Press releases
Finnish
journalist denied Russian visa (27.12.05)
Young
Finno-Ugrians at the Congress of Turkic Youth (21.11.05)
International
attention to problems of national minorities in the Russian Federation
is not decreasing
(01.11.05)
Chairman
of Youth Association of Finno-Ugric Peoples attacked in Mari Republic,
Russia
(28.08.05)
Lusatian
Sorbs express their solidarity with Udmurts
(26.08.05)
Ethnic
minority in Russia: media is filled with misinformation
(25.08.05)
Closing
of the 10th International Congress of Finno-Ugric Studies in Yoshkar-Ola
(21.08.05)
Hopeless
Udmurts appeal to Europe for support (19.08.05)
Russian
authorities threatening an ethnic minority organisation (17.08.05)
Scientists
replaced with officials at a scientific congress in Russia (16.08.05)
Tenth
International Congress of Finno-Ugric Studies in Russia (15.08.05)
Estonian
delegation to the 10th International Congress of Finno-Ugric Studies
smaller than expected (12.08.05)
Estonian
and Saami Theatres Start Co-operating with the Kalevala in Estonia
(10.08.05)
An
ethnographic film banned in Russia now available on DVD (09.08.05)
Doctoral
scholarship in Estonia for foreign Finno-Ugrians (06.08.05)
An
open letter to the President of Finland Tarja Halonen
(02.08.05)
Estonian
students caught in the wheels of Russia's internal politics
(02.08.05)
Expulsion
of Estonian students from the Mari Republic of Russian Federation (22.07.05)
The
Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation supporting the Mari people
in Russia (07.07.05)
Ethnic
minority convenes its congress in the underground (07.06.05)
Fascist
group in Russia asserts being instructed by local administration (31.05.05)
Russian
composer did not celebrate his anniversary in his home town (19.05.05)
European
Parliament steps forth in defence of a national minority in Russia (12.05.05)
Members of the European
Parliament pass an action plan to improve the situation of Finno-Ugric
minorities in Russia (27.04.05)
Finno-Ugric Minority of Russia Grateful to the European Parliament for Support
(26.04.05)
Estonian Member
of European Parliament on discussion with Russian parliamentarians on
Russia’s minorities (22.04.05)
European
Parliament Examining the Mari Situation in Russia (11.03.05)
Mari
Nation Under Threat in Russia (22.02.05)
Opposition
leaders still persecuted in Mari El: Vladimir Kozlov assaulted
(04.02.05)
Read
more
www.mari.ee
(information and news about Mari people in Mari, Russian, Estonian,
English)
Press releases by the Estonian
Institute for Human Rights:
ESTONIAN
INSTITUTE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS CALLING TO SUPPORT MARI PEOPLE
JEWISH
COMMUNITY SUPPORTING THE OPPRESSED MARI MINORITY IN RUSSIA
Unrepresented
Nations' and Peoples' Organisation
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FEDERAL
UNION OF EUROPEAN NATIONALITIES
EXAMINED THE SITUATION OF A RUSSIA'S MINORITY
The
50th Congress of the Federal Union of European Nationalities (FUEN)
held 4-8 May in Bucharest, Romania, discussed the situation of Maris,
a Russia's minority people.
This
650 thousand-strong people living in the Mari Republic (Mari El), some
500 miles to the east of Moscow, demands the restoration of their human
and civil rights, the immediate end of ethnic discrimination and harassment
of political opposition, mass media and nongovernmental organisations
of their people. Organisations of the Maris also demand the right for
education, publications and broadcasts in their native language to the
extent equal to that available for Russians in the Mari Republic.
"Today
there are absolutely no people descending from the Republic of Mari
El in the Russia's federal representative bodies. In the Government
of the Republic of Mari El itself, only three or four public employees
of Mari origin have remained", described the Chairman of the Mari
Congress Vladimir Kozlov the ethnic cleansing carried out in the local
administration of Mari republic, speaking to the FUEN congress. Kozlov
used the term "policy marked with Marifobia" and accused the
administration of this Russian province in "a planned action intended
to finally abolish the Republic of Mari El as a subject of the Russian
Federation".
Kozlov
was invited to give the FUEN first-hand information, since the situation
of the Maris has caused international attention. This February, Kozlov
was brutally beaten in his hometown, just like many Mari journalists,
political leaders and cultural workers before him, by unknown persons.
This has caused international protest, including the Appeal on Behalf
of the Mari People written by a group of Finnish scientists, and an
action of collecting signatures to support the Maris. On the web page
www.ugri.info/mari people from
over sixty countries have signed this appeal calling on Russia to stop
the oppression of the Mari minority.
The
Congress of FUEN decided to include the information on Maris into the
report on the realisation of the Framework Convention for the Protection
of National Minorities. The Presiding Committee will draft a resolution
on the Mari issue.
Meanwhile
the European Parliament is preparing to say its word. A draft resolution
on the situation in the Mari Republic was introduced on 2 May by representatives
of Social Democrats, Conservatives and Liberals. The draft will be submitted
to the plenary session of the European Parliament to be held next week
in Strasbourg.
The
Federal Union of European Nationalities (FUEN) [In French: Union Féderaliste
des Communautés Ethniques Européennes (UFCE); in German: Föderalistishce
Union Europäischer Volksgruppen (FUEV)] is an independent umbrella association
of the organisations of national minorities in Europe, which was established
in 1949. Today, the FUEN includes 76 member organisations from 32 states.
According to its statutes, the FUEN serves the ethnic groups in Europe
and pursues the goal of preserving their national identity, their language,
culture and the history of national minorities. This objective is pursued
only by peaceful means. It decisively takes a stand against separatism
and the violent moving of national borders, and works towards a neighbourly,
peaceful coexistence of majority and minority in one state or region.
In recognition of its efforts towards attaining protection for European
minorities, the FUEN obtained consultative status to the Council of
Europe in 1989 and a consultative status to the United Nations in 1995.
It is also represented at OSCE (the former CSCE) conferences concerning
national minorities and ethnic groups.
www.fuen.org, www.mari.ee
http://www.suri.ee
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