Worldview Magazine - Fall 2007 - (Page 19)

e spent three months in the Eastern Ural Mountains on the edge of Siberia assisting Sutyajnik. One of Sutyajnik’s areas of expertise is the European Court of Human Rights. To an Americantrained lawyer, this court’s jurisdiction was amazing. When Russia joined the Council of Europe shortly after the collapse of communism, the government committed itself to the jurisdiction of the European Convention on Human Rights and a deﬁnition of human rights that is far more broad than the concept as it is understood in the United States. e convention guarantees the right to the fair and equal enforcement of their nation’s laws and to a safe workplace and healthy environment, as well as those rights of free speech, assembly, petition and due process with which we are familiar. e kicker is that any individual can seek redress in the European Court of Human Rights whereas only nations– the U.S. government, for example–can be litigants in the International Court of Justice. us, a Russian citizen, claiming he has been discriminated against in the enforcement of Russian law, can, after exhausting his domestic legal rights, appeal to the human rights court in Strasbourg. In addition to dealing with broadly deﬁned human rights, the court may award damages. However, the court cannot compel payment of the damages by the oﬀending government nor order that the practice be stopped or the right be aﬀorded. In addition, the court permits no class action suits. So, unless a legislature follows up vigorously with new law, these victories may be pyrrhic. When we arrived, Sutyajnik had just won a victory on behalf of a civilly committed mental patient. While Russian law required a prompt court hearing in such cases, Russian courts repeatedly adjourned the patient’s hearing. Each of Sutyajnik’s appeals met with the same delays but when they took the case to Strasbourg, the human rights court ruled that the delays were a violation of Russian law and the EU convention and established a monetary award. Sutyajnik needed a strategy to publicize their single victory, to identify similar cases to take to Strasbourg and, ultimately, a way to work with the Russian courts to ensure prompt hearings. I prepared a strategy for the selection, development and follow-up of cases and Judith worked with Sutyajnik’s staﬀ to develop a strategic plan for survival and growth. I went to the local newspapers, radio and television W I reporters to promote the work of Sutyajnik and of the Urals Association of Refugees and the Movement for Civil Rights. Reporters interviewed me and published stories about Suityajnik, human rights issues in general and how we handle such issues in U.S. courts. From our perspective of those several months in Yekaterinburg, the democracy movement in Russia seemed under increasing threat from the administration of President Vladimir Putin. e Duma had abolished the popular election of provincial governors; Putin now appoints them, subject to the approval of the provincial assemblies. Russian government oﬃcials at all levels appeared to view nongovernmental organizations as power centers ﬁnanced from abroad to threaten the controls of local government. Human rights support has been discouraged. Although the human rights environment in Russia appears in some respects to be reverting to days of the not-so-distant past, Sutyajnik and others continue to represent the rights of others. Sutyajnik survives as a strong advocate of Russian human rights. health, construction, logistics, human resources and community development; ﬁeld ofﬁces are in about 10 countries. The Rapid Response Team is deployed on short notice for emergency humanitarian assignments lasting up to two months. Beneﬁts: housing, small stipend. www.arcrelief.org. BuildingBlocks International At least ﬁve managers within a corporation spend six weeks to one year on a community service externship worldwide. The Corporate Service Corps applies management skills to help organizations that promote health, education, economic development and environmental initiatives. Ideally, volunteer expenses are covered by corporate sponsorship. www.bblocks.org Catholic Medical Mission Board Licensed healthcare professionals work in any of 15 countries to support health initiatives, supply shipments, medical ﬁeldwork and disaster relief efforts. Most programs prefer commitments of one year or longer, with some options lasting a few months. Beneﬁts: room, board, insurance; terms over one year also include travel, increased insurance, monthly stipend. www.cmmb.org. Catholic Relief Services Catholics with speciﬁc career skills commit to one year serving overseas in a variety of ﬁelds—health and education to microﬁnance and engineering, with global placements— followed by a year serving domestically, usually in the home diocese. Beneﬁts: housing, food, airfare, insurance, small stipend. www.crs.org. Citizens Development Corps Volunteer advisors advance economic growth around the world, applying their demonstrable business experience to projects through the MBA Enterprise Corps or the Tourism Development Corps. Assignments of two to eight weeks develop best practices in business advocacy, community n Moscow, as Judith and I passed through customs, our luggage was thoroughly inspected. e inspector quickly passed over my clarinet and Judith’s somewhat curious instrument, a collapsible cello. But he zeroed in on the bow to her cello. “Show me the papers for this,” he said. She had none for it was a German bow of no great value and probably 50 years old. e ﬁrst inspector called over a second inspector. You cannot take this bow out of Russia unless you show me the papers for it, said the second inspector. ey were not conﬁscating it. We just couldn’t take it on the plane because it had no papers. Judith was resigned to the fact that it would go to left luggage. Days later, a friend at the U.S. embassy recovered the bow. en, an old Russia hand told me, “Don’t think this was an accident. It was harassment, a light slap on the wrist for the critical proﬁle you had created in Yekaterinburg.” Douglas Kramer and Judith Ahrens served in the Peace Corps in Bulgaria from 2001 to 2003, and the Philippines from 2005 to 2007. For more about the International Senior Law Program, see www.islp.org. For more about Sutyajnik, see www.sutyajnik.ru/eng. WorldView 19 http://www.arcrelief.org http://www.bblocks.org http://www.cmmb.org http://www.crs.org http://www.islp.org http://www.sutyajnik.ru/eng

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Worldview Magazine - Fall 2007

Worldview - Fall 2007 Contents Presiden'ts Note Lafayette Park Introduction Interview Commentary Editor's Note Letter from Rumbek, Sudan Listings Letter from Yekaterinburg, Russia Letter from Codaesti, Romania Letter from Catia La Mar, Venezuela Letter from Gumare, Botswana Letter from Ridder, Kazakhstan Letter from Rincon, Cape Verde Letter from Port Au Prince Another Country Community News Giving Back Opinion

Worldview Magazine - Fall 2007

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