Irina Yasina: “Civil Structures in the Organs of Government Are a Fiction”

Forum organizers asked discussion participants to identify five specific steps to ensure that citizen initiatives can become a real force of collective control over the activities of government institutions.

Vladimir Osechkin, expert on work groups of the Russian Presidential Council on Civil Society and Human Rights, the creator of human rights Internet projects Gulagu.net and ОНК.РФ felt that it was necessary to assemble qualitative public monitoring committees and expand their capacities and potential, such as by involving university students. Their motivation will be the opportunity to build a career in this field, noted Svetlana Kalinina, Director of the Student Legal Office at the National Research University Higher School of Economics (Nizhny Novgorod). Peter Shkumatov, Coordinator of the "Blue Buckets" Movement, spoke about the idea of lobbying for human rights interests in government structures. His opponents, journalist Irina Yasina and Igor Averkiev, expert at the Perm Civic Chamber and a board member of the Perm Regional Human Rights Center, insisted on preserving the complete independence of the human rights movement.

“Civil structures in the organs of government are a fiction, and the way they operate raises many questions. Activists satisfy the interests of the state in this way, by focusing on minor topics. But as soon as significant questions attract public attention that are not convenient for the government, the willingness to engage in dialogue disappears”, noted Yasina. Through taking a vote discussion participants identified five steps for the development of civic engagement that are necessary for fundamental changes in Russian society:

• The development of the principles of government openness and accountability to civil structures;

• The creation of legitimate structures under the head of state or region for working with “inconvenient” citizens;

• The leveling of opportunities to use the instruments of state control by non-state structures, such as, for example, the Russian Orthodox Church

• The development of one's own means for protecting against possible interference from the external environment;

• Attracting young professionals to engage in civic activity. These mechanisms for developing civil society initiatives will be presented at the final plenary session on the second day of the forum. “Every civic initiative must work for the future”, concluded Svetlana Makovetskaya, Group Moderator and Director of the Center for Civic Studies and Independent Research (GRANI Center).