Status: 04/09/2022 13:37
Russia has banned the work of several international organizations. These include German party foundations and human rights organizations Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
Several German party-affiliated foundations and international human rights organizations had their registrations revoked by the Russian Ministry of Justice. The Heinrich Böll Foundation, the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and the Friedrich Naumann Foundation are among those affected.
The human rights organizations Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, as well as nine other non-governmental organizations, were also implicated in alleged “violations of the applicable legislation of the Russian Federation”.
Russia is closing offices of some foreign organizations
Tagesschau 03:12, 9 April 2022
Serious allegations against Putin
The chairman of the board of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation, Karl-Heinz Paqué, explained: “Anyone who campaigns for civil and human rights in Russia is punished, threatened and harassed.” President Vladimir Putin’s “aggressions” against liberal and democratic values ”go far beyond Ukraine”. The new wave of expulsions of civil society organizations is “another step from authoritarianism to totalitarianism”.
The Böll Foundation is said to have worked for “a vision of a free and democratic Russia” for over 30 years. “Unfortunately, the Russian leadership of President (Vladimir) Putin has led the country in the opposite direction for many years.”
Greens parliamentary group leader Britta Haßelmann said the organizations “are and will continue to be a point of contact for Russian civil society and for many persecuted Russians and they need our support”.
Human rights activists feel confirmed
Amnesty International released a statement about the closing of the Moscow office. “You are doing something right when the Kremlin is trying to silence you,” wrote Amnesty Secretary General Agnès Callamard. The organizations were “punished for defending human rights and telling the truth to Russian authorities,” she said. Amnesty will continue to monitor and uncover human rights violations – the government is mistaken if it thinks it can prevent this by closing the Moscow office. Human Rights Watch also announced that it would continue to investigate human rights violations in Russia.
The EU also condemned the bans. The organizations are focused on protecting the rights and freedoms of citizens and have done nothing to justify the ban.
Russian human rights activists and journalists have long complained about increased repression in Russia. Until now, for example, numerous civil rights organizations have been classified as “foreign agents”. In March, authorities also passed several laws that Russia said would result in “false information” about the conflict, leading to high prison sentences.
In December, Russia’s Supreme Court banned the NGO Memorial International. The sentence was confirmed at the end of February. Russia’s oldest and most important human rights organization has also been accused of violating the Foreign Agents Act.