1

Number 2 (2)

October – November 2014

Dear Reader,

This is the second issue of the EU-Russia Civil Society Forum’s (CSF) Policy and Advocacy Bulletin. The bulletin has been designed to inform and update our readers, both in the Forum and externals, on civil society developments in Russia and the European Union.

We present this edition on 27-29 November 2014 in Tallinn at the 5

th General Assembly of the EU-

Russia Civil Society Forum.

The General Assembly is the highest decision-making body of the Forum. General Assemblies are held once a year and unite Forum members, observers, official representatives and guest participants from EU countries and Russia to address recent developments, assess and discuss Forum activities and future projects.

General Assembly is also a perfect opportunity for Forum’s policy and advocacy activities.

This year’s General Assembly’s top topic is the question “Russia and the EU – Together or Apart?” Incidentally, this is also the main question we are faced within our policy and advocacy work.

This Bulletin issue will feature opinion pieces on relevant developments as well as updates on EU-Russia relations and developments in the European Union and in Russia. This issue also reports on the first meetings of the Fighting Transborder Corruption Common Initiative. There will also be an update on the Policy and Advocacy Team activities.

The next Policy and Advocacy Bulletin will be out in March 2015, in the run-up of the Donors’ Conference in London. This conference will be followed by an advocacy round.

Yours,

CSF Policy and Advocacy Team

POLICY AND ADVOCACY BULLETIN

2

Opinion – Harry Hummel / Stefan Melle / Elena Shakhova p.2.

EU-Russia relations: What’s Going On p.3.

On the Russian Federation p.5.

On the European Union p.6.

CSF Policy and Advocacy Team p.7.

Civil Society – One-liners p.8.

Coming Up: Advocacy Opportunities p.9.

Contacts p.10.

Harry Hummel, Head of the CSF Advocacy Team, Netherlands Helsinki Committee, The Hague, Netherlands: ‘…while official relations are at a low point at the moment, contacts between EU and Russian civil society should be greatly expanded, including visa facilitation and student and academic exchange. An argument was also made for keeping expansion of business contacts as a long-term goal and of stimulating proper ethical company policies in these contacts, with respect to environmental, social as well as personnel issues.’

Stefan Melle, Director, German-Russian Exchange, Berlin, Germany:

‘The fall of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989 was a historic event of enormous impact. It became a symbol for people demanding and retrieving their freedom. It was made possible by the democratic movements of millions of citizens who spoke out against repression, monopolised power, failed economics and state control.

Back then in the late 1980s, Gorbachev formulated a new vision for the USSR and Europe: construction of a common European house. It is a house where all nations live together peacefully, in a free and democratic way, conscious of their common

history and committed to principles of ‘glasnost’ - or transparency and openness, including transparency of the borders.

It is truly important to bring the “European house” model back as we observe several European countries deviating from those principles. The spread of xenophobic rhetoric in France, Great Britain, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic but also in the Netherlands, Germany, and other states endangers European cooperation. In Russia and even in Hungary, whose freedom movement of the 1980s contributed to the democratic progress, limitations of freedoms of assembly, association, and expression as well as repressions against opposition and independent media and non-governmental organisations are growing.’

A quote from the Statement of the Steering Committee of the EU-Russia Civil Society Forum published of 7 November 2014

Elena Shakhova, Citizens’ Watch, St. Petersburg, Russia: ‘Political repressions of varying scale and type are connected directly to the lack of the rule of law, disregard to personal freedoms, obsession with collective values, mythologising of special Russian spirituality, and a special path for the Russian people.

Content:

Opinion

3

How do political repressions happen in the 21st

century Russia? The answer is - the same way as they happened in 1920s in Soviet Russia. Political persecutions are camouflaged as criminal prosecutions. We hope that every year on 30 October – the Memorial Day of the Victims of Political Repressions – the number of people visiting the places of mass executions or

participating in the memorial reading of victims’ names will not decrease.’ Quote from an essay of the Working Group “Human Rights and the Rule of Law” published in the October issue of the Newsletter of the EU-Russia Civil Society Forum on 3 November 2014

Appeal to the European Commission on Civil Society in Russia and the European Union

On 28 October 2014, the CSF Steering Committee published an appeal to the President and the Members of the European Commission.

1 This letter

has also been sent to all the members of the EC by the Secretariat.

In the Appeal, the Steering Committee addressed members of the EC on several issues of relevance to civil society in Russia and in the European Union, and asked for a number of specific steps. Conclusions and proposals were included in the letter, and a strong reference was made to the standards developed by the Council of Europe and the OSCE and the great importance of human rights and rule of law in both the internal policies of the European Union and its relations with Russia.

More specifically, the letter calls on the EU Commissioners to continue pushing for full implementation of international (human rights and rule of law) standards by the Russian Federation. To achieve this, the members are urged to increase funding to Russian human rights, democracy promotion, environmental, anti-corruption and socially oriented civil society organisations. With current Russian legislation in mind, the members are asked to help promoting more flexible and innovative tools of support, including funding through European partner organisations.

Besides, the Commission was requested to stimulate the easing and facilitation of visa procedures for Russian citizens taking part in academic, cultural, or civil society exchanges with EU countries, which can include unilateral steps

1 http://eu-russia-

csf.org/fileadmin/Statements/AppealEC28.10.2014.pdf

from the EU side, if signing a new visa facilitation agreement with Russia is not feasible.

Other issues the Steering committee paid attention to are academic exchanges between Russia and the EU and the importance of promoting corporate social and environmental responsibility. This applies to companies engaged in cross-border operations as well.

On internal European Union policies, the Steering Committee emphasised the importance of EU member states upholding international standards and agreements in their own countries. Specific mention was made of Hungary, where legislation currently mimics Russia’s with regard to hindering NGO work. The Steering Committee urged the members of the European Commission to press for strengthening mechanisms to enforce continued compliance of member states with the standards for an EU membership (the Copenhagen Criteria).

The letter has been gratefully accepted by the offices of the EC President Jean-Claude Juncker and European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society Günther Oettinger. In addition, the letter was mentioned in the course of the meeting with Federica Mogherini, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Vice-President of the European Commission (see below).

Meeting with Federica Mogherini, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Vice-President of the European Commission

On 10 November 2014, Anna Sevortian, Forum's Executive Director, Stefan Melle, Head of Consortium, and Stefanie Schiffer, Director of European Exchange (Berlin), a Forum member, met

EU-Russia Relations: What’s Going On

4

Federica Mogherini, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Vice-President in the new Collegium of the European Commission.

In the course of a roundtable, which took place in the German capital and gathered a number of NGOs and think tanks, the Forum representatives had an opportunity to mention important expectations of the platform towards the EU Russian and Eastern European politics. Among them are stronger public and financial support for Russian civil society; opening of programmes for unbureaucratic reception and support for human rights activists, who are in danger, as well as co-operation between NGOs from Russia, the EU, and the Eastern Partnership countries, especially Ukraine; prompt implementation of specific (also unilateral) steps for better visa regulation, and other conditions for direct people-to-people contacts; support of territorial integrity of neighbouring states. As regards the European Union itself, such questions were mentioned as problems with the migration policies, Internet control as well as xenophobic and authoritarian tendencies in some EU members states, inter alia, Hungary.

Kick-Off Meeting of the Transborder Corruption Expert Group in Berlin

The European Union is by far the biggest investor in the Russian economy, with 75% of all Foreign Direct Investment coming from EU countries

2.

Most of these investments are made in such fields as mineral as well as oil & gas extraction, production of petrochemicals, infrastructural projects, and heavy industry. These sectors often have a major impact on environment and socio-economic circumstances as well as interests of the local population.

Unfortunately, these investments by EU countries in Russia also often contradict EU standards and tend to be accompanied by cases of corruption and violation of various rights. This problem is called transborder corruption and has become a common initiative of the EU-Russia Civil Society Forum.

2http://eeas.europa.eu/delegations/russia/eu_russia/tra

de_relation/investments/index_en.htm

The initiative´s goal is to investigate projects conducted in the EU or in Russia involving (multinational) corporations or foreign investments that violate environmental, social, economic, or human rights legislation. Due to the size, nature, and interests involved, it is extremely difficult to track responsible people/corporations in such projects. Currently, specific investigation measures are still virtually non-existent.

CSF and its members consider it essential to firstly raise the public’s awareness of those practices and attract attention of the EU and Russian officials to the problem of transborder corruption as well as advocate the case on the level of relevant international bodies. Secondly, CSF strives to increase political and public pressure on companies and investors with a request to comply with the norms and regulations of the EU beyond its borders. These are considered some of only a few effective mechanisms of the citizens’ rights protection of their environment and socio-economic circumstances, which are threatened by the implementation of large foreign or international investment projects.

To start with implementation of this initiative, the related Expert Group met in Berlin on 6 November for a kick-off meeting. At the meeting, the goals, methods, and strategies were discussed, and the first agreements were made on cooperation, communication, and working methods. Besides, the first case study has been decided upon. The results of this meeting are being processed at the time of writing.

The contact person for the Transborder Corruption Expert Group is Tim van der Maarel (tvandermaarel@nhc.nl).

5

The Lawsuit by the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation to shut down Russian “Memorial” Society is Unlawful and Unconstitutional

On 16 October 2014, the CSF Working Group “Historical Memory and Education” along with the Steering Committee of the EU-Russia Civil Society Forum issued a statement on the lawsuit filed by the Russian Ministry of Justice against “Memorial”

3.

In the statement, the Ministry is urged to recall the lawsuit, submitted to the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, to close the Russian Historical, Educational, Charity and Human Rights Society “Memorial”, as well as to stop the crackdown on its member organisations.

The statement argues that the lawsuit, based for a large part on the infamous Law No. 121-FZ (the so-called law of “foreign agents”), is unlawful and unconstitutional, and urges the different legal bodies of the Russian Federation to stand by the laws of the country, and to act in full accordance with the rule of law, the norms of the Russian constitution and international law.

In response to this statement and to all other forms of support and solidarity, “Memorial” published a Letter of Gratitude on 11 November 2014

4.

Following petitions in support of “Memorial”, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation decided on 13 November to postpone the hearing until 17 December.

5 This means the hearing will take place

after the General session of the Memorial Society on 19 November giving the organisation an opportunity to address the structural issues that led to the lawsuit in the first place.

Statement of the Steering Committee "Appeal for Justice for Anna Sharogradskaya and the Regional Press Institute"

On 19 November the Steering Committee of the EU-Russia Civil Society Forum expressed its deep concerns about the situation regarding Forum

3 http://eu-russia-

csf.org/fileadmin/Statements/StatementMemorial16.10.2014.pdf 4 http://www.memo.ru/d/215382.html

5 http://www.zona.media/news/memorial-perenesli/

member - the Regional Press Institute - and its Director Anna Sharogradskaya

6.

The statement was an answer to the overruling by the Moscow District Court of St. Petersburg of a legal claim by Ms Sharogradskaya. This claim followed the events that took place on 5 June 2014, when she was stopped at the St. Petersburg Pulkovo Airport and underwent an intensive clearance control. During this inspection, personal belongings of Ms Sharogradskaya - a laptop, an iPad, and a number of memory sticks - were confiscated.

Based on materials found on these items, a criminal procedure against Ms Sharogradskaya was initiated based on Articles 280 and 282 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (Extremism). According to Ms Sharogradskaya, these materials were to be used as examples for her students at Indiana University and were taken from open sources.

At the same time, her organisation, the Regional Press Institute, has been involved in a smear campaign by Russian nationalists. Besides, the Russian Ministry of Justice, following an earlier Prosecutor’s Inspection, brought an administrative action against the organisation on 7 November, accusing it of breaking the law by executing activities of a “foreign agent”, while not being registered as such.

All these developments deeply worry the Steering Committee, and it called for the accusations to be dropped. The Steering Committee expresses its solidarity and full support for Anna Sharogradskaya and the Regional Press Institute – and even more now, when the organisation was added by the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation to the list of “foreign agents” on 20 November 2014

7.

6 http://eu-russia-csf.org/news/statement-of-the-

steering-committee-appeal-for-justice-for-anna-sharogradskaya-and-the-regional-pre/ 7 http://minjust.ru/ru/press/news/v-reestr-

nekommercheskih-organizaciy-vypolnyayushchiy-funkcii-inostrannogo-agenta

On the Russian Federation

6

E

European Parliament passed Resolution on

Memorial

On 23 October 2014, the European Parliament passed a resolution calling on the Russian authorities to not close down the human rights NGO Memorial.

The Members of Parliament strongly condemned the Russian Ministry of Justice's appeal to the Supreme Court to close down the independent human rights organisation, which was the Sakharov prize winner of 2009. They urged the Ministry to withdraw its lawsuit before the hearing scheduled for November 2014.

The European Parliament considers the July 2012 law on so-called “foreign agents”, which requires NGOs that receive foreign funding and are engaged in “political activity” to apply for inclusion in a special list is in breach of Russia's commitments to the Council of Europe and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

The Members of Parliament asked the Commission and the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy to raise the cases of individuals and organisations prosecuted for political reasons in meetings with their Russian counterparts.

The resolution was passed by 529 votes to 57 with 34 abstentions

Weekly College Meeting Discusses Greater Transparency

As of 1 December 2014, all Members of the European Commission are expected to make public all contacts and meetings held with stakeholders and lobbyists. This will be part of the Juncker Commission's Transparency Initiative debated on 19 November 2014 during the weekly College Meeting

8.

The College of EU Commissioners will discuss the implementation of this Transparency Initiative, which is at the core of President Juncker’s political guidelines. The goal of the initiative is to assure more transparency when it comes to contacts between EU Commissioners, their Cabinets, and Directors-General, on the one hand, and interest groups and individuals - such as lobbyists and stakeholders, on the other hand.

8http://ec.europa.eu/news/2014/11/20141119_en.htm

On the European Union

7

Joint Seminar of the European Economic and Social Committee and the EU-Russia Civil Society Forum

On 7 October 2014, a joint seminar of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and the EU-Russia Civil Society Forum was held in Brussels devoted to the role and position of civil society in the EU and Russia. The EESC is an official advisory body of the European Union on social and economic policies, with membership from associations of employers, trade unions, and civil society actors from all the member states of the Union.

Mall Hellam, Estonian member of the EESC, and Ionut Sibian, EESC member from Romania (simultaneously the Civil Society Development Foundation, a Forum´s member), spoke about civil society development and challenges in their countries. Ms Hellam highlighted options that have been opened for Estonian citizens to provide input and engage in dialogue about government policies through electronic platforms. Mr Sibian spoke about the persistence needed in his country for fighting corruption and other abuse of power by authorities. Olga Drozdova from Agency for Social Information (another Forum member) spoke about the development of civil society in Russia.

Relations between Russia and the European Union were looked at from different perspectives. The European Commission explained the current planning for financial support for civil society activities in Russia, which would remain at the same level as in recent years. Other speakers took a broader approach; while official relations are at a low point at the moment, contacts between EU and Russian civil society should be greatly expanded, including visa facilitation and student and academic exchange. An argument was also made for keeping expansion of business contacts as a long-term goal and of stimulating proper ethical company policies in these contacts, with respect to environmental, social as well as personnel issues. Very limited information is available on how well-developed these policies are in EU-based companies operating in Russia and vice versa.

The latter theme was a link to the final part of the seminar devoted to the promotion of

environmentally and socially responsible development. Julia Ostrovskaya from the Centre of Social and Labour Rights in Moscow (a new member in the EU-Russia Civil Society Forum recruited in Brussels) spoke about the history of labour conflicts in Russia. Labour exploitation is an issue that is taken up by NGOs as well as by (independent) trade unions. This is true both for Russia and for the European Union. For example, one of the main issues the soldiers’ relatives committees are campaigning on is the exploitation of soldier’s labour for personal gain of their commanders (a representative of another Forum member – “Soldiers’ Mothers of St. Petersburg” -could not make it to the meeting, unfortunately). In a number of EU countries, NGOs have documented that salaries in clothes-producing factories are far below living wage. Little pressure has been put on companies until now to exercise due diligence with respect to absence of slavery or exploitation in the delivery chain of products or services they use.

Similar links can exist between economic activities related to laundering of corruptly obtained money, tax evasion, or environmentally irresponsible operations. This is a potentially rich area for civil society actions for social justice linking workers and consumers and actions directly aimed at companies with advocacy to strengthen legislation to regulate companies’ behavior. It is also an area where both European- and Russian-based companies are involved, operating jointly or separately - and both inside and outside their country of origin. This provides strong arguments for joint civil society investigation and action. The Forum representatives hope to continue the work with the EESC in exploring the mentioned fields and issues.

Advocacy mission to Brussels

Following the joint seminar of the European Economic and Social Committee and the EU-Russia Civil Society Forum, the Policy Team met in Brussels in early October to discuss their goals and methods and had talks with relevant persons in Brussels, including Members of the European Parliament. This first official visit of the team received a warm welcome in Brussels. The team spoke with MEPs, related experts, and other EU institutions.

CSF Policy and Advocacy Team

8

In Brussels, the Forum’s focus on the Human Dimension, promotion of interpersonal contacts, and civil society development was appreciated. The focus of the Forum stressing the importance of free and open relations and communication between the people of Russia and the EU member states, is rather unique and coupled with the thought-out recommendations (including support for civil society in Russia and youth exchanges) gives plenty of grounds for a fruitful advocacy. The Policy and Advocacy team plans to keep promoting this message to relevant bodies and decision-makers.

Advocacy Opportunities for the Forum members

Apart from working on lobbying and advocacy on behalf of the Forum, the CSF Policy and Advocacy Team strives to help Forum members to improve their own advocacy.

The Team believes that it is equally important for the Forum to have a streamlined advocacy initiative as well as to enhance and promote advocacy activities of its members.

The team therefore urges Forum members, especially those, who are not (yet) very experienced with advocacy or lobbying activities, to reach out to us. The team is more than happy to assist these organisations with providing context, advices, opportunities, and other forms of assistance.

Please do not hesitate to contact Tim van der Maarel at tvandermaarel@nhc.nl with all your requests or inquiries.

"Soldiers' Mothers of Saint Petersburg" and Freedom of Information Foundation appealed the decision of the Russian Ministry of Justice in court

9

Lawyers from the "Committee Against Torture" Work at Legal Claim on Suleiman Edigov Case to the ECHR

10

Dispatches: Hungary is Dragging the EU in the Wrong Direction

11

ISP publishes report on authorities and society in Russia

12

9 http://eu-russia-csf.org/news/soldiers-mothers-of-

saint-petersburg-and-freedom-of-information-foundation-appealed-the-decision 10

http://eu-russia-csf.org/news/lawyers-from-the-committee-against-torture-work-at-legal-claim-on-suleiman-edigov-case-to-the-echr 11

http://www.hrw.org/news/2014/11/17/dispatches-hungary-dragging-eu-wrong-direction 12

http://www.isp.org.pl/publikacje,25,816.html

IREX Europe, IREX and 21 other international media development and press freedom groups have reaffirmed their support for the UN Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity

13

HRW: Ukraine: Stronger international law needed for incendiary weapons

14

Russia: Over 30 organisations call for progress in investigation into Akhmednabi Akhmednabiyev's murder

15

13

http://irex-europe.fr/Statement-of-Civil-Society.html 14

http://www.hrw.org/news/2014/11/10/ukraine-syria-incendiary-weapons-threaten-civilians 15

http://www.article19.org/resources.php/resource/37752/en/russia:-over-30-organisations-call-for-progress-in-investigation-into-akhmednabi-akhmednabiyev's-murder

Civil Society: One-Liners

9

OSCE Ministerial Council in Basel

On 4-5 December 2014, the 21st

OSCE Ministerial Council will take place in Basel, Switzerland.

The event will be held at the invitation of the 2014 OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Switzerland’s Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter.

The Ministerial Council is the central decision-making and governing body of the OSCE. The meeting held on an annual basis provides the foreign ministers of the 57 OSCE participating states with an opportunity to review and assess the Organisation's activities in the course of the last year and offer national viewpoints on security matters.

Re-Evaluation of the EU Russia Strategy

The cabinet of Federica Mogherini, EU High Commissioner for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, is currently re-evaluating the EU Russia strategy. In this process, the European member states are actively involved.

This process is currently ongoing and will provide Forum members from different countries the opportunity to bilaterally do advocacy work through their own MEPs. More information on this process will be provided soon.

Coming Up: EEAS Russia CSO Seminar

The European External Action Service is planning to hold a Russia CSO seminar in Brussels in the nearest future. This seminar will provide ample opportunities to engage in dialogue with both EU decision-makers and other relevant parties. The dates will be provided upon their publication.

We ask Forum members to share information on policy and advocacy, any follow-up and separate advocacy

steps they have undertaken to promote the CSF agenda and their prospective plans to address the official

Russian or European institutions.

We would be very grateful to all readers for their feedback.

Coming Up: Advocacy Opportunities

10

Contact:

Tim van der Maarel, Project manager, Netherlands Helsinki Committee, The Hague Tel. + 31 70 392 67 00 e-mail: tvandermaarel@nhc.nl

Sergei Tereshenkov, PR Coordinator, Secretariat of the EU-Russia Civil Society Forum, Berlin Tel. + 49 (0)30 44 66 80 14 e-mail: tereshenkov@eu-russia-csf.org

The Project is supported by

Disclaimer: This document has been produced with the financial assistance of our donors. The

contents of this publication are sole responsibility of the EU-Russia Civil Society Forum and can in no

way be taken to reflect the views of our donors.

EU-RUSSIA CIVIL SOCIETY FORUM / ГРАЖДАНСКИЙ ФОРУМ ЕС-РОССИЯ Address (Secretariat): Deutsch-Russischer Austausch e.V. (German-Russian Exchange) – 44, Bad St., 13357 Berlin, Germany, Tel. + 49 (0)30 44 66 80 0 Адрес (Секретариат): Немецко-Русский Обмен –Бадштрассе 44, 13357 Берлин, Германия, тел. + 49 30 44 66 80 0 Website: www.eu-russia-csf.org E-mail: info@eu-russia-csf.org Facebook: EU-Russia Civil Society Forum Twitter: @EU_Russia_CSF VKontakte: Гражданский Форум ЕС-Россия

The EU-Russia Civil Society Forum was established in 2011 by non-governmental organisations as a

permanent common platform. At the moment 137 NGOs from Russia and the European Union are member

of the Forum. It aims at development of cooperation between civil society organisations from Russia and EU

and greater participation of NGOs in the EU-Russia dialogue. The Forum has been actively involved, inter

alia, in the questions of facilitation of visa regime, development of civic participation, protection of the

environment and human rights, dealing with history, and civic education.