Humanitarian Institute of the North

The Murmansk regional public charitable organization, Humanitarian Institute of the North, was legally registered in July, 1998 by Management of Justice of Murmansk area. Within two years charitable work was being conducted by initiative groups in cities of Murmansk, Severomorsk, Polarniy and others.

While the monitoring of social, lawprotecting, and educational spheres of vital activity of the region was being conducted, the priority areas of the work of the organization were formulated. The public groups, highly skilled experts of various spheres, participated in its organization.

The focuses of the Humanitarian Institute of the North are the protection of the violated rights of the socially unprotected population, protection of the rights of the mother and child, the struggle against poverty and discrimination, and the protection of health.

The activity of the employees of the organization have received a high estimation of the public in Severomorsk:

• The social order for realization of the program "Mercy"--help to at-risk elderly people was received;
• The Ford fund presented a charitable grant for conducting the lawprotecting program, "Warning of social orphans. Protection of the rights of the child."
• The Open Society Institute by Ford Fund awarded a grant on realization of the legal program, "Children of Naval Capital,"
• A grant to the Crisis Center for the protection of women exposed to home violence was awarded by IREX.

The increasing interest in community work and the support of international funds has reconfirmed the selection of projects and the urgency of those problems.

While working on law protection programs we encountered infringements of the human rights. The discrimination faced by women in the closed cities and garrisons of the Northern coast of Russia display a military mentality, in which the basis is order instead of law.

The violated rights of the woman are also the violated rights of the child, rights of motherhood, infrigement of the constitution of the Russian Federation and International decrees on human rights.

The protection of the rights and education of the socially unprotected population in northern regions of Russia stands very acute, the further aggravation of a position requires the adoption of large-scale law-protecting measures.

The primary goal of the program is the creation of the Inter-regional Educational and lawprotecting Center "NORTHERN LAWPROTECTING NETWORK" for the protection of the rights of the women and children in the Far North of Russia.

The overall objective of the draft is the protection of women and children from cruel discrimination, legal education, prevention of infringements of human rights, monitoring of infringements of human rights in military districts in Far North Russia, in Closed Administrative and territorial areas, in military units and garrisons, in "inaccessible" cities and settlements of North Russia.

Our organization is interested in establishing international contacts on law-protection programs and information interchange, and conducting joint measures.

Last updated:    May 2000

A print version of much of the information contained in this NIS Third Sector Organizations section can be found in the The Post-Soviet Handbook (Seattle and London: University of Washington Press, 1999).

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