05.05.21 Human rights defenders congratulate on the Day of Europe

On May 05, 1949, representatives of ten states signed the Charter of the Council of Europe, since 1996 and to this day Russia is a member of the Council of Europe. Europe Day has been celebrated annually on May 05 as “the day of peace and unity in Europe” since 1964.

Human rights defenders remind that Russia, as a member of the Council of Europe, has joined the basic principles of observance of human rights and freedoms and has undertaken obligations to ensure respect for human rights and freedoms and their protection in accordance with the European Convention on Human Rights.

Human values, respect for human rights and freedoms, humanism are the priority of all participating states. However, not all participating states develop evenly: in some countries, human rights and freedoms are better observed, somewhere there is a serious attack on human rights and freedoms, and universal values ​​are being replaced by traditional values ​​and ideas of certain regimes that are far from democracy.  All this causes an imbalance within Europe and leads to double standards of respect for human rights and freedoms and democratic principles.

So, recently there has been an attack on human rights and freedoms in Eastern Europe, authoritarian and dictatorial regimes have been established in some countries, regimes have been established in some countries that oppose themselves to universal human values ​​and humanism. The problem of observing the rights of women, the rights of LGBT people, indigenous peoples, the persecution of the opposition, the suppression of the activity of civil society - all this contradicts universal human values ​​and humanism, declared as the basic principles of observance by the Council of Europe members. As a result, this throws the development of human civilization into the dark, wild times of the Middle Ages. Poland, Russia, Hungary, Turkey, the Caucasus countries, Ukraine are the problematic region of the Council of Europe. The attack on human rights and freedoms in these countries is massive, and is reflected in general on the position of the Council of Europe.

So, in March 2021, Turkey publicly withdrew from the Istanbul Convention for the Protection of Women's Rights, and on April 6, 2021 discriminated against the first woman President of the European Commission during a visit to Turkey. Recall that during negotiations between the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, the head of the European Council Charles Michel and President of Turkey Recep Erdogan, the men were given chairs for negotiations, Ursula von der Leyen was given a seat on the sofa opposite the Turkish Foreign Minister. The President of the European Commission smoothed the incident by giving priority to negotiations on cooperation between the EU and Turkey, but the situation did not remain without her attention after the meeting. Moreover, an authoritarian regime has been established in Turkey, there is an attack on the principles of secularism, there are massive violations of human rights and freedoms, the opposition is persecuted, extrajudicial killings are used and indigenous peoples are persecuted. So, Turkey is conducting military operations against the indigenous people - the Kurds - for 22 years the leader of the Kurds, Abdullah Ocalan, has been in prison.

Earlier, in October 2020, Poland banned abortions, LGBT people are also persecuted in Poland, the principles of secularism are violated, and there is a serious attack on freedom of speech and opposition. A similar situation developed in Hungary, where the president usurped power. The problem with the observance of human rights and freedoms in Russia, the observance of democratic principles is also associated with the attack on the rights of women, in particular, the issue of banning abortion and restricting the rights of women is raised on the political agenda, the rights of LGBT people are limited, the right to freedom of assembly is limited, a serious attack on freedom of speech, restriction of freedom of speech, the question of a ban on freedom of scientific, creative activity is raised on the political agenda, political competition and pluralism, lack of change of government are significantly limited, the rights of indigenous peoples are violated, extrajudicial killings are reported, violation of the principles of secularism, a high level of corruption and opposing oneself to universal human values. In Ukraine, a nationalist agenda prevails, there is no political competition and free elections, and the rights of indigenous peoples are violated. There is no political competition at all in Azerbaijan, a dictatorship was established against the background of democratic changes in Armenia and Georgia, where, despite the difficulties, countries strive for democracy and respect for human.

Commentary by Maria Arkhipova (Bast), Chairwoman of the Association of Russian Lawyers for Human Rights:

- Human rights and freedoms, a democratic society, the rule of law, these are the achievements of the entire human civilization. It is the level of observance of human rights and freedoms, democratic principles in society, as far as the state of law is an indicator of the level of development of a particular country, and in general - of human civilization. The future lies precisely in the observance of human rights and freedoms, in a democratic society and the rule of law. Throughout history, humanity has always faced opponents of its development. What is happening now in the Council of Europe is a natural and expected process, when a swan, a crayfish and a pike, countries with different levels of development have gathered in one institute. In order to overcome the crisis, it is necessary to recognize the difference in the development of the CE member states and start moving towards a strong democracy and respect for human rights and freedoms among all participants. I congratulate everyone on Europe Day and wish you the achievement of democracy and respect for human rights and freedoms.

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