Dear friends and colleagues!

We appeal to you on behalf of the Youth Network against Racism and Intolerance and the international program “Solidarity” of the Youth Human Rights Movement. Your support is needed to Konstantin Baranov, human rights activist and anti-fascist from Rostov-on-Don, Russia.

In the middle of July Konstantin started receiving threats connected with his anti-fascist activity. There are serious reasons to suppose that the cause of the threats is the disclosure of Konstantin’s personal data that he indicated in a complaint to the Office of Public Prosecutor of the Rostov region about neo-Nazi concerts taking place in the city, and also his activity on monitoring xenophobia. You can learn more about this situation at the website of the international program “Solidarity” of the YHRM. Unfortunately such a situation is a distressing tendency.

During the last period in Russia the occasions of threats to human rights defenders and anti-fascists due to their professional activity are becoming more frequent. From January 2009 it happened to the employees of the “SOVA” Center for Information and Analysis (Moscow) – Alexander Verkhovsky and Galina Kozhevnikova, from August 2008 – to the director of the Institute of Social Problems “United Europe” (Orel city) – Dmitry Krayukhin, from December 2008 – to the chairman of the “Memorial” human rights commission of the Komi Republic – Igor Sazhin and others. Such actions of the people adhering to the extreme-right views remain unpunished.

 Besides, it is well known that a widespread practice of the offices of public prosecutor is to demonstrate any received appeal to those against whom it is directed. It might lead to a disclosure of an applicant’s personal data, which is illegal and particularly dangerous in the case the applicants are human rights defenders and anti-fascists.

We believe that public authorities should pay special attention to the appeals of human rights defenders, and also to ensuring safety for human rights defenders and anti-fascists.

Thereupon we ask you to join the solidarity campaign and to send a message to the Office of the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation with the following appeal:

• To carry out prosecutor’s examination on the fact of the applicant’s personal data disclosure and to engage the guilty in disciplinary liability;
• To reinforce control for security of personal data of any applicants, in particular indicated in requests coming from human rights activists and anti-fascists and related to the activity of the extreme right organizations and groups;
• To organize an explanatory work on this subject for employees of the regional offices of public prosecutor;
• To inform the applicant about the decisions taken within statutory time period.

You may find the sample text of the appeal on our Russian webbsite. You can request additional information on the situation by e-mail: w-case-hrd-kbaranov@yhrm.org.

READ ABOUT THE CAMPAIGN IN ENGLISH HERE!

UPDATE: we got to keep the house!!!! 2009-09-01

I Voronezh finns sedan några år ett Mänskliga rättigheternas hus.

Det låter bättre på engelska eller ryska; Human Rights House, Dom Prav Tjeloveka. Där har MPD sitt huvudkontor. MPD som är YHRM-Swedens moderskepp. Nu skall lokalerna säljas, och kanske rivas.

Skriv under till stöd för dem!

Dear friends and colleagues,

 Some of you may already have read on our site or elsewhere, that we founded a Human Rights House not very long ago – a community of human rights’ and civil initiative organizations, of which Youth Human Rights Movement was one of the founders. 

 We barely had the time to found it – and now we are being evicted and we need your help! )

 The international secretariat (once known as the Admin-center) is for the last few years situated on the third floor of an old worn down building in the centre of Voronezh on the address 34, Tsyurupy street, and during this time several hundred of YHRM-correspondents and members has visited us here.

 Sometimes we have even held seminars and work group meetings in the house, despite the fact that the space is scarce, and more and more people are filling it with more and more books and papers.

 Today the house is in a terrible state, the roof is leaking, but still it is better to have such a roof over your head than no roof at all!

 The organizations of the Human Rights House (the YHRM and a dozen other organizations and initiatives) are threatened by eviction, since the house is a part of the privatization plan of the city government. It is obvious, that even if everyone were to throw in what they’ve got, we can not compete with the commercial structures and could never buy the property our selves.

 Thanks to the public support and actions of the Ombudsman of Human Rights of the Russian Federation and of the Moscow Helsinki Group, the sale of the property has been postponed, and was not conducted on the 12th of May this year as first planned. But the house is still a part of the privatization plan, and might be sold within the nearest months.

 It is obvious that our situation will remain uncertain and depend on the local government or business structures, if we do not find a way to at least partly become the owners of our House.

  We are turning to you for help, in order to:

• Stop the sale of the building
• Enlarge the facilities we have today.
• And finally: draw attention to the interregional and international work of the YHRM and it’s enormous importance.

 Letters of support from different towns and countries addressed to the local authorities is very important at this stage!  

We will be very thankful for any support to the Human Rights House in Voronezh – the headquarter of YHRM international secretariat (and many other organizations)

You will find information about the situation and what you can do on the site: www.hrdom.hrworld.ru

Hoping for your support! (and remember that we are always happy to see you in Human Rights House)

The inhabitants of the Human Rights House (permanent and nomads)…

Olga Gnezdilova, Maria Gordeeva, Viktoria Gromova, Anna Dobrovolskaya, elena Dudukina, Lubov Zakharova, Natalia Zviaguina, Dmitri Makarov, Anastasia Nikitina, Alena Ob’ezdchikova, Sergei Sabanov, Anna Khromova, Andrey Cheremnykh, Aleksey Kozlov, Tatiana Serpukhova, Andrey Yurov…

And other inhabitants, (including the cat Shiva!)

Work group of the campaign to support Human Rights House:

tel.: +7-910-22-88-44-9; +7-915-547-65-87;

tel./fax: +7-4732-54-55-29;

e-mail: save@hrworld.ru;

http://save.hrdom.hrworld.ru

http://save.hrdom.hrworld.ru/sign

5th of May. Council of Europe Founding Day. On this day in 1949, the Treaty of London that later became the Statute of the Council of Europe was signed.

Youth meeting “Intercultural and Interreligious Diologue v.s. Hate-motivated Violence in Europe” took place on 21-26 April in Bakuriani, Georgia. This event was organized by “Union 21 century” – a non-governmental organization, which carries out socio-cultural projects and delivers monitoring of hate crimes in Georgia.

The major topics of the meeting were: the level of right-wing extremists’ violence in Europe, European and national legislation that addresses hate crimes, methods of counteracting that are available for the youth sector of civil society in Europe.

Representatives of Ministry of Justice of Georgia and Tolerance Centre of Ombudsman’s Office of Georgia delivered reports about the International tools Georgia employs to combat hate-motivated violence and about the rise of religious-motivated intolerance in Georgia.

Activists from Germany, Italy, Armenia, Russia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and other countries also held reports about the relevant situation in their home environment.

Anastasia Denisova, the member of Coordinating Council of International Youth Human Rights Movement contributed to the International Meeting on behalf of Youth Network against Racism and Intolerance (YNRI). Her presentation “Civil Society Activism: what is done and what needs to be done” was devoted to the analysis of the youth factor in right-wing extremism, especially in Russia, and youth actors against intolerance. In conclusion she highlighted such activities of YNRI, as Antifascist Archive of non-violent actions, program “Foreign Students’ Rights Defense” and specific actions like “Package for Mayor”, etc.

In September 2009 the follow-up event is going to be held in Georgia and be devoted to specific youth projects aimed at combating intolerance with joint efforts.

Read more!

8th of April. International Roma Day. On this day in 1971, the 1st World Romani Congress in London set up a holiday to celebrate diversity and protect cultural heritage of people from this nomadic ethnic group. This holiday also promotes the ideas of tolerance and Human Rights.

21st of March. International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, declared by the UN in 1967. On this day in 1960, police opened fire and killed 69 people at a peaceful demonstration in Sharpeville, South Africa, against the apartheid ”pass laws”.

Free Trade Union Day. On this day in 1945, the 1st World Trade Union Conference was held in London, organized by the British Trade Union Congress. The World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) was established several months later.

Holocaust Memorial Day. On this day in 1945, the prisoners of the Nazi Auschwitz  concentration camp were liberated by the Soviet troops.

Day of coming into force of Peace Treaty of Versailles, which officially ended World War I