Moscow Research Center for Human Rights

Director: Alexei Smirnov
Chair of Board: Boris Altshuler
Public Relations Director: Vladimir Raskin
Financial Director: Elena Vititinova
Secretary: Natalya Taubina
Press Secretary: Irina Linnikova
Information Network Project Coordinator: Andrei Pribylov
Technical Coordinator: Sergei Smirnov
Public Reception Center Coordinator: Sergei Strelnikov
Advisory Board: E. Ametistov, V. Bakhmin, E. Bonner, V. Borschov, B. Zolotikhin, S. Kovalev, A. Lavut, A. Pristavkin

Bank account information: US$ - Tokobank, Moscow No. 890-0055-588 with Bank of New York, NY in favor of MRCHR. ECU - Tokobank, Moscow No. 291-1122234-41/461 with Generale Bank, Brussels, in favor of MRCHR.

Member groups:
Committee of Soldiers� Mothers of Russia; �Mother�s Right� Foundation; Movement Without Frontiers; Moscow Helsinki Group; The Moscow Center for Prison Reform; Independent Psychiatric Association; Society for the Guardianship of Penitentiary Institutions; �Right to Life and Human Dignity Society; Society for the Defense of Convicted Businessmen and Economic Freedoms; Association for the Protection of the Disabled (Moscow Branch).

Other group working at the Center:
Civic Forum Association; Moscow Antifascist Center; Omega Society; Nonviolence International - NIS; Liberty Road Association; The Society for the Defense of Human Rights in Central Asia.

The Moscow Research Center for Human Rights, a union of independent non-governmental organizations whose work covers a wide range of human rights issues, provides central coordination for and development of the human rights movement in Russia.

The idea for the MRCHR grew out of a desire to collectively organize the human rights-related movements emerging from the loosely-structured community of informal social organizations which flowered during the last part of the Soviet period. A group of human rights activists, dissidents and former political prisoners acquired office space in which to work. The group soon found financial and moral support from the West, including the National Endowment for Democracy, Phare/Tacis, and various private foundations. After receiving a series of small grants, the Center gradually emerged as a focal point for human rights work in 1993.

The Center works to develop a professional infrastructure for the human rights movement in Russia through enhancing communications networks among groups, helping groups to identify and apply for funding from international donor organizations, assisting groups with publishing projects, and serving as a central locus for information regarding human rights work in Russia. Over 15 human rights groups share office space in the Center's Moscow location.

Special Projects:

Information Network Project
The Information Network Project was designed to enhance the infrastructure of the human rights movement in Russia through expanding telecommunications capacity of regional human rights groups and developing a central database of information about human rights groups and their activities in the regions of Russia. The Project produces a monthly newsletter on human rights activities in the regions (see publications).

The Information Network Project provides a central locus for information regarding human rights activity across Russia by maintaining contacts with regional groups, making periodic visits to the regions for research purposes, and providing groups with access to the Internet. With the assistance of partner groups at the Center, the Information Network Project maintains a database of the activities of and contact information for regional groups across Russia. The Project currently runs training programs for human rights activists on using the Internet for human rights work. Through small grants program, in part funded by America's Development Foundation, the Project supplies groups with computers and modems so that they can take part in the network.

Public Reception Center
The Center holds receiving hours during which citizens may receive free consultation (social, legal, medical) on cases of individual human rights violations by specialists from the Center's member groups. This section of the Center also deals with the mail received at the Center.

Human Rights Publishers
The creation of this publishing organization (which remains officially independent from the Center itself) resulted from numerous small grants and practical assistance from the Know How Small Projects Scheme, the British Embassy in Moscow, UN Center for Human Rights, Council of Europe, and the Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation, Human Rights Publishers works together with Russian and international NGOs dealing with human rights to provide an outlet for publication of human rights-related materials. The first major publication produced focused on recent legal documents addressing human rights issues in the Russian Federation (see publications below).

Small Grants Program
The Center plays an integral role in assisting international donor organizations with administration of small grants programs, providing local program oversight and recommendations on specific grant proposals. Currently, the Center assists with administration of small grants from the European Union Phare/Tacis Program, the National Endowment for Democracy, America�s Development Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, and others. The Center solicits grant applications from regional human rights groups and assists in the preliminary stages of the selection process. The Center acts as the go-between for grant recipients and donor organizations through the duration of the grant project.

Publications:

MRCHR Monthly Information Newsletter

A monthly newsletter in Russian, published since 1994, which includes reports on recent activities of member-groups, individual human rights case profiles, a digest of human rights press coverage, news and announcements. The newsletter runs approximately 10 pages in length and is published in both Russian and English. It is distributed the last week of each month by mail or by courier. Subscribers and recipients include non-governmental organizations (both Russian and international) in Moscow, human rights groups and activists in the regions of Russia and a select number of partners and supporters abroad.

"Human Rights in Russia" Information Network Bulletin

A monthly newsletter in Russian, published since June 1994, which documents human rights activity in the regions of Russia, collected as part of the Information Network Project. The bulletin, approximately 35-40 pages in length, includes profiles of human rights activities, practical advice on issues of organizational development, detailed instructions on using telecommunications and Internet resources for human rights work, and commentary on issues facing the human rights community. Circulation (as of October 1995) was greater than 500 copies per month. Periodically special issues are produced on thematic issues of special interest to the human rights community.

Human Rights in Russia: International Dimensions

(1995, Moscow) In Russian. 350 pages. The first book produced under the auspices of the Human Rights Publishers, this compendium contains the texts of federal and international legal documents, protocols and reports on human rights protection in Russia, 1993-1995.

The NIS Third Sector Organization section is based on information found in the print edition of "The Post-Soviet Handbook." For more information on the Handbook and instructions on how to order, see our Post Soviet Handbook Information page.

Sponsored by:
Center for Civil Society International
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