Central/Eastern Europe & Eurasia

Printer-friendly versionSend to friend

The Sixth Assembly
Regional Networking

Central/Eastern Europe & Eurasia

Building Regional Solidarity: How Can Democracy Activists in the Region Cooperate in Response to Backsliding from Democracy & Attacks on Rights and Freedoms?

Organizers:     
People in Need Foundation (Czech Republic)
 
Moderators:    
Yuri Dzhibladze – Centre for the Development of Democracy and Human Rights (Russia)
Marek Svoboda – People in Need Foundation (Czech Republic)
 
Rapporteur:    
Inna Pidluska – Europe XXI Foundation (Ukraine)
 
Presenters:      
Hikmet Hadjy-zadeh – Center for Political and Economic Research (Azerbaijan)
Vyacheslav Mamedov – Civil Democratic Union of Turkmenistan (Turkmenistan, based in The Netherlands)
Mikael Danielyan – Helsinki Association of Armenia (Armenia)
Vladimir Milov – Solidarity Movement (Russia)
Ala Derkowska – Educational Society of Malopolska (Poland)
Andrej Dynko – “Nasha Niva” newspaper (Belarus)
Devi Khechineshvili – Partnership for Social Initiatives (Georgia)
Goals of the Workshop
 
The following general goals were identified for the workshop discussion:
 
  • To understand how the situation in the region, particularly in those countries where democracy deficits are strong, can be influenced.
  • To develop concrete plans and recommendations on cross-regional cooperation.
  • To identify ways to assist democrats in countries where the challenges are the most formidable (that is, in autocratic countries to the east of the European Union border).
  • To share ideas on how to lobby the EU, the U.S., and international bodies?  
Challenges
 
  • The region in general can be divided into several segments with respect to human rights and political freedom:  While new EU member states and Eastern Europe are doing relatively well, the shift from democracy to authoritarianism and severe limitations on fundamental rights and liberties has strengthened in Central Asia, Russia, Belarus, and the Southern Caucasus.
  • There are now doubts about the sustainability and impact of recent democratic breakthroughs—the color revolutions that inspired us two years ago— because the expectations have not been met.
  • The Balkans are still in the process of overcoming the Yugoslav war.  The people still suffer from the post-war psychological aftermath and traumas caused by social and political hazards of the 1990s, including cases of resurgent nationalism.
  • The region is diverse in terms of democracy and human rights records, but we must not allow new walls and divisions to emerge in the region. Rather, we need to see how we can work together to cope with the problem of division.
On the subject of building regional solidarity with political prisoners and persecuted activists, the workshop heard from presenters from Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan who shared their lessons learned.
 
Recommendations
 
  • A democracy activist for whom a campaign is launched should be morally clean and a person of high values.
  • It is better to use existing networks and connections, rather than form new ones, to help protect victims of persecution.
  • It makes no sense to speak only in legal terms to repressive governments.
  • Creative approaches are needed; legal reports are not enough and do not substitute for vivid language in communicating with broader societies.
  • Given new communication technologies, inter-regional cooperation has few boundaries; therefore, there is no need to limit actions to one region only.
  • Solidarity and inclusion of people living in the broader region’s less democratic areas is crucial for making them visible and thus less vulnerable.  Activists in the region can help by linking the person(s) they seek to protect to some important emerging global process, such as the Internet, TV, or blogging.
  • Democracy activists should be constantly vigilant, since governments and security services have become more skillful in countering the “threat” of civil society, particularly when civil society is donor-funded and linked to opposition groups.
  • The self-protection and safety of civic activists requires keeping any information about grant-funded work away from governments and preventing information from being captured by authorities in cases of arrest.
  • It is very important to create regional “rapid reaction groups” that can gather information about activists and share it with international counterparts and those engaged in protecting activists who can then advocate for those being detained.
  • Time is crucial when joining forces in support of victims of repression, including creating international committees for protection; hiring lawyers; disseminating relevant materials and information to judges and prosecutors, as well as to the international community and decision makers and the media.
  • Meetings in support of those being persecuted should be organized at leading international institutions, such as the Council of Europe, the European Parliament, UN Human Rights Council, and the OSCE, and morally strong and recognized personalities should be enlisted to speak on the victims’ behalf.  
  • The involvement of observers from respected organizations and statements and appeals for fair trials from the international community are necessary to prevent cases from being forgotten.  In addition, political prisoners should be engaged in human rights advocacy, visited by international groups, and involved in pro-democracy work.
  • It is important to issue targeted and personally addressed communications, petitions, and appeals.
  • To defend activists and political prisoners, it is important to address as early as possible shortages of time and resources, language barriers, and false information disseminated by government.
  • It should be made clear to democratic governments that their silence about human rights abuses in their “partner” states for political and economic reasons makes them accomplices in persecution.  Civil society organizations and civil society generally should seek to create an atmosphere in which it is difficult for a government to keep human rights activists in prison.
  • Those in the region and those within the EU should jointly organize an annual live Freedom Concert to highlight imprisoned human rights advocates and journalists; such concerts should be made available on TV and via the Internet when live concerts are not possible.  Leading figures should be enlisted to back such an initiative.
  • An All-European Day should be established—for instance, an Anna Politkovskaya Memorial Day—to commemorate independent journalists and activists killed and missing in the region. Civil society groups can also lobby governments to name streets after such activists, and encourage other signs of recognition.
  • Networks of friends and neighbors of imprisoned activists should be established to support activists’ families and to ensure the possibility of the prisoners’ return to normal life.  In addition to humanitarian assistance to prisoners' families, such support can also help people survive in critical conditions—to stay alive rather than to become dead political heroes.  The biggest success would be to enable people to return to normal lives.
On the subject of protecting fundamental freedoms (assembly, speech, and association), the workshop heard from presenters from Armenia and Russia on what has been done and how to move forward.
 
Recommendations
 
  • Networks for the protection of fundamental freedoms should include not only human rights advocates, but media, sociologists, and minority groups as well, which makes their voice stronger.
  • Media freedom plays a key role in creating people’s demand and capacity for changing authoritarian regimes in post-Soviet countries, since those regimes skillfully use their monopoly on the media for their propaganda, and to discredit the opposition. The more people know about the failures of current authorities, which are usually concealed from the public by the official media, and the proposals of the opposition to improve the situation, the more people will be interested in alternatives to the current governments. Therefore, a wide spectrum of techniques is necessary to get the truth to the people.  The Internet alone is not enough; other innovative and creative ways of spreading information should be employed.
  • Civil societies in democratic countries should lobby their governments to withhold political and diplomatic support, as well as financial aid, from non-democratic governments and to demonstrate their recognition in other ways that those governments and their leaders are not democratic.
On the subject of building popular support for democracy movements and to develop active citizenries, the workshop heard from presenters from Poland, Belarus, and Georgia.

 
Recommendations
 
  • Education is important for reaching young people, politically active citizens, and the community in general.  There are civil society organizations in the region that have successful programs they can share to teach people how to organize themselves and work more effectively.
  • It is important to reach out to people who are not engaged in the opposition.  Since values motivate opposition to nondemocratic regimes, we should thus focus on values.  Working with young people, particularly through new media, is critical, since democratic movements should not be “veteran movements.”  Opportunities for partnerships between eastern and western parts of the region should be created for youth and students who are not active and not yet exposed to European practices, and freedom of speech and assembly.
  • When registration of NGOs and movements is obstructed by governments and work of unregistered NGOs is illegal, individuals can organize campaigns in their private capacities on significant issues that have no official leaders or infrastructure.  Such informal civic campaigns can be carried out at both the national and local levels, with the local ones focusing on community problems.  Local Internet sites and Web communities can be instrumental in integrating opposition-minded people into ad-hoc issue-based initiatives.
  • The development of think tanks and generation of knowledge is important for reaching out to the government and the media.
  • Better targeting of donor support is required to ensure that opposition-minded people are able to work in their communities and at the national level rather than leave their countries because of inability to work and express themselves.  International assistance should not be re-oriented from civil society organizations to support state institutions even in cases where democracy seems to prevail.
  • A vibrant political process should be developed and maintained through inclusive public debates on issues that are relevant to the government, the opposition, the media, and the broader society.  Radio programs and the Internet can be fundamental to bringing professional discourse to broad public audiences and to enabling discussions that are interactive and can attract input from the public.
On the role of the EU and U.S. in the region, the workshop heard from presenters from the Czech Republic and the U.S.
 
Recommendations
 
  • Existing instruments of cooperation with the EU should be used to protect democracy activists and free political prisoners. European institutions, such as the European Parliament, can put pressure on governments for democratic change.
  • There is very little room to change the treatment of the governments of the region with respect to the EU Commission and Parliament, but issues need to be raised with the European media and the public to encourage them to put pressure on their governments demanding clear signals to the oppressive regimes to stop infringement of rights and freedoms.
  • The Eastern Partnership is an important instrument, but it requires greater attention and thinking on how it can be used in the best way to strengthen civil society.  Partnership with European organizations should be maintained, but the U.S. should also be more actively involved in multinational civil society initiatives.
  • Future new Association Agreements between the EU and the Eastern Partnership states should include civil society dimensions and require respect for European standards on human rights and dialogue between government and civil society.  This approach needs to be used more effectively by civil societies, since they are the only frameworks through which civil societies can talk to the EU about human rights.  Elements of economic cooperation can be used by civil society, including people-to-people contacts, work with the business community and investors, and developing partnerships between domestic stakeholders and the EU to advocate for the observance of environmental standards.
  • Tools, such as the EU’s instrument for environmental dialogue, constitute good platforms for the region’s civil societies to engage with Western NGOs and movements. The European Parliament's Human Rights Committee and the Cross-Border Cooperation Project are other tools that can be used.
  • Creative ideas can be explored to attract public attention within the EU and in the U.S., such as developing and disseminating an annual list of the top 10 best and worst foreign leaders and diplomats who travel to the region.  Such a tool can help encourage European leaders to abide by their declared values and principles. Also, an annual assessment can be done on how democracy assistance programs of the EU function and what impact they have on civil societies in the region.
  • Freedom of movement is fundamental to democratic transitions and should be a subject for lobbying at the EU. To protect those who have suffered from repression or who are current or potential asylum seekers, a group of NGOs has developed a model based on addressing the European Court for Human Rights. This model is applicable to all Council of Europe member states; for instance, the issue can be framed as preventing extradition to a country where there is the risk of torture.  Also, information about the situations in receiving countries is fundamental for potential refugees making decisions.
  • Civil society groups can put pressure on current and future EU presidencies and home ministers in individual countries to alert them to the impact of readmission agreements between the EU and the region’s countries (demanding return of asylum-seekers to the first “safe country” that they pass through) on human rights. Complaints to the European Court can be initiated if political activists and human rights defenders who have left their countries reside in Council of Europe member states and face extradition. Two factors are critical in such cases: speed and appealing to international human rights courts of justice.