11 March 2022
Statement by Memorial Human Rights Centre
Source: Memorial Human Rights Centre
The Council of Europe is currently discussing the question of excluding Russia from the Council of Europe. Regrettably, we are compelled to say that there is every reason for them to do so.
On 10 March 2022, the Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement on the situation in the Council of Europe. Adopting the brash tone characteristic of them in recent years, the Ministry declared that Russia was ready to leave the Council of Europe because ‘EU and NATO states unfriendly to Russia’ were abusing ‘their absolute majority on the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe’. For the sake of accuracy, we would note that the policies of the current Russian authorities have left Russia not merely in a minority in the Council of Europe, but more or less completely isolated.
The wording of the text is unclear, making it hard to interpret it unambiguously. Does the Russian leadership intend to send the Secretary General of the Council of Europe an immediate notice of withdrawal? Or did the Foreign Ministry make the statement in the expectation that the Council of Europe would once again give in to blackmail and unconditionally return to Russia the powers of which it was temporarily stripped at the end of February, when its membership of the Council was suspended?
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In the first years after Russia joined the Council, membership benefited the citizens of our country: it gave them additional opportunities to protect their rights and freedoms, and sponsored improvements in legislation and practices in certain areas. Even then, however, Russia’s behaviour was highly inconsistent, and the Council of Europe has continually lowered the bar in terms of the demands made of Russia.
Over the last ten years, the Russian authorities have increasingly clearly demonstrated their hostility to the Council of Europe’s founding principles of democracy, human rights and the rule of law. Russia’s response to judgements made by the European Court of Human Rights has been either to limit implementation to the payment of monetary compensation, or to refuse to implement at all. Many Russian laws adopted in recent years have been completely incompatible with European norms, and have received an extremely negative assessment from the Venice Commission. Hopes voiced in 2019 that the Russian authorities would be more conscientious in their commitments to the Council of Europe have now been shown to be illusory; the illusion was shattered by the ‘special military operation’ launched by Russia on 24 February 2022.
With our country engaged in military action in Ukraine, and Russia itself experiencing a human rights crackdown unprecedented in the post-Soviet period, Russia’s participation in the Council of Europe devalues the principles on which this international organisation was built, and casts doubt on the Council’s capability.
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The Council of Europe is currently discussing the question of excluding Russia from the Council of Europe. Regrettably, we are compelled to say that there is every reason for them to do so.
We hope that in the not too distant future, a new-look Russia will return to the Council of Europe.
Translated by Richard Coombes
