1391st Meeting of the Committee of Ministers (8 December 2020)
- On 10 November, the Russian government submitted to the State Duma a bill amending the legislation for foreign NGOs and NGOs recognised as “foreign agents”. The new bill proposes to extend the status of a “foreign agent” to NGOs receiving funds from Russian legal entities, whose ultimate owner is a foreigner or a stateless person, to oblige foreign NGOs and NGOs recognised as “foreign agents” to submit to authorities information about their foreseen and ongoing programs and events, and to give the Ministry of Justice the right to ban any activity of an organisation recognised as a “foreign agent”. Separate bills, submitted by parliamentarians to the State Duma on 18 November, propose to extend the status of a “foreign agent” to election candidates who would be obliged to use this assignation on their ballots and campaign material and to enable recognising public associations and individuals, regardless of their citizenship, as “foreign agents”.
- The European Union is concerned by the proposed amendments, aimed at widening the scope of the already problematic “foreign agents” legislation, which will further tighten the restrictions on the exercise of fundamental freedoms in Russia. We reiterate our longstanding and clear position that the Russian legislation on “foreign agents” contributes to restricting civil society, independent media and the rights of political opposition and has a negative impact on the work of civil society in Russia.
- We call on the authorities of the Russian Federation to refrain from adopting the amendments and to review current legislation in order to bring it in line with its own commitments under European and international human rights law, including the relevant Venice Commission opinions.
- With regard to the situation of the civil society in Russian Federation, we also want to draw attention to the fact that on 2 December, the Russian authorities have annulled the residency permit of Vanessa Kogan, a U.S. citizen and the Director of the well-known human rights organisation Justice Initiative. The organisation, operating in Russia since 2000, has been involved in defending human rights in situations linked to armed conflicts, torture, and gender violence in the North Caucasus. It also regularly represents applicants before the European Court of Human Rights.
- The EU is concerned by this latest manifestation of the pressures on independent civil society and human rights defenders in Russia. Mindful of the Council of Europe human rights standards, which require states to establish an enabling environment for human rights defenders, we call upon the Russian authorities to review their decision and to allow Ms Kogan to continue carrying out in full extent her work in the field of human rights in Russia.
