Posts Tagged ‘NGO’
Duma Bill To Clamp Down on NGOs
Amid the public furor over the State Duma’s proposed ban on U.S. adoptions, many seem to have overlooked the fact that the so-called “anti-Magnitsky act,” which passed the lower house of parliament on Friday, would also place harsh new restrictions on non-governmental organizations.
Unlike the adoptions ban, the new restrictions on U.S. funding for certain groups haven’t sparked pickets outside the Duma, and tens of thousands haven’t signed online petitions opposing them.
But human rights leaders say the rules are a further tightening of the screws on civil society organizations, which have been pressed in recent months by new laws that expanded the definition of treason and required certain groups to classify themselves as “foreign agents,” which all major NGOs boycotted.
“It feels like war has been declared,” said Alexander Cherkasov, head of the Memorial human rights organization. “Nobody sewed on the yellow star. The new law, to extend the metaphor, says: ‘We’ll shoot you even if you’re not wearing a yellow star.'”
The proposed rules would make it illegal for NGOs that receive funding from U.S. citizens or organizations to participate in “political activities” or otherwise threaten Russia’s national interests.
They would also ban Russian citizens who hold American passports from being members or leaders of “political” NGOs, including local branches of international groups, which could see their assets seized for breaking the law.
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Sergey Lavrov discusses Magnitsky on Charlie Rose show
Lavrov, speaking during an interview with U.S. television talk-show host Charlie Rose, said Moscow supported a dialogue on human rights with Washington but did not want to be “lectured” or “judged” through efforts like the Magnitsky bill.
Lavrov spoke to Rose during a visit to New York for the opening of the United Nations General Assembly this week.
“This would be certainly something which will be detrimental to our relationship,” he said, speaking in English. “Attempts to interfere in the legal procedures of other countries are not really welcome by normal states, normal governments, and this is absolutely the case between Russia and the United States.” hairy women hairy women https://zp-pdl.com https://zp-pdl.com/best-payday-loans.php займ на карту срочно без отказа
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USAID Expulsion Means the End of “Reset”
On September 18 the U.S. announced that they are shutting down USAID activities in Russia at a request of the Russian government. All operations will have to stop by October 1. In a short statement, the Department of State celebrated accomplishments of AID’s work in the country over the last 20 years and promised to continue cooperation with Russian NGOs.
The reason for Kremlin’s actions are clear. As domestic unrest continues in Russia, the regime is looking for ways to silence the increasingly vocal civil society. Organizations that USAID has been supporting observe elections, investigate corruption and human rights abuses, and expose many other problems that have driven tens of thousands to protest during the last year.
Unsurprisingly, Vladimir Putin’s regime is determined to cut sources of funding for these NGOs. The business community is afraid to be involved in “politics” (however broad the definition of it may be), fearing to share the fate of oil-tycoon-turned-philanthropist-turned-political-prisoner Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and government grants are not an option. So there isn’t much choice for civil society organizations other than to raise funds from foreign donors. There is also a growing trend to attract small donations via the Internet (a.k.a. crowdfunding), but not every initiative can be sustained that way.
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Mr. Putin tightens the screws
IN THE DAYS of the Soviet Union, the Communist Party was a Godfather-like presence that demanded a monopoly on power and did not tolerate competition. One job of the secret police, the KGB, was to snuff out any dissent or hints of civil society. But prompted by the revolutionary opening of Mikhail Gorbachev, nongovernmental groups sprang to life in the late 1980s. They were at the forefront of the democratic movement that saw the Soviet Union to its grave, and they have proliferated in Russia ever since, defending human rights, fighting for environmental protection, providing charity, monitoring elections, challenging corruption, and broadly filling in the gap between state and society.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, once an officer in the KGB, grew highly suspicious of nongovernmental organizations after the protests known as the Orange Revolution swept Ukraine in late 2004. The demonstrators were seen by the Kremlin as tools of foreign sponsors seeking regime change. A Russian law imposed cumbersome new requirements on foreign groups in the country in 2006.
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Foreign-Funded Nonprofits in Russia Face New Hurdle
In the latest move to rein in dissent, Russian authorities have introduced a draft law that would require nonprofit organizations that receive financing from outside Russia to publicly declare themselves “foreign agents” — a term that, to Russians, evokes cold war-era espionage and is likely to discredit the organizations’ work in the eyes of the public.
Lawmakers from United Russia, the governing party, have accelerated work on the bill and are scheduling the first of three readings on Friday. If passed, the bill would complement a new law penalizing Russians for taking part in unauthorized protests, which was rushed through Parliament at a similar pace last month.
The bill would also put new burdens on nonprofit groups with foreign financing that are judged to be involved in politics, including annual audits and unannounced checks for the use of “extremist speech” in published materials. Organizations could face fines of as much as 1 million rubles, or $30,000, for violations.
Rights activists have excoriated the proposal as an attempt to discredit their work, arguing that Russian donors are afraid to support organizations that criticize the government, which then leaves them dependent on foreign sources for money.
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New bill labels NGOs as ‘foreign agents’
A new bill soon to be introduced to the State Duma will label all NGOs with foreign finances that work in politics as “foreign agents,” United Russia’s press-service announced on Friday.
“One of the authors of the bill, deputy Alexander Sidyakin, stresses that the proposed changes to the law on NGOs do not ban them in any way and do not limit their rights, but are aimed at providing public scrutiny for their functions as a foreign agent and to make this data open knowledge for Russian citizens,” Interfax quoted United Russia’s press-release as saying.
United Russia member Sidyakin was also one of the authors of the new rally fines bill.
Foreign agents with a political agenda
Russian NGOs that receive funding and property from foreign states, international and foreign organizations, foreign nationals will be recognized as “foreign agents” in the new bill. NGOs that “take part in political activity in Russia in the interests of foreign sources” will be also be considered agents.
United Russia explained that NGOs that take part in Russia’s political life are the ones that “regardless of declared aims and tasks, finance and hold political campaigns in order to influence the decision-making by the state organs, aimed at changing state policies,” as well as participating in forming public opinion with said aims.
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