Appendix AApril 4, 2007 S. I.Gladkin Via facsimile: +7-495-230-2580 Dear Sergei Ivanovich, Please accept my regards on behalf of Human Rights Watch. As you may know, Human Rights Watch is an international nongovernmental organization headquartered in New York. It has been monitoring the human rights situation in around 70 countries on every continent since 1978. You can familiarize yourself with our reports and other materials on our website: www.hrw.org. Our representative office in Russia was first registered in Moscow in 1993. I would like to request your assistance in coordinating meetings between our organization and officials from the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In the past months, Human Rights Watch staff has conducted research surrounding the expulsion of Georgian citizens from Russia. We spoke with dozens of Georgian citizens expelled from Russia and members of their families both in Russia and in Georgia. We also met with officials in Tbilisi and in Moscow; and in particular with staff of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Justice, the Federal Migration Service, and other departments. According to a statement from Georgian authorities from October 2006, more than 2,300 people were illegally expelled from Russia. As a result, many of them lost their jobs and were separated from their families. The Georgian government even initiated an investigation on the matter with the European Court of Human Rights. Russian officials stated that all of the expulsions were based on judicial rulings and that there was no special “anti-Georgian campaign”, as deemed by Georgians authorities, and that the administrative exile of Georgian citizens was within the framework of the regular process of eliminating illegal immigrants. Stricter immigration policies, which the Russian government started to undertake at the end of last year, affect citizens from other countries, such as Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, China, Vietnam, and others equally, but attention from the press and public opinion was focused on Georgia due to worsening relations with Russia in the last year. As you see, the two sides are highly disparate. This is precisely why we would like to hear the opinion of the officers responsible for the matter within the ministry. We would also be very grateful for statistical data for expulsions in 2006 by month, which would give us an idea of the quantity of expulsions to Georgia and other countries. This data would be an excellent illustration of the events we are researching. Thank you in advance for your assistance. You may contact our Russian representation via telephone or fax at 495-737-8955. In my absence, you may contact Alexander Petrov, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s representation in Russia. Sincerely,
Allison Gill |