About This Initiative2006 Activities
The Human Rights and Governance Grants Program's (HRGGP) largest effort, the Government Accountability Initiative, provides ongoing funding to roughly 100 local and international organizations that increase government accountability and transparency to stem corruption and enhance government responsiveness to the public interest.
In 2006, the Think Tank Fund, another HRGGP program, extended its activities to promote inclusive policymaking on critical issues to Albania, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. It also launched the Open Society New Response Projects to support independent policy centers in eight Central European and Baltic countries to promote policy research and alternatives on issues critical to effective and accountable democratic governance.
The following briefs describe some of the program’s activities and achievements in 2006.
Local NGO Brings Environmental Accountability to Pipeline
An OSI-supported Russian environmental NGO initiated new legal actions that challenged the legality and accountability of Russia’s largest pipeline project, the Siberia-Pacific Oil Pipeline. Working with other groups, the NGO developed cases exposing administrative violations by local officials and staff from the Russian pipeline company, Transneft. The legal cases, which play an important role in protecting the region’s unique ecosystems, build upon an earlier victory by environmental groups that cancelled locating the pipeline’s terminal in the ecologically sensitive Amur bay.
Human Rights Groups Challenge Torture in Ukraine
A grantee supported by both the program and the International Renaissance Foundation concluded a three-year project to challenge the acceptance and use of torture in Ukraine. The Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, together with a nationwide coalition of NGOs, documented torture cases across the country, provided local legal aid and litigation services for hundreds of torture victims, and presented claims to the European Court of Human Rights that brought the court’s attention to government abuses.
European Court Condemns Illegal Detention of Mentally Disabled
Two program grantees teamed up in Hungary to win a landmark case challenging the involuntary commitment of a person with mental disabilities to a Hungarian psychiatric hospital. The Mental Disability Advocacy Center and the Hungarian Mental Health Interest Forum brought the case before the European Court of Human Rights on behalf of an individual who had been involuntarily detained. The court found Hungary in violation of the right to liberty and security, and confirmed that Hungary had failed to meet domestic and international obligations to provide protection against illegal detention.
Court Gives Russian Torture Victim a Landmark Victory
Alexei Mikheyev, who confessed to a fictitious crime after torture by Russian police, was paralyzed for life when he jumped through a window in a desperate attempt to escape his torturers. OSI grantees Interights and the Nizhni Novgorod Committee against Torture brought Mikheyev’s case to the European Court of Human Rights and won a landmark decision. The court found Russia in violation of European prohibitions on torture and ordered the state to provide damages of 250,000 euros, unprecedented in the court’s history.
NGOs Contribute to New Convention for Persons with Disabilities
A number of program grantees participated in drafting and successfully promoting the UN General Assembly’s adoption of a new human rights treaty to protect people with disabilities in December 2006. Mental Disability Rights International, the Mental Disability Advocacy Center, and the Hungarian Mental Health Interest Forum played key roles in helping shape the new treaty.
Kyrgyz Women Participate in Human Rights Monitoring Training
The program partnered with international and local groups to provide the first human rights monitoring training for women in Kyrgyzstan. Working with the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights and two local women's organizations, the program supported trainings on violence against women and the phenomenon of bride kidnapping. The trainings included instruction on how to document violations and present findings to the public and policymakers.
