Memorial: Protection of Human Rights

Protection of Human Rights

NEW Texts:

10.07.2001 Cleansing operation in the village of Chernorechye

05.07.2001 The "cleansing" operations in Sernovodsk and Assinovskaya were punishment operations

25.06.2001 The hunger-strike of Chechen refugees temporarily living in Ingushetia continues

22.06.2001 Group of Refugees Conducts Hunger Strike

21.06.2001 Rally Near the Village of Koshkeldy

18.06.2001 Appeal from the citizens of the town of Argun

14.06.2001 Open Letter from the Russian National Anti-War Committee for a Peaceful Resolution in Chechnya to the Leaders of the G-7 Countries

13.06.2001 Letter to the High Commissioner for Refugees

01.06.2001 A Second Civilian Burial Site Discovered Near the Military Base at Khankala

31.05.2001 Arrest of Dik Al'temirov

31.05.2001 Open Letter from President Maskhadov to the Russian National Anti-War Committee for a Peaceful Resolution in Chechnya

15.05.2001 Appeal from Achkhoy-Martan

14.05.2001 Market raids

03.05.2001 On the Passing by the UN Human Rights Commission of a Resolution on the Situation in the Chechen Republic

25.04.2001 Joint appeal to members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe

24.04.2001 Open Appeal to the President of the Russian Federation

14.04.2001 Four inhabitants of Argun are arrested during a "clean-up" operation in the town and are later found dead

12.04.2001 Uzbekistan: treatment of political convicts in the strict order prison located near Tashkent

29.03.2001 Bodies discovered near Khankala - irrefutable evidence of war crimes committed by federal forces. Materials from a press-conference held on 5/3/01 in Moscow, Institute of Press Development

25.03.2001 Persons Detained in Chechnya by Military and Internal Affairs Agents Become Victims of Summary Executions

15.02.2001 Report from Khamidova Jakhita

09.02.2001 Information on the situation in the Urus-Martan region, Chechen Republic

08.02.2001 Letter to the Members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe

23.01.2001 Appeal from the All-Russian Extraordinary Congress on the Protection of Human Rights to the members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe

Initially founded as a historical-enlightenment center, Memorial has from the very outset paid significant attention to questions of the protection of human rights. Insofar as they work with the rights of former prisoners, all Memorial affiliates are involved with the protection of human rights.

In asking society to remember the cruel and massive violations of human rights that occurred in the recent past in the Soviet Union, the members of Memorial have been unable to ignore the fact that the violation of human rights continues even during the present time.

When, in autumn 1989, the forceful dispersal of a meeting in Tbilisi claimed the lives of many people, Memorial led a series of protests in Moscow. During 1989, Memorial repeatedly staged protests in the office of the General Prosecutor of the USSR demanding the release of all remaining political prisoners in the USSR. From these activities in the autumn of 1989, the Legal Protection group of Memorial was formed. In 1991, the Legal Protection Center of Memorial was created for the organization and coordination of the legal protection activities of Memorial.

The Legal Protection Center collaborates with regional organizations of Memorial, many of which individually and actively monitor the protection of human rights. Much work is conducted in Voronezh, Yekaterinburg, Nizhnii Tagil, Novosibirsk, Or'ol, Riazin, Tomsk, Khar'khov, Cheliabinsk and other cities.