Civil Society in Russia

The human rights and civil society situation in the Russian Federation is deteriorating. The law on Non-Commercial Organisations (also known as law on "foreign agents") is preventing the growth and rise of emerging civil society. The increasing number of recent court cases against civil society organisations is also a worrying feature.

The evolution of civil and social dialogue in Russia and the impact on existing civil society organisations should also be examined against this background.

Other restrictive legislations such as legislation on the propaganda of "non-traditional sexual relations" to minors generate stigmatization and increases discrimination and homophobic violence.

The objective of the own-initiative opinion is to analyse the state of affairs of civil society in Russia and to elaborate recommendations on how the EU and EU civil society organization can contribute for improving the working conditions for civil society organizations in Russia and for the strengthening of genuine civil and social dialogue.