Halfjaarlijks overleg Rusland-Europa over mensenrechten in open en vriendelijke sfeer (en)

Met dank overgenomen van Raad van de Europese Unie (Raad) i, gepubliceerd op maandag 17 mei 2010.

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The European Union - Russian Federation

human rights consultations

On 28 April 2010, the European Union and the Russian Federation held the eleventh round of human rights consultations in Brussels. The human rights consultations between the EU and the Russian Federation took place for the first time in March 2005.

The consultations were held in an open, frank and friendly atmosphere.

At the consultations the EU and Russia continued to address the human rights situation and developments in their respective countries, with a particular focus on cooperation in international human rights fora including the UN, the Council of Europe and the OSCE, the functioning of civil society, rule of law and judiciary reform, protection of human rights while fighting terrorism and extremism, the fight against racism, xenophobia and discrimination, including on grounds of sexual orientation and gender, children and women's rights. The EU welcomed the ratification of the Protocol 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The EU raised a number of concerns related to specific human rights issues in the Russian Federation, including in the Northern Caucasus and as regards fair trial and protection of people in the detention facilities. The EU also provided answers to Russia’s concerns about certain human rights issues in the EU. Both sides continued to provide clarifications on individual cases of concern in the respective countries. There was an exchange of ideas on how EU and Russia could increase their practical cooperation in the area of human rights.

In keeping with the EU’s practice of incorporating the voice of civil society into its meetings on human rights with third countries, the EU met representatives of Russian NGOs in Moscow on 22 March as well as the representatives of international civil society in Brussels.

The next regular human rights consultations are planned to take place in the autumn 2010.