Effective protection of HR
and freedoms a priority line of both domestic and foreign policy of Russian federation
-Valery Nazarov, Ambassador, Russian
Federation, Nepal
In my capacity of the Ambassador of the
Russian federation I would like to express today a number of considerations of a general
nature as well as to inform you of some most essential changes in civil and political
rights observance which have been achieved since recently in Russia.
The effective protection of human rights and
freedoms is a priority line of both the domestic and foreign policy of the Russian
federation.
This is the strategic position of
Russia’s leadership, based on the Constitution and reconfirmed in a document of a
programmatic nature—the address of President of the RF Vladimir Putin, delivered to
the federal assembly, the parliament, of the Russian federation on May 16, 2003:
"Russia must and will be a country with a developed civil society and a stable
democracy. Human Rights and civil and political freedoms will be fully ensured in
it".
At present actually all areas of activity of
the leadership of the Russian state are tied one way or the other to the ensuring of human
rights and freedoms. The acceleration of the country’s economic development is
creating favorable conditions for the pursuit by the state of a policy ever more oriented
towards the protection of human rights and freedoms.
In the last few years, Russia has
consistently and undeviatingly been carrying out measures to improve radically the state
of protection of human rights and freedoms. The related changes attest that a required
legal, political and institutional basis has been formed in the country for exercising the
rights and freedoms of the citizens. There has been an increasing level of observance of
legality in the activities of government bodies.
The principle of the force of right, not of
the right of force, as was the case in many instances until very recently, is becoming the
main one in the activities of state structures and gradually occupying a dominant
positions in public legal conscience.
An extremely important and significant result
of the work done over the recent period is that the process of positive changes in
ensuring the observance of human rights in Russia bears an ongoing and irreversible
character. Government bodies jointly with civil institutions of the society are steadily
building up efforts in this direction.
The Russian State has been showing high
activity in the human rights field. It is important to note that there exist today a
deeply thought out strategy and the political will of the leadership of the state to
deepen further and expand these processes.
One line of human rights activity of the RF
is the perfecting of its laws.
In a comparatively short space of time a
renewal of the legislative base operative in the country has been carried out for the most
part on the basis of the 93’ Constitution. It is enough to not, for example, the
adoption of such codified acts directly linked to basis human rights and freedoms as the
Criminal Code, Codes of Criminal procedures, Administrative violations, Labor Laws, Civil
Procedure and the Arbitration procedural Code of the RF.
An important stage in the work to ensure
civil rights was the adoption and entry into force on July 1, 2002, of a new Code of
Criminal procedure, in accordance with which criminal justice is being administered on the
pri9nciples of the equality of the parties and adversary procedure.
Persons are now chiefly taken into custody
who have committed grave and particularly grave offenses. Such measures of restraint as
deposit, bail and house arrest have begun to be more extensively used.
The humanization of criminal legislation and
the system of penalties is continuing. President Putin has noted that "our chief
objective is to achieve the inevitability of punishment, and not its excessive
severity".
It must be said that some important draft
laws from the human rights point of view were sent for examination to international
organizations, for example, the Code of Criminal Procedure. The judgements of the European
Court of Human Rights, and not only those rendered against Russia, are also being used to
improve legislation and, what is no less important, the practice of application of law in
the field of human rights.
It can now be stated that on the whole the
supremacy of the Constitution of the RF and the federal laws has become a norm of life for
all regions of the country.
Another line of activity of the state has
been the pursuit of a judicial and legal reform and the strengthening of the independence
of the court system.
Within the framework of the judicial and
legal reform, a complex of legislative and organizational measures is being realized, the
main aim of which is to ensure an effective legal protection and the undeviating
observance of human rights and freedoms according to the generally recognized principles
and rules of international law.
Speaking of the system of control in Russia
over the observance of human rights, one can’t fail to note the ever growing role of
the judicial mechanism, especially the Constitutional and Supreme Courts of the RF.
The Constitutional court of the RF makes a
substantial contribution to human rights protection by resolving controversial issues of
conformance to the Constitution of laws and by-laws. Over a decade of its activity the CC
in public sessions has considered about 3,000 complaints of citizens and 65 complaints of
their associations.
Let me dwell briefly on the situation in the
Chechen Republic. I believe no one has any doubts that the religious extremists’
regime which ruled until recently in Chechnya was a total denial of the supremacy of law
in its democratic understanding and of the observance of fundamental human rights and
freedoms. A Referendum was held in the republic this year in which the Constitution of the
Chechen republic was adopted and an election for President of the Republic took place. I
want to specially stress: the elections in the republic were held on an alternative basis,
with a high, more than 80%, turnout of voters, an obvious indicator of the stabilization
of the situation, of the mounting processes of political settlement and thew construction
of the institutions of state authority.
A normal peaceful life is being organized in
Chechnya, the economic structure of the region is being rehabilitated, its residents are
returning to their places of permanent residence and compensation for the lost property is
being paid to the population.
At the same time the situation in the
Republic is still complicated. The remnants of bandits are seeking to thwart the political
process of settlement, including by way of threats, murder and terrorist acts, targeting
not only the representatives of power, but also civilians to an ever-increasing extent.
Just a few examples, I think you all know about the latest terrorist acts committed by
bandits in my country. Last week, a powerful explosion was set off in the train in the
North Caucasian town of Essentuki, which killed over 40 people with over 100 men and
children injured. Just on December 9, another blast took place in the center of Moscow
leaving six people dead and many wounded. There is little doubt that both criminal acts
were committed by terrorists.
I must say: Russia proceeds from the
assumption that the combating terrorism, internal and international, should be done within
legislation and international law, including with the observance of the guarantees
provided for in the international Covenant of Civil and Political Rights.
Before I conclude, I would like to shortly
brief you on the results of the Parliamentary Elections in Russia held on December 7, 2003
being a vivid manifestation of the effective implementation of the civil and political
rights by the people of Russia.
And last but not the least. As you have
noted, today I confined myself to the observation of the human rights situation, mostly in
the civil and political rights’ field, in Russia. I hope you will appreciate that in
my capacity of Ambassador of the RF, I must limit myself with this topic related to my
country, though you might have expected that I’d discuss also some other issues.
Generally speaking, I believe that a foreign diplomat should not overpass certain limits
and should be very accurate in his public comments and pronouncements in order to avoid
any misinterpretation leading to a possible damage to the friendly relations between the
countries concerned.
Alarming level of air
pollution in Dhaka
-Atiur Rahman, Editor, EcoFile,
Bangladesh
It has become very difficult to move around
Dhaka comfortably. Transportation system is under a great threat. Traffic jams are a
common feature. Intoxicating smoke from the year old vehicles make the air polluted. The
air pollution has come down a bit after withdrawing the two stroke baby taxis from the
Dhaka roads. But the traffic situation has again deteriorated due to the unplanned import
of the taxis and the old buses. The digging of roads and thoroughfares is a continuous
practice. Due to the faulty traffic management system, the traffic jams are increasing.
The endangered environment of Dhaka is due to these causes. It is very difficult for our
children to survive in such a condition.
Every year 15,000 people die in Dhaka due to
air pollution. The majority of them are children. Thousands of children are the victims of
various respiratory oriented diseases. It is just impossible to accept this situation.
It is learnt from a research work that along
with the old vehicles, the commercial vehicles, which are being imported, are mostly
polluting Dhaka’s environment. The intoxicating fumes from taxicabs and human haulers
are making the atmosphere unlivable. It has been found that the percentage of carbon
monoxide contain in most of these cars is more than 8 percent, while the level of
acceptance is 4-5 percent. The level of hydrocarbon in the atmosphere is 600 PPM. The
research, undertaken by the air quality management, Department of Environment, may be a
matter of great concern to the citizens. It is advisable not to issue license to the
organizations who import old model vehicles and endanger the life of city-dwellers. The
same study reveals that out of 31 diesel vehicles tested: only five had their pollution
level lower than that of the level permitted by the government, (75 Hz smoke unit). The
levels of pollution of the other vehicles were alarmingly high. The rule, which goes
globally, is to fix a built-in-converter balancing the engine. There is also a ruling in
this regard passed by the High Court. Practically, no one abides by the rule and in the
process air pollution is increasing. To control the situation, a well thought out import
policy has to be adopted. A committee should be formed with the representatives from the
transport ministry, environment ministry, the importers of old and new vehicles and the
environmentalists. This committee will formulate a common agreeable guideline to be
followed. According to this guideline a law has to be passed. This law will stop importing
vehicles that may pollute the environment.
There must be some sort of restriction for
those importing vehicles for private and personal use. The traffic congestion will be a
common and regular feature for such a huge number of cars plying in the limited number of
roads in Dhaka City. It is noticed that a single family own 3-4 private cars. To restrain
the tendency from purchasing more than one car, it is suggested to increase the duty and
the road taxes.
Three small cars occupy an area equal to a
bus. Whereas the number of passengers a bus can carry is ten times more than that of three
small cars. There should be more buses plying on the roads. If there are comfortable and
luxurious buses, then people will try for those instead of their own cars. Extra levy
should be charged to the vehicles entering a busy commercial area. This may help keep some
traffic away. Single layer transportation system is, however, of no worth in a mega city
like Dhaka where the number of inhabitants is more than one crore and twenty lacs. By
2015, Dhaka will become the fourth largest city. We have to ask ourselves, why have we yet
not taken up any plan to introduce underground or overhead mono railway syst em, or do not
have any design to construct umpteen numbers of flyovers? Cities like Kolkata and Delhi
already have underground railway system. People enjoy a more or less hassle free city life
and scores of flyovers are coming up fast in these cities. There are many examples to look
at.
Concurrently, we must ensure that more and
more vehicles run on compressed natural gas. For this we need adequate budgetary sanction
and infrastructure. We have also to utilize LPG and Ethanol. We have to import the
technology using solar energy. Concurrantly, we must ensure that more and more vehicles
run on compressed natural gas. For this we need adequate budgetary sanction and
infrastructure. We have also to utilize LPG and Ethanol. We have to import the technology
using solar energy to drive vehicles. In brief, our planners have to take initiative of
adopting modern technical know-how and well-catered mass transportation system to ease us
from the escalating problem. This ought to be done immediately. There is no time to
question any more since we are running out of time.
Text courtesy: By permission from the
Editor/author of "EcoFile" Vol.7 N 1&2, 2003, A quarterly on Life and Nature
published from Bangladesh-editor. |
