Russia’s NGOs Presented Shadow Report on Torture at the UN in Geneva
Memorial.Rus
Yesterday, Thursday, November 8, Russia�s Non-Governmental Organizations presented their report to the members of the United Nations Committee Against Torture (CAT) as part of the official hearings on Russian Federation�s compliance with the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
The text is now available on the Memorial website at http://www.memo.ru/d/135143.html.
The report, co-ordinated by the Public Verdict foundation, results from joint efforts of the Civic Assistance Committee, Memorial Human Rights Centre, Solders� Mothers St. Petersburg, Independent Psychiatric Association of Russia, Inter-Regional Committee Against Torture, Human Rights Institute, Penal Reform International Regional Office, Youth Human Rights Movement, Human Rights Defence Committee (Krasnoyarsk), Centre for Civic Education and Human Rights, Legal Initative on Russia (Utrecht, the Netherlands), and the Non-Profit Organization Legal Assistance � Astraea.
The report is called �shadow,� or alternative, because it supplements the official report provided by the Russian Federation (Russia�s fifth periodic report was submitted to the UN Committee in December 2010). Official reports provide contents of laws as well statistics to do with torture, meanwhile they lack sufficient information about the actual implementation of the laws, issues that arise in practice, and analysis of the causes of the existence of torture. The Alternative report fills in these gaps.
Following consultations with the NGOs and the consideration of the report of the Russian Federation, to be held November 12, the Committee will adopt concluding remarks indicating positive changes in the situation with torture in Russia, note existing problems in this area and provide a list of recommendations.
Because some of these recommendations will be assigned priority over others, in a year Russia will have to prepare a report on their performance.