The Moscow Research Center for Human Rights (MRCHR) is an umbrella group for human rights groups. [1] It was set up in 1993. [2] The Center unites about a dozen human rights nongovernmental organizations. [3]
The idea for the MRCHR grew out of a desire to collectively organize the human rights-related movements emerging from the loosely-structured community of informal social organizations which flowered during the last part of the Soviet period. A group of human rights activists, dissidents and former political prisoners acquired office space in which to work. The group soon found financial and moral support from the West, including the National Endowment for Democracy, Phare, and various private foundations. After receiving a series of small grants, the Center gradually emerged as a focal point for human rights work in 1993.
The America's Development Foundation set up "An institutional partnership program in Russia with the Moscow Research Center for Human Rights (MCHR) provided the framework for strengthening the capacity of this coalition of Russian human rights NGOs, and significantly extending its network."
"From 1993 – 1997, ADF carried out significant work with the Moscow Research Center for Human Rights (MRCHR), an umbrella organization of fifteen human rights organizations established in 1991 to jointly promote human rights and improve the rule of law throughout the Russian Federation. With generous backing from several private foundations and the Institutional Partnership Program of the USAID Bureau for Europe and the New Independent States, ADF helped MRCHR reach beyond Moscow to become a nationwide organization, with positive results for the cause of increasing human rights awareness and protection in Russia."
Director of the Center is Alexei Smirnov, and its chairmen is Boris Altshuler . Advisory Board of the Center includes Vyacheslav Bakhmin, Elena Bonner, Valeriy Borschov, Sergei Kovalev and Anatoly Pristavkin
Boris Leonidovich Altshuler is a professor of physics at Columbia University. His specialty is theoretical condensed matter physics.
Sergei Adamovich Kovalyov is a Russian human rights activist and politician and a former Soviet dissident and political prisoner.
Anatoly Ignatovich Pristavkin was a Russian writer and public figure.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures some governments, policy makers and human rights abusers to denounce abuse and respect human rights, and the group often works on behalf of refugees, children, migrants and political prisoners.
The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) is a U.S. non-profit soft power organization that was founded in 1983 with the stated goal of promoting democracy abroad. It is funded primarily through an annual allocation from the U.S. Congress in the form of a grant awarded through the United States Information Agency (USIA). It was created by The Democracy Program as a bipartisan, private, non-profit corporation, and in turn acts as a grant-making foundation. In addition to its grants program, NED also supports and houses the Journal of Democracy, the World Movement for Democracy, the International Forum for Democratic Studies, the Reagan–Fascell Fellowship Program, the Network of Democracy Research Institutes, and the Center for International Media Assistance.
SOS Children's Villages is the largest independent, non-governmental, nonprofit international development organization headquartered in Innsbruck, Austria. The organization provides humanitarian and developmental assistance to children in need and protects their interests and rights around the world. The first SOS Children's Village was founded in 1949 in Tyrol, Austria by an Austrian philanthropist Hermann Gmeiner. Today, SOS Children's Villages is active in 135 countries and territories worldwide
The Solidarity Center is a non-profit organization aligned with the AFL-CIO labor federation. It is one of the core grantees of the National Endowment for Democracy.
The International Federation for Human Rights is a non-governmental federation for human rights organizations. Founded in 1922, FIDH is the second oldest international human rights organisation worldwide after Anti-Slavery International. As of 2016, the organization is made up of 184 member organisations in over 100 countries.
Human rights defenders or human rights activists are people who, individually or with others, act to promote or protect human rights. They can be journalists, environmentalists, whistle-blowers, trade unionists, lawyers, teachers, housing campaigners, and so on. They can defend rights as part of their jobs or in a voluntary capacity. As a result of their activities, they can sometimes be the subject of reprisals and attacks of all kinds, including smears, surveillance, harassment, false charges, arbitrary detention, restrictions on the right to freedom of association, and physical attacks.
Today the Moscow Helsinki Group is one of Russia's leading human rights organisations. It was originally set up in 1976 to monitor Soviet compliance with the Helsinki Accords and to report to the West on Soviet human rights abuses. It was forced out of existence in the early 1980s, but revived in 1989 and continues to operate in Russia today.
The Carr Center for Human Rights Policy is a research center of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
The Church of Scientology Moscow v Russia [2007] ECHR 258 is a European Court of Human Rights case, concerning Article 11 of the Convention. In the case the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg condemned Moscow City Government's refusal to consider the Church of Scientology of Moscow for registration as a religious organisation, and as a result found that Russia had violated the rights of the Church of Scientology under Articles 11 when "read in the light of Article 9". Specifically, the Court determined that, in denying consideration of registration to the Church of Scientology of Moscow, the Moscow authorities "did not act in good faith and neglected their duty of neutrality and impartiality vis-à-vis the applicant's religious community". The Court also awarded the Church €10,000 in respect of non-pecuniary damage and €15,000 for costs and expenses.
FECRIS – (in French)European Federation of Centres of Research and Information on Sectarianism, a French non-profit association and anti-cult organization, serves as an umbrella organization for groups which investigate the activities of groups considered cults in Europe.
The Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization based in Washington, D.C., dedicated to examining how genuine democracies can develop in the Middle East and how the United States can best support that process. Through dialogue, research, and advocacy, POMED works to strengthen the constituency for U.S. policies that peacefully support democratic reform in the Middle East.
Democratic Russia was the generic name for several political entities that played a transformative role in Russia's transition from Communist rule.
In his "A New Beginning" speech on June 4, 2009, at Cairo University in Cairo, Egypt, President of the United States Barack Obama stated that "I've come here to Cairo to seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world, one based on mutual interest and mutual respect, and one based upon the truth that America and Islam are not exclusive and need not be in competition. Instead, they overlap, and share common principles – principles of justice and progress; tolerance and the dignity of all human beings." During the speech, he also committed to "host a Summit on Entrepreneurship this year to identify how we can deepen ties between business leaders, foundations and social entrepreneurs in the United States and Muslim communities around the world".
Vanguard Public Foundation was an American social justice foundation focused on providing grants to social justice nonprofits. One of the first of the "rich kid foundations," Vanguard was a model for a new generation's philanthropy. Vanguard rose as a leader among some two dozen new progressive foundations that comprised a network called the Funding Exchange.
Nina Yurievna Belyaeva is a Russian public policy researcher, PhD, professor and head of the Public Policy Department. at National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia. Member of Russian Political Science Association, which is a part of IPSA.
The Human Rights Network - Uganda (HURINET) is a Ugandan non-governmental organization (NGO) whose mission is foster the promotion, protection and respect of human rights in Uganda through linking and strengthening the capacity of member organizations. HURINET works towards having a Ugandan society free of human rights abuse. It is an umbrella organization of 60 human rights organizations. Mohammad Ndifuna is the current executive director.
The Initiative or Action Group for the Defense of Human Rights in the USSR was the first civic organization of the Soviet human rights movement. Founded in 1969 by 15 dissidents, the unsanctioned group functioned for over six years as a public platform for Soviet dissidents concerned with violations of human rights in the Soviet Union.
The Republic of Armenia was admitted into the United Nations on March 2, 1992. Since December 1992 when UN opened its first office in Yerevan, Armenia signed and ratified many international treaties. There are fifteen specialized agencies, programs and funds in the UN Country Team under the supervision of the UN Resident Coordinator. Besides, the World Bank (WB), International Finance Corporation (IFC) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) have offices in the country. The focus is drawn to the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) stipulated by the Millennium Declaration adopted during the Millennium Summit in 2000. The MDGs have simulated never before practiced actions to meet the needs of the world's poorest. As the MDG achievement date of December 2015 draws closer a new set of global sustainable development goals is consulted worldwide, to be adopted by the UN General Assembly in September 2015. Armenia was included in the initial group of 50 countries to conduct national consultations on the global Post-2015 development agenda.
Sergei Chernyshev is a Russian philosopher, educator and expert in the field of organization and management science.