Foreign agents

13/10/2022

The European Court of Human Rights issues a long-awaited judgment on Russia’s ‘foreign agents’ law: expectations and reality

In early June 2022, the European Court of Human Rights issued its judgment in Ecodefence and Others v. Russia – a decision which representatives of 73 Russian non-governmental organisations had been expecting for nine years. The Court has finally recognised that the Russian Foreign Agents Act violates Article 11 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, i. e. the rights to freedom of assembly and association, and the Russian government’s application of the ‘foreign agent’ concept is arbitrary.
27/01/2022

Elena Shakhova: “There have been attempts to humanise the foreign agents law, but they have led to nothing good”

Elena Shakhova is the Chair of Citizens' Watch, a human rights NGO in St. Petersburg, and a Board Member of the EU-Russia Civil Society Forum. In a special interview for Legal Dialogue, Elena speaks to journalist Vladimir Shvedov about the situation with human rights in places of detention in Russia and how the pandemic has changed things and discusses a highly sensitive issue for Russian civil society today, the law on "foreign agents."
20/12/2021

Galina Arapova: “People have little to no understanding of what independent journalism is and how it should function in a normal society”

In a special interview for Legal Dialogue, journalist Vladimir Shvedov asks lawyer and head of the Mass Media Defence Centre Galina Arapova about her vision of the present and future of Russian journalism, IT giants' policies concerning freedom of speech, and whether the “foreign agents" law can be improved.
28/06/2021

Tatiana Glushkova: ‘The choice is yours: either to live under constant threat or to post nothing but cute kittens in social media’

In an exclusive interview for Legal Dialogue, lawyer Tatyana Glushkova and journalist Vladimir Shvedov discuss the multiple forms of 'foreign agent' labels in Russia today and their implications for those affected.
09/02/2018

Operation starve & strangle

How the government uses the law to repress Hungary's civic spirit. Joint statement of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee and Hungarian Civil Liberties Union.
11/08/2017

We will not register as a foreign-funded organization

  Statement of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee1As agreed with the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, we are publishing, in English and Russian, the statement published on […]
20/07/2017

Malicious Intent

*This article is an updated version of the original piece published here on 20 July. A week later, the events unfolded in an unexpected […]
02/05/2017

Three Organisations Associated with Mikhail Khodorkovsky Declared ‘Undesirable’ in Russia

The Russian Ministry of Justice has listed three groups associated with democracy activist Mikhail Khodorkovsky in its register of “undesirable organisations”1http://minjust.ru/ru/activity/nko/unwanted: the UK-based Open […]
19/04/2017

Hungarian Authorities Try to Close the Central European University

The status of non-governmental organisations and human rights watchdogs in Hungary will worsen in the near future. In mid-May 2017 the government will vote […]
29/11/2016

Elena Zhemkova: ‘Ministry of Justice Decision Contradicts Constitutional Court’s Ruling’

An international organisation – the International Memorial – was included in the Russian list of  “organisations performing the functions of foreign agents” for the […]
24/11/2016

Márta Pardavi: ‘The Government has no Appetite to Listen to Us’

In an interview for the Legal Dialogue, Márta Pardavi, co-chair of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, talks about the shrinking civil space in Hungary as […]