Russia celebrates the International Day of Human Rights protection

Russia together with the whole world community celebrates the International Day of Human Rights protection. This holiday was declared by the United Nations General Assembly in 1950 in commemoration of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adoption on December, 10 1948.

This year the International Day of the Human Rights protection will focus on the struggle against any kind of discrimination: the United Nations Organization calls to protect the rights of those people who are mostly vulnerable. "Discrimination is aimed at a certain category and group of people, who find themselves defenceless against attacks, These are disabled people, women and girls, poor people, migrants and the minority", - declared Secretary-General of the United Nations Organization Ban Ki-moon on the threshold of the important event. The Head of the UNO emphasized that the discrimination complicated the realization of all human rights – social, economic, cultural, civil and political.

Although in the Soviet Union the issue of human rights was in fact prohibited, now there are several human rights organizations, which are operating in Russia. Among the most powerful are Moscow Helsinki group, the human right center “Memorial” and others. There is a number of state institutions as well. The institution of Ombudsman was established in Russia in 1994.

The Russian Ombudsman Vladimir Lukin expresses concern about the current state of human rights in different spheres of Russian life. Meanwhile, during this year’s Message to the Federal Assembly the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev stressed that the "changes for the better occur only in case there is a possibility for an open discussion of arising problems, for  an honest competition of ideas, which identify methods of their solution, when citizens appreciate social stability and respect the law".