NNWN/10/04/2022

It has come as a major setback for International rights bodies as the Putin government ordered for closure of local offices of Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. The announcement came even as Russia’s military invasion in Ukraine continued which took thousands of lives and forced more than 11 million to flee from their homes or the country. Both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said that they would continue to report on human rights violations in Russia .  

Human Rights Watch and Amnesty  International have been working in Russian for more than three decades.   Human Rights Watch has been operating in Russia for 30 years, while Amnesty has had a presence in the country since 1993.

According to the Justice Ministry, 15 organizations have been taken off Russia's registry of international organizations and foreign NGOs due to "violations of the current legislation of the Russian Federation b8ut it did not provide further details.

Moscow Times reported that besides HRW and Amnesty, local offices of  following organisations have been shut down and these included Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom, the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, the Aga Khan Foundation, the Wspolnota Polska Association and other organizations.

According to HRW’s deputy director of the Europe and Central Asia division Rachel Denber the move was in response to the organization's reporting on Russia's offensive in Ukraine. He said that the Russian government had already made it abundantly clear that it has no use for any facts, regarding the protection of civilians in Ukraine. This is just one small further proof of that. He however added that Human Rights Watch would continue to work on Russia. Amnesty International Secretary General Agnes Callamard said her organization would also continue to support Russians. "We will redouble our efforts to expose Russia's egregious human rights violations both at home and abroad," she said in a statement.