for Socio-Cultural Rehabilitation of the
Handicapped; and the Chelyabinsk Oblast Public Association for the
Disabled.
The agreement has no deadline and foresees the development of a system
for the exchange of methodological information and experience
pertaining to working with the handicapped. The third sector groups
participating in the partnership have committed to create a Russian
association of small voluntary organizations active in the sphere of
the disabled, and, with support from the Ministry, to hold a yearly
conference for these organizations. Additionally, the group plans to
set up a joint effort to collect materials and prioritize funding for
various projects.
Galina Karelova has proposed including a representative from the third
sector group in the expert panel for the Ministry's "Disabled Children"
program, so that third sector organizations will be familiar with the
government's activities in this sphere. Karelova hopes that the
partnership will help to partially fill in the gaps that have arisen in
Russia as a result of the law on "Social Demands" not being passed.
********************
International Conference on Key Ornithological Territories
of Central Asia
An international conference on key ornithological territories of
Central Asia will be held on March 9-14 in Irkutsk, at Irkutsk State
University. The goal of the conference will be to further discuss
proposed areas for a list of areas in Asian Russia crucial to bird
life. The first draft of the list was created at a meeting in
Khabarovsk in April, 1996. The organizers of the conference are
"Birdlife International Asia Partnership," the Union for the Protection
of Russian Birds, the "Birds of the Baikal Region" educational research
program, the Institute for Biological Issues of the North, and Irkutsk
State University. Additionally, the Japanese Ministry of Nature
Preservation and the Society for the Protection of the Birds of Japan
are providing support for the conference.
The conference organizers also hope to publish a collection of theses
and articles on the theme of bird life in Asian Russia.
Contact telephone: (3952) 43-2322
E-mail: [email protected]
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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. Back issues are available |
| in both English and Russian language by following the |
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