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On March 19, 2003, a roundtable took place in Moscow on the subject "Promoting Dialogue and Tolerance Across Ethnic Diversity" in the American Center, organized by the Center for Interethnic Cooperation (CIEC). In all, representatives from 14 Moscow ethnic communities, representatives from some of the Moscow's NGOs, employees of the Embassy of the USA and Great Britain, as well as journalists took part in the roundtable. The basic theme of the event was the relationship of the government with racial minorities. The director of the CIEC, Ashot Airapetyan, reported how governmental organs in the USA work with persons belonging to racial and/ or religious minorities. Comparisons between work in this sphere in the USA and analogue work in Russia were made. The actual occasion for this discussion was the alternative report made by civil rights organizations at the 62. Session of the UN Committee for Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination in Geneve on the 11th of March. This report has shown that most of the human rights violations, which are experienced by ethnic minorities, are made by state organs. The participants of the roundtable discussed how the american experience could be used for Russia and in what forms and spheres it could/ should be implemented.
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