EXPERT CONFERENCE AND PUBLIC EVENT "FOUR DECADES AND THE FUTURE OF THE HELSINKI MOVEMENT. THE CHALLENGES FOR THE SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE TODAY"
30-31 May 2016, Berlin, Germany
The Moscow Helsinki Group (MHG) is the oldest running and leading human rights organisation in Russia. As announced on 12 May 1976, by physicist Yuri Orlov at the inaugural press-conference in Andrei Sakharov’s apartment, the new “Public Group to Promote Fulfillment of the Helsinki Accords in the USSR” intended to monitor Soviet compliance with the human rights provisions of the Helsinki Final Act.
The Moscow Helsinki Group inspired emergence of other groups in other Warsaw Pact countries. Helsinki Watch Groups were founded in Ukraine, Lithuania, Georgia and Armenia, Czechoslovakia, Poland, as well as in Western and South East Europe, the United States, and beyond. Many of the Helsinki groups and civil society watchdogs that share the “Helsinki principles” are actively working on the most pressing issues in today’s agenda for security and cooperation in Europe and beyond. These include access to justice, realisation of and fundamental rights and freedoms, responding to refugee/ migration situation and others.
On 30-31 May 2016, the EU-Russia Civil Society Forum (CSF) brought representatives of the Helsinki movement groups from 10 countries to Berlin to celebrate the 40 years of the movement and discuss the civil society response to existing challenges to peace, cooperation and security. The Expert Conference was organised within the framework of CSF Legal Dialogue Programme. The relationship between international and domestic law was the common theme of the Symposium and the Expert Conference.
Representation Office of the Federal Land of Saxony-Anhalt, 18, Luisen St., 10117 Berlin
Public Event
FOUR DECADES AND THE FUTURE OF THE HELSINKI MOVEMENT. THE CHALLENGES FOR THE SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE TODAY
19:00—19:30 OPENING
Dr Gernot Erler MP, Special Representative of the Federal Government of Germany for the OSCE Chairmanship 2016
19:30—21:00 PANEL DISCUSSION
Liudmila Alekseeva, Moscow Helsinki Group, Moscow
Harry Hummel, Netherlands Helsinki Committee, The Hague
Dmitri Makarov, International Youth Human Rights Movement, Voronezh
Maciej Nowicki, Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, Warsaw
Marta Pardavi, Hungarian Helsinki Committee, Budapest
Moderation by Tanya Lokshina, Human Rights Watch Russia, Moscow
21:00—22:00 RECEPTION
Hotel Scandic Berlin Potsdamer Platz, 19, Gabriele-Tergit-Promenade, 10963 Berlin
9:30—11:00 ROUND TABLE DISCUSSION I
How It All Began… The Moscow Helsinki Group and the Significance of the Helsinki movement in Retrospect
Speakers:
Liudmila Alekseeva, Moscow Helsinki Group, Moscow
Valeri Borshev, Moscow Helsinki Group, Moscow
Marianne von Grüningen, Swiss Helsinki Committee, Lenzburg
Harry Hummel, Netherlands Helsinki Committee, The Hague
Joint discussion moderated by Peter Wittschorek, Germany OSCE Chairmanship Task Force, Berlin
11:00—11:30 COFFEE BREAK
11:30—13:00 ROUND TABLE DISCUSSION II
Crackdown on Freedoms and the Civil Society in the OSCE Region as a Call for Common Action
Speakers:
Tanya Lokshina, Human Rights Watch Russia, Moscow
Dmitri Makarov, International Youth Human Rights Movement, Voronezh
Maciej Nowicki, Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, Warsaw
Yevhen Zakharov, Ukrainian Helsinki Group, Kharkiv
Joint discussion moderated by Bjørn Engelsland, Norwegian Helsinki Committee, Oslo
13:00—14:00 LUNCH
14:00—15:30 ROUND TABLE DISCUSSION III
Migration / Refugee Crisis in Europe as Challenge for the Security and Cooperation in Europe
Speakers:
Anhelita Kamenska, Latvia Human Rights Centre, Riga
Krassimir Kanev, Bulgarian Helsinki Group, Sofia
Emel Kurma, Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly, Istanbul
Wenzel Michalski, Human Rights Watch Germany, Berlin
Joint discussion moderated by Marta Pardavi, Hungarian Helsinki Committee, Budapest
- + 30 MAY 2016
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Representation Office of the Federal Land of Saxony-Anhalt, 18, Luisen St., 10117 Berlin
Public EventFOUR DECADES AND THE FUTURE OF THE HELSINKI MOVEMENT. THE CHALLENGES FOR THE SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE TODAY
19:00—19:30 OPENING
Dr Gernot Erler MP, Special Representative of the Federal Government of Germany for the OSCE Chairmanship 201619:30—21:00 PANEL DISCUSSION
Liudmila Alekseeva, Moscow Helsinki Group, Moscow
Harry Hummel, Netherlands Helsinki Committee, The Hague
Dmitri Makarov, International Youth Human Rights Movement, Voronezh
Maciej Nowicki, Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, Warsaw
Marta Pardavi, Hungarian Helsinki Committee, BudapestModeration by Tanya Lokshina, Human Rights Watch Russia, Moscow
21:00—22:00 RECEPTION
- + 31 MAY 2016
-
Hotel Scandic Berlin Potsdamer Platz, 19, Gabriele-Tergit-Promenade, 10963 Berlin
9:30—11:00 ROUND TABLE DISCUSSION I
How It All Began… The Moscow Helsinki Group and the Significance of the Helsinki movement in RetrospectSpeakers:
Liudmila Alekseeva, Moscow Helsinki Group, Moscow
Valeri Borshev, Moscow Helsinki Group, Moscow
Marianne von Grüningen, Swiss Helsinki Committee, Lenzburg
Harry Hummel, Netherlands Helsinki Committee, The HagueJoint discussion moderated by Peter Wittschorek, Germany OSCE Chairmanship Task Force, Berlin
11:00—11:30 COFFEE BREAK
11:30—13:00 ROUND TABLE DISCUSSION II
Crackdown on Freedoms and the Civil Society in the OSCE Region as a Call for Common ActionSpeakers:
Tanya Lokshina, Human Rights Watch Russia, Moscow
Dmitri Makarov, International Youth Human Rights Movement, Voronezh
Maciej Nowicki, Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, Warsaw
Yevhen Zakharov, Ukrainian Helsinki Group, KharkivJoint discussion moderated by Bjørn Engelsland, Norwegian Helsinki Committee, Oslo
13:00—14:00 LUNCH
14:00—15:30 ROUND TABLE DISCUSSION III
Migration / Refugee Crisis in Europe as Challenge for the Security and Cooperation in EuropeSpeakers:
Anhelita Kamenska, Latvia Human Rights Centre, Riga
Krassimir Kanev, Bulgarian Helsinki Group, Sofia
Emel Kurma, Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly, Istanbul
Wenzel Michalski, Human Rights Watch Germany, BerlinJoint discussion moderated by Marta Pardavi, Hungarian Helsinki Committee, Budapest
THE EXPERT CONFERENCE WAS ORGANISED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH GERMAN-RUSSIAN EXCHANGE, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH GERMANY, AND THE MOSCOW HELSINKI GROUP AS WELL AS SUPPORTED BY THE GERMAN MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION.
