Contributed by: Larissa Ponarina, Russia National VAW Monitor

Resource Net Friday File
Issue 300
Friday November 10, 2006

With recent controversy in Russia over the registration of foreign NGOs,
fresh debate has ignited over Kremlin control of local activism. This brief
article looks at how Russian feminism and women's organisations work (or
don't work) within the Kremlin framework.

By Rochelle Jones

______________________________________

1) Russian feminism amongst a climate of scrutiny

With recent controversy in Russia over the registration of foreign NGOs,
fresh debate has ignited over Kremlin control of local activism. This brief
article looks at how Russian feminism and women's organisations work (or
don't work) within the Kremlin framework.

By Rochelle Jones

Last month Russia temporarily suspended the activities of almost 100
foreign non-government organisations (NGOs) such as Human Rights Watch,
Médecins Sans Frontières, and Amnesty International. Their work was
suspended because they did not meet the registration requirements
stipulated by a new law that was signed by President Vladimir Putin at the
start of the year.

Most NGOs were permitted to resume their work in the weeks following the
suspension, in part because the Justice Ministry faced strong criticism
from the international community. The move, however, sparked a new wave of
debate over the NGO law that means foreign organisations in Russia must
report on their planned activities for the year [1] and local NGOs face
possible shut down if they deviate from Russian 'morals' [2].

What is the law and how does it affect NGOs?

The federal legislation, termed # 18-FZ "On Introducing Amendments to
Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation", was signed by
President Putin on January 10, 2006. According to some, "the law contains
very restrictive and in many places vague language, which gives the
authorities the possibility to make arbitrary decisions" regarding the work
of NGOs [3]. The law was watered down from its original version because of
international pressure underlining freedom of _expression_ and association.
International concerns didn't help local NGOs, however, which are now
subject to provisions that allow for investigations into sources of funding
and overall adherence to Russian policy [4].

The International Center for Not-for-Profit Law in Washington has
undertaken a comprehensive analysis of the law, and explains how "the Law
introduces a number of new requirements for public associations,
non-commercial organizations, and foreign nongovernmental non-commercial
organizations. These new requirements restrict who may form an organization
in the Russian Federation, expand the grounds on which registration may be
denied, and expand the supervisory powers of the state over organizations"
[5].

In comparison to the impact on foreign NGOs that first stimulated the
debate internationally, local NGOs "face even more onerous controls under
the law, which allows authorities to ban financing of specific NGOs or
projects if they are judged to threaten the country's national security or
'morals'. The law has already been used by prosecutors who successfully
petitioned a court to order the closure of a Russian rights group critical
of government's conduct in Chechnya" [2].

Speaking of political corruption in his country, head of prominent
environmental NGO Bellona in St Petersburg, claimed that "the only holdout
against [corruption] were NGOs, which are now dying by the thousands thanks
to the new legislation". With the media brought virtually under Kremlin
control, Bellona described the "contract killing" of journalist Anna
Politkovskaya as being "a case in point about what happens when Russian
reporters don't toe the party line [6]. He is concerned that under the new
law, weaker NGOs, like independent media, will simply cease to exist.

How will the new law affect the women's movement?

In post-Soviet Russia NGOs began to remobilise and flourish ? including
women's organisations. The collapse of the Soviet Union brought with it a
collapse of the welfare system, and removed the mask of communism that
camouflaged the inequalities between men and women. Whilst the number of
women in parliament dropped in 1991 due to the elimination of quotas [7],
many women turned to the non-profit sector in order to influence public
policy. In 2004 around 600 women's organisations were registered with the
Justice Ministry, encompassing around 10 percent of the most active NGOs
[8].

In addition to the growth of women's rights' praxis was the expansion of
theory. Since the mid-1990s, Russian feminism has deepened, consolidating
much of the work already begun in the mid 19th century before the
establishment of Stalin's totalitarian regime which "announced that the
'women's issue' in the Soviet Union was resolved" [8]. This coincided with
the preparations for the 1995 Beijing 4th World Women's Conference where
Russian women were able to discuss their viewpoints and issues at an
international level.

Lisa Sundstrom argues that "women's NGOs are an important sector to observe
in Russian civil society" because they act as a barometer for the climate of
independent civil societies. She cites a theoretical link between
democratisation and women's advocacy groups and claims that in new
democracies, the blossoming of women's organisations indicate the success
of civil society [9].

Despite the enormous growth in women's organisations in Russia, observers
note that serious problems "continue to plague the women's movement,
severely hampering its influence in both political circles and among the
public at large" [9]. These barriers exist at three levels [8]:

1. Society. For example, gender stereotypes; sharp segmentation and
differentiation of social groups; and an underdeveloped civil society.

2. State policy. Including the abolishment of the national mechanism of
gender equality in 2000; masculinised government structures; incoherent
state policy on women's issues; and initiation of only 'decorative' and
declarative state-level activities.

3. The women's movement itself. Its major segment encompasses educated,
politically-active, middle-class women whilst almost one-half of women in
Russia are unaware of the existence and work of women's organisations.

Khotina [8] asserts that Russia is experiencing a decline in the women's
movement, but that this decline can be contextualised in "overall processes
occurring today in the global women's movement". Sundstrom [9] on the other
hand, whilst in agreement over the problems facing the women's movement,
attributes these problems to those that plague the contemporary NGO sector
as a whole. Writing in 2002, Sundstrom highlighted how "the power of NGOs
to influence politics is hampered by a government system that allows NGOs
hardly any input, while at the same time wielding a great degree of control
over their very right to exist."

The new law has now tightened the screws on an already heavily scrutinised
sector, and critics in Russia see the law "as part of a Kremlin campaign to
stem dissent, particularly before parliamentary elections in 2007 and a
Presidential election in 2008" [10]. Over time, it is likely that the
impact of the new law could obstruct the women's movement in Russia even
further, and women's human rights in general. Although the government has
for the most part left women's organisations alone in their crackdowns that
have mostly focused on environmental and human rights groups, the new law
means that development of the women's movement in Russia will certainly be
stifled. It is hence critical for the international community to closely
monitor the situation.

In a disturbing move on November 2, the Peruvian Congress approved a Bill
in Peru, which would allow the government to interfere in the activities of
NGOs and require similar conditions to that of the Russian law, such as
registration of all projects and activities. Currently under "intense
debate" in Congress [11], this Bill represents a worrying trend of attacks
on civil liberties and demonstrates that Russia is not the only state to
exhibit distrust towards NGOs.

Notes:
[1] Peter Finn for the Washington Post. "Russia halts activities of many
groups from abroad". October 20, 2006. Available from
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/19/AR2006101900831.html

[2] CNN. "Russia stops aid groups' work". October 19, 2006.
http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/10/19/russia.ngos.ap/
[3] Bellona. "NGO Bill becomes law". 10 January 2006. Available from
http://bellona.org/english_import_area/international/russia/envirorights/info_access/41667

[4] Bellona. "European Commission Reacts to New Russian NGO Law". March 23,
2006.
http://www.bellona.org/articles/European%20Commission%20reacts%20to%20new%20Russian%20NGO%20law

[5] The International Center for Not-for-Profit Law. "Analysis of Law #
18-FZ. On Introducing Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian
Federation." February 17, 2006. Full analysis available from:
http://www.icnl.org/knowledge/news/2006/01-19_Russia_NGO_Law_Analysis.pdf
[6] Bellona. "Russian democracy smothered by NGO law, corruption and a
muzzled media." http://www.bellona.org/articles/seminar_ngos?
[7] See the Russian Federation country profile and statistics from Stop
Violence Against Women: http://www.stopvaw.org/Russion_Federation.html
[8] Zoya Khotkina, Ph.D. "The Women's Movement in Russia: Yesterday, Today
and Tomorrow" 2004. http://www.globalizacija.com/doc_en/e0049ror.htm
[9] Lisa McIntosh Sundstrom. "Women's NGOs in Russia: Struggling from the
Margins" 2002. Available from:
http://www.politics.ubc.ca/fileadmin/template/main/images/departments/poli_sci/Faculty/sundstrom/Sundstrom_Demokratizatsiya_2002.pdf

[10] NGO Watch. "Dozens of Foreign NGOs Allowed to Resume Work After
Suspension Last Week." October 25, 2006.
http://www.ngowatch.org/articles.php?id=520
[11] Peru: NGO Bill Threatens Human Rights.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/HRW/c65f16fd56193e69c32839be52473fd9.htm

Published in: Russian Feminism Amongst a Climate of Scrutiny, The Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID), 10 November 2006.