About This Initiative2007 Activities
2007 saw a number of landmark precedents as a result of work undertaken by grantees of the Human Rights and Governance Program.
A major victory was reached for women's reproductive rights at the European Court of Human Rights in Tysiac v. Poland. Alicia Tysiac was denied an abortion by the Polish government, despite doctors' warnings that the pregnancy posed a threat to her health. The birth subsequently rendered her partially blind and unable to work. Thanks to advocacy and support from the Center for Reproductive Rights, Interights, and the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights in Poland, the European Court of Human Rights determined that the Polish Government had breached the right to privacy as defined by the European Convention for Human Rights, and awarded damages.
Green Alternative, another grantee, won an important case for freedom of information and privatization accountability in Georgia. The Tbilisi City Court decided against the Ministry of Economic Development, requiring the agency to declassify documents related to the transfer of shares of a state-owned enterprise and provide Green Alternative with a copy of the privatization agreement.
In another case brought before the European Court of Human Rights, this time by the Russian Justice Initiative, the court handed down a strongly worded decision condemning the disappearances of people detained by Russian forces in Chechnya. The court ordered Russia to pay compensation for moral damages and also to take steps to properly investigate disappearances. The court's recognition of the problem of disappearances can be considered a precedent for the way future cases are handled in Chechnya.
The human rights community achieved another significant victory when Kazakhstan signed the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture. Advocacy by the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law, the Almaty Helsinki Committee, and the Charter for Human Rights, played a strong role in winning the government's decision to ratify. The protocols will substantially strengthen human rights protections and remedies for violations in that country.
