 Source: HRO.org (info) On 18th March, at a closed session of the Presidential Human Rights Council, a decision was taken to ban publication of collective statements by groups of members of the Council, Kasparov.ru has reported, citing the Human Rights Council’s official website. Mikhail Fedotov and Iosif Diskin, respectively chair and member of the Human Rights Council, proposed changes to the Human Rights Council's regulations for the meeting on 19 March. The majority of the Council's members voted to exclude from the Human Rights Council's regulations the clause allowing the publication of materials which reflect a group position on various issues. According to the new decision, human rights defenders will no longer have this privilege of publication. As reported on the Human Rights Council's website, the Permanent Committee on Regulations and Elizaveta Glinka, chair of the Committee on Ethical Disputes, have been instructed to draft other changes to the regulations, based on proposals prepared by Iosif Diskin and taking into account all remarks received from Council members. Other events at the meeting included a speech by Maksim Shevchenko, head of the Temporary Working Group on Ensuring the Observance of Human Rights in Ukraine. He presented a report on the mission to Kiev and spoke about attendance at voting booths on the day of the referendum in the Crimea. A conflict had earlier arisen in the Human Rights Council after a group of members issued a statement critical of the Russian authorities’ actions in the Crimea. Translated by Holly Jones |
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