13 NPOs from Southern Russia receive governmental grants on human rights projects

The All-Russian Public Movement "Civil Dignity" has run a contest among the non-profit organizations (NPOs) involved in human rights activities for governmental grants. The winners are 124 projects from 47 regions of Russia; 13 of them were presented by the NPOs working in the Southern and North-Caucasian Federal Districts (SFD and NCFD).

The funds amounting to 500 million roubles were allotted from the federal budget under the order of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The winners include the All-Russian NPOs, whose activities are aimed at protection of citizens' rights in the SFD and NCFD, in particular, the Movement "For Human Rights", the Committee against Torture, and the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial".

According to Svetlana Gannushkina, the head of the Committee "Civil Assistance", the existence of human rights NPOs in Russia is due to the failure of enforcing the federal legislation. She cited the Krasnodar Territory as an example, calling it a "reserve of human rights violations."

Ms Gannushkina has also noted a huge number of violations of migrant workers' rights at the construction of Olympic facilities in Sochi.

Human rights are often violated in Chechnya, where traditions remain strong, and sometimes contrary to the law, namely, the refusal to leave children with mother at divorce, vendettas and the so-called "honour killings", the human rights activist has added.