Women's and rights protection movements: do we have the same way?

In the last issue of the magazine we published the article "Women's and Rights Protection Movements: Do We Have the Same Way?" by Ludmila Zavadskaya. This article is a continuation (sequel) of the started talk. Now our interlocutors are the leaders of the rights protection organization - the chairman of the Russian public movement "For Human Rights" and its Moscow regional department "Hot Line" - Lev Aleksandrovitch Ponomarev, as well as his deputy - Svetlana Nikolaevna Tchuvilova.
Lev Aleksandrovitch was one of the founders of the international historical enlightening rights protection organization "Memorial". He is also well-known as a politician, an active participant of the "Democratic Russia" movement. Since 1197 Lev Aleksandrovitch has been the head of the All-Russian movement "For human rights", which united rights protecting organizations, trade unions, as well as separate citizens of 60 regions of Russia. That year the Moscow-Helsinki group set up the public organization "Hot Line" for assistance in observing human rights. It is the Moscow regional department of the movement.
Today there are 10 people on the staff of the Moscow "Hot Line", with 20 more lawyers working on a voluntary basis. One of the main trends of the organizational activity is an efficient assistance provided for citizens whose rights and freedoms have been violated. Initial consulting is by phone. Owing to numerous ties with law-enforcement bodies and the authority of the organization, they often succeed in solving the problem some hours after applying. If a more detailed work with documents is needed, then citizens can pay an individual visit to a lawyer.
During the 3 year period of work there were thousands of calls appealing for held in the Moscow "Hot Line" office. I began our conversation, concerning the attitude of rights protectors towards the problem of discrimination of Russian women, with the question:

If there is any list of problems with which mostly women refer to you.

Lev Aleksandrovitch: I'm a bit confused by your question, so, before answering, I consulted our colleagues working on the phone. They confirmed my opinion: in practice we don't come across violation of human rights which discriminate just women. For example, complaints about sexual harassment at work.

Svetlana Nikolaevna: Perhaps, women appeal to special women's rights protection organizations with such problems.

Lev Aleksandrovitch: I can't say that I'm against feminist organizations. There are other public organizations protecting certain groups of population. Such as organizations protecting servicemen, the soldiers' mothers' Committee.

Do you think that we can find regulations in our legislation which directly or indirectly infringe upon women's rights?

Svetlana Nikolaevna: Just the contrary, our laws are more favourable for women. They can't be dismissed when being pregnant; they are granted with a parental leave; children, as a rule, stay with the mother when parents divorce; living conditions in prisons are milder for women.

Lev Aleksandrovitch: I didn't study the questions specially but I can suppose that there are such regulations in our legislation. Of course, Russian legal basis still demands great revision. Especially it concerns the Labour Code. Its new variant, which is being discussed in the State Duma, sends us back to the Middle Ages. The authors of the draft ignored the rights of the employees, including the rights of women in the maternity leave, as well as the rights of those who have small children. Our organization struggles actively against this bill. For you to understand the acuteness of the opposition, I should say that I, who devoted the most part of my life to the democratic movement, supported the Communist Party, the opponents of the democratic movement, in this question.

Svetlana Nikolaevna: Work conditions of women who came from the Commonwealth to earn some money are especially hard. Not long ago two young women applied to us. They work at the "Teply Stan" Market. They complained of the sexual harassment of a militiaman of the market. On refusal, the militiaman inflicted physical injuries on one of the girls. We phoned the head of the district militia department and made an official complaint. As a result the going-too-far "guard" was imposed a penalty on, but he still works in that place. We questioned some women who are in the street trade. Most of them think that it's not only useless but also dangerous to complain about sexual harassment on the part of the militia and criminals: you can lose your working place.

To extirpate these women's lawlessness it is necessary to make the procedure of the temporary registration in Moscow according to the human rights regulations. It is pointed out in the federal law that when people register they must only inform the proper bodies about their temporal residence. In fact, the registration in Moscow is carried out according to a permissive principle. The refusal may be given on most incredible reasons. For example, because of non-observance of sanitary norms of the residence. Only few can get a temporal registration the rest are doomed to complete lawlessness before law.

We struggle actively against such state of affairs. In autumn, 1999 when the resolution of the obligatory re-registration of all nonresident citizens was passed, our organization brought a suit against the non-observance of human rights regulations by the Moscow government. Now we put forward a suggestion to introduce a simplified form of registration. In case of its passing, visitors could draw up a temporal registration at the airport or station with minimum bureaucratic delays.

Did women whose ex-husbands refuse to pay alimony or conceal their real income deliberately apply to you?

Svetlana Nikolaevna: The question of alimony non-payment is decided in the court and the court always defends the mother's interests. If the ex-husband introduces fictitious information about his income, only the tax police can bring him out to the open. Sometimes such tactic bears its fruit. Lately we have had a funny case. A woman whose son's father is a native of Holland applied to us. Despite the fact that their marriage was not registered, the father acknowledged his son and contributed money to support the family for some time, but then stopped doing it. The woman applied to the Dutch embassy but they refused to listen to her. We wrote a written application to the police of the town where the father lives. In two days the woman was received in the embassy and given a free assistance in alimony collection.

Do you have any special programs of assistance to women who are in crisis?

Lev Aleksandrovitch: 3 months ago our organization with the Soros Fund assistance started the program of assistance to women-prisoners who are held in the Mozhaiskya colony. This is the only colony in the Moscow region for women who have children under three. There is a boarding house on its area. Women, not including nursing mothers, can spend there two hours a day, playing with their children.

Svetlana Nikolaevna: When children are over three, they are sent to orphan houses and their mothers don't know, as a rule, where they are. One of our tasks is to give these women an opportunity to communicate with their children at least by means of letters. It is very important for the child to know that his mother hasn't deserted him, and for the mother - to hope to return to a normal life after years in prison.

We try to help the women in prison in solving their property and housing problems. Two times a month a lawyer goes to the colony. The range of questions asked to the lawyer is approximately the same: what has happened to things after the arrest, where to live after imprisonment. We make inquiries, gather all available information and inform the women.

The housing problem is especially acute. In accordance with the Russian legislation, the person who is serving his sentence loses his or her accommodation. After imprisonment he is to be given a new flat according to the law but the process may be dragged on for years. Without a registration the woman can't get a job and it drives her to commit the second crime. We want to break this vicious circle. Our colleagues inform the passport bureau and other housing offices that the woman, residing on the territory within their jurisdiction, goes out of prison and they are to provide accommodation for her. Then we see to our inquiries being carried out.

Why have you decided to work in the Mozhaiskya colony.

Svetlana Nikolaevna: Our cooperation with the colony authorities began 3 years ago. We delivered humanitarian aid and organized holidays for children. Once we brought animals from the Durov circle. The colony headmistress is a very responsive person. She has already been working there for 15 years and tries to help the women-prisoners somehow. Her efforts, of course, are not enough. We hope that it will be easier for us when working together.

For what crimes do the prisoners mainly serve their sentences in the Mozhaiskya colony?

Svetlana Nikolaevna: I have not studied the question specially. As far as I know, earlier women were put into prison for murdering their husbands and lovers. As a rule, the murders were committed in the state of temporary insanity. For example, in a village a woman of seventy killed her son who had drunk for many years, taunted her and taken all her money away.

Is the reason for such crimes the imperfection of law mechanisms which are directed to defend Russian women from home violence?

Svetlana Nikolaevna: I think we already have a sufficient legislative basis. It is the district militia officer's duty to solve such conflicts. If he does nothing on any reasons, one can make a complaint to his governors. We had such cases. Most likely the reason for impunity of aggressors' behaviour is the passive position of women themselves. When the question arises whether to send the offender to prison or leave everything as it was - the woman chooses the latter.

Lev Aleksandrovitch: We will be glad to help all women in any critical situations. They can refer to us on the telephone in Moscow 291 70 11 three times a week on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 13 to 21 p.m. Our services are free. In case of need our lawyers can receive you on Tuesdays or Thursday from 13 to 20 p.m.

The conversation was held by Anna Vasileva

The editors are grateful to the leaders of the "Hot Line" for their readiness to cooperate and promise to continue the discussion devoted to the perspective of finding common grounds between the woman's and rights protection movements in the next issues of "Woman Plus..."