Candidates for membership in HRC stand for institutional reforms to stabilize situation in Northern Caucasus

Candidates for the Presidential Council for Civil Society Development and Human Rights, in the group No. 12 "Protection of human rights in Northern Caucasus, promotion of civil peace formation and elimination of terrorism in North-Caucasian Federal District (NCFD)" treat the normalization of situation in Northern Caucasus, the search for system solutions in the organization of law enforcement authorities in the territory of the NCFD, the integration of civil society and the protection of women's rights as priority tasks.

The website of the Presidential Council for Civil Society Development and Human Rights (HRC) holds online voting to select candidates for the new composition of the Council.

So far, more than 200,000 persons expressed their opinion in favour of new candidates for the HRC.

Journalist Maxim Shevchenko, the leader in the nomination "Protection of human rights in Northern Caucasus, promotion of civil peace formation and elimination of terrorism in NCFD". At that time, he gathered 23.1 percent of the votes. Besides, the number of candidates for the nomination included Alexander Mukomolov, the leader of the "Peacekeeping Mission of General Lebed" with 22.7 percent of the votes, Magomed Mutsolgov, a human rights activist from Ingushetia, with 22.0 percent of the votes (according to the data of the morning of September 11, he was the leader in that category), Igor Kalyapin, the head of the Interregional Public Organization "Committee against Torture" with 21.9 percent of the votes, Rasul Kadiev, a Dagestani lawyer, with 6.8 percent of the votes, and Valentina Cherevatenko, the leader of the "Union 'Women of Don'", with 3.5 percent of the votes.

Rasul Kadiev: we need framework document on situation in Northern Caucasus

Blogger Rasul Kadiev, the lawyer from Dagestan, compares the Presidential Human Rights Council with a consultation, where specialists in different areas of the social health of the society apply their knowledge and skills to a specific problem.

In the event of his election, the lawyer from Dagestan intends to use his best efforts to use the working group on Northern Caucasus to solve the problems of the NCFD as often as possible.

He defines his major personal challenge as the search of system solutions in the organization of law enforcement agencies in the territory of the NCFD to ensure that it would be unfavourable for the law enforcement agencies to violate or restrict human rights. "I am convinced that the very systematic ways of solving the problems of our law enforcers in Northern Caucasus will help restore the authority of law enforcement agencies," the lawyer said.

Concerning the mechanisms of the HRC's work, Rasul Kadiev identifies two main tools: the preparation of proposals to the President of the Russian Federation and the organization of discussing the problem with using the HRC's resources.

According to him, the efficiency of power, supplied by the HRC to resolve the problems of the NCFD, will increase after the establishment of the working group for Northern Caucasus.

Magomed Mutsolgov: there must be political opposition and public control

Magomed Mutsolgov, the leader of the autonomous non-commercial organization "Human Rights Organization 'MASHR'" (Ingushetia), the active blogger of the "Caucasian Knot", believes that the normalization of the situation in Northern Caucasus is the top priority of the HRC.

"It is necessary to ensure that the situation changes and that the law is being observed. I think, human rights mostly violated in Northern Caucasus, this is the territory with numerous armed conflicts and ethnic disputes, where checkpoints are being guarded not as good as on the state border. The fundamental things should include presence of the political opposition and social control," Magomed Mutsolgov emphasizes.

Valentina Cherevatenko: our task is to show nodes to state

Valentina Cherevatenko, the head of the regional public organization "Women of Don" believes that at present, Northern Caucasus faces no active phase of the armed conflict, and there are problems on the foreground, which differ from the earlier ones.

"Our task is to show the state those problematic nodes that do not give a chance to completely ensure human security in the region," Valentina Cherevatenko emphasizes.

She treats women's rights as one of the major problems. "They are extremely specific; if you take into account the traditions, culture, and customary law in the region. I bring a focus on the rights of women, since I am an expert in the sphere; however, of course, that does not mean that the region has no other problems with human rights," Valentina Cherevatenko indicates.

Alexander Mukomolov: access to President is significant resource

Alexander Mukomolov, Chairman of the Board of the NGO "Peacekeeping Mission of General Lebed", believes it is necessary to combine various public organizations to ensure active interaction of the civil society in Northern Caucasus.

"Our organization is engaged in several activities: search of missing persons, medical and psychological rehabilitation of victims, and work with people, affected by the armed conflicts in Northern Caucasus. We consider the category of people, who suffered mostly, since we will not be able to develop economy or social sphere till that category of people recovers and rehabilitates," Alexander Mukomolov stresses.

According to him, to ensure active interaction of the civil society in Northern Caucasus, his organization is ready to unify at its platform and it already unifies all associations of relatives of missing persons, internally displaced persons (IDPs), youth and women's organizations.

"If we approach pragmatically, we will have a direct access to the Russian President. Sometimes, the HRC holds thematic meetings, on which we can deliver speeches and pass documents, suggestions or recommendations into the hands of the President. This is a significant resource," says the head of the "Peacekeeping Mission of General Lebed".

Maxim Shevchenko: establishment of normal legal situation to allow defeating terrorism

If elected to the HRC, Maxim Shevchenko, the anchorman of the "Pervy Kanal" (Channel One), the former head of the working group of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation on the development of social dialogue and civil society institutions in the Caucasus, the founder and the editor-in-chief of the website "Caucasian Policy", intends to raise issues, related to the protection of human rights while countering extremism and terrorism in Northern Caucasus.

"I believe that the observance of the law, absolute legal intelligibility and responsibility with respect to all persons, including those suspected of any wrongdoing, is a condition of the peace process. I believe my main task is to facilitate formation of normal modern civil society in the Caucasus, in which religious people, independently of whatever they believe, what trends of Islam or other religions they may choose for themselves as important, will be able to feel protected by the law and to feel that nothing threatens their faith," Maxim Shevchenko says.

Igor Kalyapin was unavailable for comments.

Valentin Gefter: procedural issues are HRC's internal affair

Members of the Human Rights Council should work in accordance with their beliefs. This was stated by Valentin Gefter, Director of the Human Rights Institute, who earlier expressed his intention to leave the HRC.

"I would recommend two things. Firstly, they should not surrender to pressure of circumstances from all sides and to work in accordance with their beliefs. Secondly, in procedural matters, that is, in the organization of the HRC's internal work, they should strictly follow a fair and equitable approach to all the people, who are related to the work of the HRC," Valentin Gefter stated.