Khodorkovsky & Lebedev Communications Center

On March 17th, the UK Foreign Secretary (Rt Hon David Miliband MP) launched the 2009 Annual Report on Human Rights. It was with little surprise that Russia was identified as a country of "serious concern" to the UK for its systematic and endemic failures to uphold the human rights of its citizens.

In the chapter dedicated to Russia, the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) calls Russia to account on a variety of issues primarily focused on its inadequate protection of human rights defenders (p.137), the increase in the number of attacks on journalists (p.138), and its failure to induce greater access to justice or encourage any meaningful reform of its ailing penal system (p.140).

Human Rights Defenders

On the issue of Human Rights defenders, the report states that the FCO is "appalled at the number of human rights defenders who have been murdered in Russia," citing the deaths of Stanislav Markelov, Zarma Sayduleyeva and Natalia Estimora as "causes of outrage in Russia and internationally" and surmising that "although investigators have said these murders were unrelated to their professional activities, human rights activists have cast strong doubts on this and suspect the involvement of local law enforcement bodies."

Media Freedom

With regards to Russia's increasing lack of media freedom, the report expresses concern that the number of attacks on journalists have increased in 2009 while noting that Russia has fallen 13 places to 153rd in the Reporters without Borders "Freedom Index." To corroborate this concern the report concurs with the Committee to Protect Journalists' assessment that "secrecy, corruption, lack of accountability, conflicts of interest and shortage of political will are the main obstacles to achieving justice in the unsolved work-related murders of 17 journalists since 2000."

Additionally, the report highlights the UN Human Rights Council's strong rebuke of the Russian state in its Universal Periodic Review of Russia's human rights record, which stated that "the UK, along with a significant number of other states, raised concerns, including the lack of an independent media, enforced disappearances [and] prison conditions" among others.

Access to Justice & Penal Reform

Aside from the well reported issues of media freedom and human rights protection, the UK FCO is also heavily critical of Russia's failure "to carry out meaningful investigations, fuelling an atmosphere of impunity and increasing the chances that similar cases will occur again." The rationale for this assessment is clear, with 28% of 118,000 cases pending at the European Court of Human Rights currently levelled against Russia. The report also discusses the appalling conditions in which Russian prisoners are housed, a claim compounded by the tragic death of Sergei Magnitsky in December 2009 and the fact that over 88% of Russia's prisoners are suffering from serious disease and house 11% of Russia's total registered HIV sufferers.