Two PACE's reports note progress in Russia's democratic and human rights conductStrasbourg, 23.04.2002 - In the debate on Russia's compliance with its obligations and commitments as a member state of the Council of Europe, the Assembly welcomed the undoubted progress achieved so far towards the consolidation of the rule of law and democracy, but decided to continue its monitoring procedure until further action is taken on issues still outstanding.
According to the report, prepared by David Atkinson (United Kingdom, EDG) and Rudolf Bindig (Germany, SOC) on behalf of the Monitoring Committee, these issues include full implementation of freedom of expression, movement and religion, continuing reform of the Prosecutor's Office and the Federal Security Service, lifting of reservations to the European Convention on Human Rights, improvement of conditions of detention in Russian prisons and putting an end to the ill-treatment of conscripts. The resolution also calls for the abolition of the death penalty and strongly criticises the recent parliamentary initiative to lift the present moratorium on executions based on a presidential decree.
The resolution reiterates the call to the Russian authorities to settle by peaceful means the conflict in Chechnya, to conduct a proper investigation into all cases of human rights violations and the abuse of power in Chechnya, and to bring to justice those responsible.
In a separate report on Russia's law on religion, prepared by Kevin McNamara (United Kingdom, SOC) on behalf of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, the Assembly acknowledged that many of the original criticisms of the 1997 law had been dealt with by the Russian Government and the Constitutional Court. However, further action needed to be taken to ensure that the law was applied in a uniform manner throughout the country, ending unjustified regional and local discrimination against certain religious communities, including the Salvation Army and Jehovah witnesses in Moscow, and local officials' preferential treatment of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Contact:
Communication Unit of the Parliamentary Assembly:
Tel: + 33 (0)3 88 41 33 35 or mobile +33 (0)6 72 75 42 83
Fax: + 33 (0)3 90 21 41 34; e-mail: assembly.news@coe.int
WWW: http://assembly.coe.int. RELATED ARTICLES:
· PACE's Resolution 1277 (2002) (provisional edition)
· PACE's Recommendation 1553 (2002) (provisional edition)
· Report by Committee on the Honouring of Obligations and Commitments by Member States of the Council of Europe (Monitoring Committee)
· Report on the activities of the Joint Working Group on Chechnya (JWG) presented by Lord Judd and Mr Dmitri Rogozin
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