Training in Moscow
пїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅ пїЅInternational System of the
Protection of National MinoritiesпїЅ
пїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅ The participants had been chosen not by
chance. The four leaders of national communities from Moscow knew each other
very well. They have cooperated with the Center for Interethnic Cooperation
before and taken part in the Network of Ethnic Association established by our
organization. Another leader from Moscow represented the Talysh organization,
which was founded only some time пїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅ The participants of the training course
gathered on the 20th of September in the office rooms of the
Center for Interethnic Cooperation. Unfortunately, two participants from
Volgograd informed us two days before that they would not be able to come.
And then their substitute called off, too. It is worth to mention that these
were representatives of nationalities having the most national problems and
biggest need for support. But at the same time these are traditionally
supposed to be the most undisciplined in Russia. Therefore the Center was
very okay with the idea to invite two participants from different national
associations from Astrakhan. Most impressed was everybody by GanпїЅ IsmaelпїЅ,
the black skin representative of the organization пїЅAfrican UnionпїЅ from San
Petersburg. People in Moscow and San Petersburg are already used to meet
people from the African continent. In the Russian provinces this is a quite
rare appearance, the more as there are no organizations representing the
interest of this population.пїЅ пїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅ In the evening the whole group went by
bus to the rest home пїЅKolontaevoпїЅ, which is 40 kilometers from Moscow. The program of the
training course was based on the informational materials from the MRG
training пїЅFramework Convention for Protection of National MinoritiesпїЅ having
taken place from the 16th till the 19th of May 2002.
The material on пїЅThe Role of Non-Governmental Organizations for Protection of
National Minority RightsпїЅ was prepared by the Center for Interethnic
Cooperation. The Center is very experienced in realizing training courses,
conferences and similar activities for leaders of national organizations. Irina Kropotkina and
Niara Gafarova reported on the work of the Council of Europe and the
Strasbourg Court of Human Rights. The lectures on the пїЅFramework Convention
for Protection on National MinoritiesпїЅ and the пїЅAlternative Report of the
Council of Europe as an international Instrument for Protection of National
Minority RightsпїЅ caught the attention of the participants still something
more the previous report. During the round table
пїЅProblems of Protecting Human Rights in Russia: Experiences made in the
RegionsпїЅ, the participants reported on Evaluating the
training course the participants considered the acquainted information and
knowledge as important and interesting. Four persons of the ten
participants declared in their questionnaires that they could use the
information and knowledge for the work of their organizations immediately.
Four persons hoped that they could use it in future, two persons were
doubtful about the practical use, but did not deny the possible use of the
knowledge. Ashot Airapetyan, the
chair of the Center for Interethnic Cooperation, Irina Kropotkina, the
projectпїЅs leader, and Felix Karacev, the trainer, did estimate the training
course as successful. The outcomes of the
course were that the leaders of national organizations from Russian regions
are in majority not acquainted with the International System of Protection of
National Minority Rights. In addition, they imagine the power of the Council
of Europe and other international organizations as rather weak. Further results and
outcomes: 1.
The
weak knowledge of national leaders about international documents on the
protection of national minority rights and their interest in this issue shows
that national organizations have need for this knowledge. Hence, one decided
to include the basic information of the training course пїЅInternational System
of the Protection of National MinoritiesпїЅ also in the program of further
training courses. (Only 2.
The
participating organizations from Perm, Astrakhan and Ekaterinburg joint the
Network of Ethnic Associations. Thus they got the possibility to place
information about their organizations and activities on the CenterпїЅs website.
The organizations became regional bases for the activities of the Center. 3.
In
point 4 of the Funding Application we concerned that the realization of the
project could be difficult due to the small financial resources. In addition,
the timeframe could be too small for carrying out a seminar, and insufficient
for acquiring new knowledge. In reality, the financial means were sufficient
as we asked the participants to come by rail (what is the most cheapest way
to travel). In addition, the two-day duration of the training course was
optimal. 4.
A
real problem of the training course was that we had only few handout
materials for our disposal. That is the informational materials about the
international system of the protection of national minorities the Center
received from MRG are not translated into Russian. пїЅ |
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