UN Authority Figures

Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations: Russia

Russia imprisoned a 60-year-old dissident with Parkinson's disease for "undermining" Russia's territorial integrity.
Source: Reuters, September 27, 2017

Mission of the Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations: "The main tasks of the Committee are...The consideration of applications for consultative status and requests for reclassification submitted by NGOs; The consideration of quadrennial reports submitted by NGOs in General and Special categories; The implementation of the provisions of Council resolution 1996/31 and the monitoring of the consultative relationship; Any other issues which the ECOSOC may request the Committee to consider." (Committee on NGOs website)

Russia's Term of office: 2019-2022

Russia's Record on NGOs:
"NGOs, human rights activists, and journalists alleged that authorities routinely employed surveillance and other active measures to spy on and intimidate citizens. Law enforcement agencies required telecommunications providers to grant the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the FSB continuous remote access to client databases, including telephone and electronic communications, enabling them to track private communications and monitor internet activity without the provider's knowledge... The Ministry of Information and Communication requires telecommunications service providers to allow the FSB to tap telephones and monitor information over the internet... In its 2017 report Russia under Surveillance, the human rights NGO Agora described the development in recent years of a system of 'total oversight targeted at civic activists, independent journalists, and representatives of the political opposition' in the name of national security... The government continued to use a law, which requires NGOs that receive foreign funding and engage in 'political activity' to register as 'foreign agents,' to harass, to stigmatize, and in some cases to halt their operation, although fewer organizations were registered than in previous years... GOs engaged in political activities or activities that purportedly "pose a threat to the country" or that receive support from U.S. citizens or organizations are subject to suspension under the "Dima Yakovlev" law, which also prohibits NGOs from having members with dual Russian-U.S. citizenship. Authorities continued to misuse the country's expansive definition of extremism as a tool to stifle freedom of association... There were reports civil society activists were beaten or attacked in retaliation for their professional activities and that in most cases law enforcement officials did not adequately investigate the incidents."
(U.S. State Department Country Report of Human Rights Practices in Russia, 2018)