Contact: Boris Suvorov
Contact: Asya Lashizeva
In St. Petersburg:
Tel: 812-247-40-46
Contact: Anatoly Chezlov
Moscow Information Office
121019 Moscow
PO Box 212
Tel: 095-291-2904
Fax: 095-291-2904
E-mail: [email protected]
Coordinator: Eric Klazerstein
Amnesty International is a non-profit, non-partisan organization that works for: the release of prisoners of conscience -- men, women and children imprisoned for their race, color, sex, ethnic origin, sexual preference, or the non-violent expression of their beliefs; abolition of the death penalty and the use of cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment; securing fair and prompt trials for political prisoners.
The first attempts to set up Amnesty International groups in Russia and the NIS in 1978 were unsuccessful. In 1992, AI opened an information office in Moscow, out of which research is conducted on human rights issues in the region. Currently there are an estimated 30-40 local and regional AI groups across Russia and the NIS. There are four local groups in Moscow alone. The groups are loosely connected, mainly through their contact with AI's International Secretariat in London. At this point, the national coordination of AI groups across Russia remains limited. Most groups range in size between 5-15 members and usually meet once per month. The organizational structure and activities of AI groups in Russia closely resemble the group model reproduced by AI around the world.
AI's main technique in human rights advocacy is intensive international letter-writing campaigns and petition drives on behalf of prisoners of conscience. In these campaigns, individual members and groups write letters only for those human rights cases outside of their country of residence (with the one exception of death penalty cases) in order to protect the non-partisan nature of Amnesty's work. Groups are also involved in various forms of public education on human rights issues, ranging from public protests to candlelight vigils to fundraising events such as benefit concerts and art shows.
Publications:
The NIS Third Sector Organization section is based on information found in the print edition of "The Post-Soviet Handbook." For more information on the Handbook and instructions on how to order, see our
Post Soviet Handbook Information page.
Sponsored by:
Center for Civil Society International
Return to the Moscow Organizations Page.
Return to the Russian Organizations (West of the Urals) Page.
Return to the NIS Organizations Home Page.
This section is accessible from the CCSI's Home Page: http://www.friends-partners.org/~ccsi/