Chronology of Events

2006

February 2006 – The Chamber demanded a thorough investigation into the circumstances of the infliction of grievous bodily harm on Private Andrei Sychev.

February 2006 – The Chamber came out against the closure of the Volgograd-based newspaper Gorodskiye Vesti (City News) after a “cartoon scandal” and achieved the resumption of the newspaper’s publication.

March 2006 – After the Civic Chamber and numerous public associations came out against the construction of the East Siberia-Pacific oil pipeline near Lake Baikal, the President ordered that the pipeline be moved farther north of Baikal.

March 2006 – The Chamber came out in support of driver Oleg Shcherbinsky who had been found guilty of the death of Governor Mikhail Yevdokimov.
 
April 2006 – The Chamber initiated the development of minimum social quality-of-life standards.

April 2006 – The Chamber proposed raising minimum salaries to the subsistence level.

June 2006 – The Chamber adopted an appeal to the Federal Assembly, urging it to improve counter-extremism legislation.

June 2006 – The Chamber came out with a package of proposals for solving problems of defrauded co-investors in order to avoid a recurrence of the problems in the future.

July 2006 – The Chamber supported residents of Moscow’s South Butovo district who protested against their eviction from private houses.

July 2006 – The Chamber spoke out in support of the right of disabled children to education, after which the Prosecutor General’s Office conducted an audit of compliance with legislation pertaining to the social protection of disabled children and their right to education.

July 2006 – The Chamber sent an appeal to the State Duma, proposing moving gambling facilities outside cities and towns to specially designated zones.

September 2006 – The Chamber’s proposal to provide housing for orphans who have reached the age of 18 were taken into account in the “Affordable Housing” national project. Allocations for this purpose were included in the national budget as a separate entry.

November 2006 – On the Civic Chamber’s initiative, parent committees began to operate in military units.

November 2006 – The Chamber made a statement about the inadmissibility of the construction of a 300-meter-high Gazprom office building in the historical center of St. Petersburg.

December 2006 – The Chamber came out in defense of abandoned babies staying in hospital and proposed cutting the duration of the stay of healthy children in medical institutions.

December 2006 – The Federal Law “On the Procedure for Forming and Using the Endowment of Non-Commercial Organizations” was passed, which was drafted on the initiative and with the participation of the Civic Chamber.

2007
June 2007 – The Chamber published a booklet for the population, called “If Someone Tries to Solicit a Bribe From You” and written by Civic Chamber members.

July 2007 – The Chamber proposed changes in the “Health” national project, namely, raising salaries for district doctors and subspecialists.

In 2007, the Chamber assisted with the drafting of a bill that established new forms of child welfare, such as patronage and private orphanages. The bill, passed in April 2008, took into account some of the Civic Chamber recommendations.

February 2007 – The Chamber made an appeal “To the Political Parties of Russia”, urging the party leaders to ensure a larger representation of women on the lists of candidates for deputies.

August 2007 – The Chamber came out in support of students of the Sociology Department of Moscow State University who were dissatisfied with the quality of teaching and training conditions.

September 2007 – The Chamber helped a Russian couple from Tver to return their child, born in Turkey, to Russia after they had been unable to pay medical costs. The Chamber also provided legal assistance to Russian tourists who had found themselves in difficult situations abroad.

October 2007 – The Chamber succeeded in pressing for a ban on the construction of a technology park on the territory of a forest reserve of Akademgorodok (Academy Town) in Novosibirsk.

November 2007-March 2008 – The Chamber organized hotlines to monitor the parliamentary and presidential elections, reported on violations in the elections and helped to promptly resolve issues raised by voters.

2008
January 2008 – The Chamber held the 2nd Civil Forum, which was attended by human rights activists from all the Russian regions.

February 2008 – The Chamber prepared recommendations for combating counterfeiting and video piracy. It recommended establishing, within “Department K” of the Interior Ministry, a special unit for preventing and suppressing crimes related to the distribution of counterfeit products via the Internet.

April 2008 – The Chamber organized a hotline for conscripts to prevent violations during conscription.

April 2008 – The Chamber adopted recommendations for simplifying forms of reporting by non-commercial organizations and creating a portal with NCO reports and presented draft forms of reporting for making amendments to legislation.

April 2008 – The Chamber prepared recommendations for protecting social and labor rights of people working in the Far North and equated localities.

April 2008 – The Chamber prepared recommendations for amending laws and regulations pertaining to labor and employment.

May 2008 – Russia ratified the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Back in 2006, the Civic Chamber Commission for Social and Demographic Policy had sent recommendations to the President about the need to join the Convention.

May 2008 – The Chamber presented the results of its study “The Attitude of Benefactors to the Model of Endowment of Non-Commercial Organizations”, conducted in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Rostov-on-Don and Novosibirsk. The study was aimed at studying the attitude of current and potential major benefactors to the model of endowment of NCOs.

May 2008 – The Chamber sent to the State Duma the results of a public review of Bill № 8601-5 “On Amendments to the Russian Federation Law ‘On the Mass Media’” (with regard to responsibility for the dissemination of defamatory information). The amendments provided for extrajudicial procedures for denying any mass medium the right to disseminate information. The Civic Chamber found the amendments “harmful, contradicting the law and unfounded”. The adoption of the amendments would have made it possible to crack down on dissenting newspapers after a phone call from a powerful individual.

May 2008 – The Chamber published the results of its study “Index of the Freedom of Speech in Russia”, conducted in the Voronezh Region.

May 2008 – The Chamber held the “White Stripes” action in defense of the regional press, which has serious difficulties due to ever-increasing postal rates, and sent a letter to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev with proposals for solving the postal rate problem.

June 2008 – The Chamber introduced a Concept of the State Policy for the Spiritual and Moral Education of Children in Russia and the Protection of Their Morals. The concept contains a package of bills, including a bill restricting the presence of children in the street at night. The State Duma passed a respective law in April 2009.

June 2008 – Members of the Civic Chamber held negotiations with representatives of the Russky Volfram company and reached an agreement on the settlement of a conflict between workers and the company’s owner. The Russky Volfram trade union members in the town of Svetlogorye, the Pozharsky District of Primorsky Krai, stopped their hunger strike which lasted more than four days and which involved 25 workers, including 17 women. The workers were paid back wages for March, April and half of May.

June 2008 – The Chamber sent its recommendations to the government, the mass media and media organizations about the development of self-regulation in the media environment.

June 2008 – The Chamber spoke out in defense of the Saratovskiye Vesti newspaper which had come under economic pressure.

July 2008 – The Chamber sent its opinion to the Government of the Russian Federation about the bill “On Amendments to Some Laws of the Russian Federation” (with regard to improving the taxation of non-commercial organizations and the regulation of charitable activities).

August 2008 – A Civic Chamber delegation visited Tskhinval, South Ossetia and met with the local authorities and the public. It conducted a general monitoring of the situation with the population (its medical, social and psychological state).

August 2008 – The Chamber organized meetings between Russian and foreign journalists in Berlin and Vienna to discuss problems of the media coverage of the military conflict between Georgia and South Ossetia.

August 2008 – The Chamber prepared recommendations for state government bodies, trade unions and employers with regard to the regulation of migration processes in Russia’s Far East and the protection of workers’ interests.

October 2008 – Members of the Chamber resolved a conflict situation caused by the bankruptcy of Interavia Airlines and the unwillingness of the company management to return money to passengers. After the Chamber’s interference, the passengers flew safely from Moscow’s Domodedovo airport.

October 2008 – The Chamber sent its proposals to a working group of the United Russia faction in the State Duma for amending the mass media legislation of the Russian Federation.

November 2008 – The Chamber worked out recommendations concerning major problems impeding the development of local self-government in the Russian Federation. The recommendations were sent to the federal bodies of state power.

November 2008 – The Chamber initiated the formation of public monitoring commissions to monitor human rights in places of detention. Since then, the commissions have been established in 73 regions of the country.

November 2008 – The Ministry of Culture of Russia supported the Civic Chamber’s appeal to the head of government with a request to designate the Solovetsky Islands a cultural heritage site.

November 2008 – The Chamber came out in defense of the Tomsk-based TV-2 television company which had a conflict with local police.

December 2008 – Jointly with the Department of Analysis and Monitoring of Priority Programs of the Russian Ministry of Economic Development, the Chamber discussed and worked out a Concept for the Promotion of Charitable Activities and Voluntary Services in Russia. The concept was sent to the Government of the Russian Federation in December 2008.

December 2008 – The Chamber initiated the formation of a quadripartite commission (Russia, Georgia, South Ossetia and Abkhazia) to facilitate efforts to overcome the consequences of the conflict in the Caucasus.
 
December 2008 – The Civic Chamber came out against a bill that abolished trial by jury in cases of grave and especially grave crimes and sent a respective letter to the President of Russia.

2009
January 2009 – The Chamber prepared a program for work with gifted and talented children. The program was sent to the Ministry of Education and Science.

February 2009 – The Chamber prepared recommendations for state power bodies, business communities and other interested organizations with regard to the development of the system of additional professional education.

March 2009 – Members of the Civic Chamber drew public attention to the situation with four-year-old Gleb Ageyev who had been ill-treated by his adoptive parents Larissa and Anton Ageyev. As a result, the Preobrazhensky District Court in Moscow revoked their parental rights.

March 2009 – A Civic Chamber delegation conducted a public probe into the disappearance of people in the Republic of Dagestan, North Caucasus. Following a visit by human rights activists to Makhachkala, the Civic Chamber and the President of Dagestan set up a joint commission for the protection of human rights in the region.

March 2009 – Members of the Civic Chamber proposed toughening sanctions against athletes who use performance-enhancing drugs. The Chamber’s initiative was supported by the Ministry of Sports.

March 2009 – The Civic Chamber urged parliament to ratify the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

March 2009 – The Chamber published a report, “Russian Mass Media in the Conditions of the Crisis: Is the Threat of Destruction of the Country’s Informational Space Real?”

March 2009 – The Chamber urged the organizers of the “Books of Russia” fair and the Prosecutor General’s Office of Russia to react to the display and sale of nationalistic literature at the fair.

April 2009 – Members of the Chamber criticized the Moscow City authorities for abolishing the post of Ombudsman for Children. The Chamber petitioned the President to step up efforts for the social and legal protection of children and to introduce the post of Ombudsman for Children. On September 1, 2009, President Dmitry Medvedev ordered the establishment of the institution of Ombudsman for Children.

April-July 2009 – The Chamber’s working group for providing proposals and recommendations for combating violations of intellectual property rights in the Internet prepared recommendations for introducing amendments to legislation to guarantee the rights of authors of intellectual property. Work is now under way on a draft agreement between representatives of the Internet industry and right-holders.

May 2009 – Thanks to the interference by members of the Chamber, Russian citizen Irina Belenkaya, accused of kidnapping her own child, was released from a French prison.

June 2009 – The Civic Chamber published a report on alcohol abuse in Russia, which led to public discussions of the issue. In September, the President instructed the Government to toughen legislation regulating alcohol production and turnover.

June 2009 – Members of the Chamber organized a public monitoring of compliance with procedures for holding Common National Examination. A report on violations of the Common National Examination regulations was sent to the Ministry of Education.

June 2009 – The Chamber prepared recommendations for state power bodies and public organizations with regard to the economic and financial education of citizens.

June 2009 – The Civic Chamber held a presentation of a new Internet project, “The Center of Legal Aid for Journalists”. Now any journalist who has come under pressure due to his/her professional work can consult legal experts.

June 2009 – The Chamber appealed to the Minister of the Interior of the Russian Federation with a request to investigate an incident in which journalists of the newspaper Izvestia, who were on a fact-finding mission to Lyubertsy, near Moscow, were beaten by local police.

July 2009 – Russia ratified the European Social Charter. The Civic Chamber had been insisting on the Charter’s ratification for three years.

July 2009 – Members of the Civic Chamber conducted a monitoring of the human rights situation in the Moscow, Vladimir, Nizhny Novgorod, Kirov, Sverdlovsk, Chelyabinsk, Samara and Ryazan Regions, as well as in the Republic of Bashkortostan and Perm Krai, and prepared reports on human rights practices in each of the regions.

July 2009 – At hearings in Kaliningrad, which involved local mass media, authorities and public organizations, the Chamber made public the results of its study “Index of the Freedom of Speech in Russia” conducted in the Kaliningrad Region.

July 2009 – The State Duma adopted amendments to the Criminal Code which increased the maximum penalties for sex and other crimes against children. The amendments contain most of the proposals prepared jointly by experts and members of the Civic Chamber.

September 2009 – Members of the Chamber worked out recommendations for mitigating the consequences of the economic crisis.

September 2009 – The Chamber monitored the state of Russian markets, the position of migrants, and violations of human rights.