Feedback On May 18-19 in ADC ‘Memorial’ a conference ‘Legal possibilities of defence of Roma people’s rights in Russia’ will take place. Lawyers from different regions (participants from Krasnoyarsk, Omsk, Chelyabinsk, Belgorod, Kaliningrad, Ryazan, Volgograd, Sochi are invited), with whom ADC ‘Memorial’ is working in the frame of project ‘Legal help to Roma settlements in Russia’, together with employees of ADC ‘Memorial’ will discuss different aspects of legal help and defence of Roma people from discrimination. Special attention will be paid to a problem of defence from violence and different violations from police. The lawyers will tell about successful trial experience of defence of Roma settlements from demolition and eviction, house registration and obtaining personal documents. Possibility of international appeal will be considered separately: lawyer Marina Dubrovina will tell about preparation of complaint against mayor of Sochi, lawyer Olga Tseitlina about recent judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in case ‘Klein and Alexandrovich v. Russia’.
Program of the conference ‘Legal possibilities of defence of Roma people’s rights in Russia’ on 18-19 May, 2012.
18 May
10:00 – 11:00 – presentation of participants, introductory speech, annual activity survey of the project (Anna Udyarova);
11:00 – 11:30 – notion of discrimination, complicated cases of discrimination, areas of work of ADC ‘Memorial’ against discrimination of Roma people, importance of identification and proof of discrimination (Stephania Kulaeva)
11:30 – 12:00 – obtaining personal documents (passports, birth certificates), problems of interaction with FMS, consulates, trial procedure of getting citizenship (Nadezhda Kutepova, Peter Krasnov)
13:30 – 14:30 – help to inhabitants of Roma settlements to get legal registration of land and houses; problems connected with absence of legal registration of land and houses, discussion (Inessa Sakhno, Ajgul Eserkeeva);
14:30 – 15:00 – defence of Roma children’s right for education: discrimination and segregation of Roma children in schools, practice of the European Court of Human Rights, examples of schools where children from Roma settlements get education (Olga Abramenko); project of making a manual about human rights for Roma children (Kirill Kozhanov);
15:00 – 16:00 – lunch
16:00 – 18:00 – problem of police violence, unlawful detentions and other violations by policemen with regard to Roma people, possibilities of defence (Sergey Mikheev, lawyer Sergey Malanovsky)
19 May
10:30 – 11:30 – social rights of Roma people: labor rights, accommodation rights, social help and health care (Anna Udyarova, Andrey Yakimov, Ljubov Popova);
11:30 – 12:15 – realisation of practice of advocacy (Russian and international level) with examples of defence of Roma settlements (Anastasiya Nekozakova, Sergey Semushin);
12:15 – 12:45 – creation of network of lawyers who help inhabitants of Roma settlements: mail-list information exchange, interaction, discussion of problems (Stephania Kulaeva, Darya Udjarova);
12:45 – 13:30 – coffee break, discussion;
13:30 – 15:00 – examples and most complicated cases from practice (1 example from each participant, discussion no more than 10 min.);
15:00 – 16:00 – lunch;
16:00 – 16:30 – exhaustion of national means of legal defence for appeal to the European Court of Human Rights (lawyer Marina Dubrovina)
16:30 – 17:00 – appealing against violations to the European Court of Human Rights, difficulties of proving discrimination – case ‘Klein and Alexandrovich v. Russia’ (lawyer Olga Tseitlina);
17:00 – 18:00 – a rundown on the conference