Prime Minister,
Dear participants of the Forum,

On behalf of the Russian Federation and its delegation I would like to express our gratitude to Sweden and Prime Minister Persson for the continuous effort to unite the international community in the search for ways of building a common future without violence and with respect for the human right to a worthy life.

Modern history has seen that even countries with long-established democratic traditions, developed economies and social well-being are not immune to incidents of genocide. We are not only talking about the violation of minority rights, but also about attempts by extremist elements within minorities to undermine the security of the majority. I am talking about international terrorism claiming the lives of thousands of people in this enlightened century.

Under these new historic circumstances we, state representatives, bear the highest responsibility for preventing genocide in all its manifestations, including instances of ethnic discrimination, xenophobia and anti-Semitism.

Russia gives high priority to the strengthening of international cooperation in combating genocide. Our country is a party to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Russia has signed the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) providing for criminal persecution for serious international crimes including genocide. At present, in conformity with the instruction of the President of the Russian Federation, our criminal legislation and the rules of criminal proceedings are under revision to be further brought into line with the requirements of the ICC Statute. This will enable us to ratify the Statute and conscientiously fulfill its obligations. The Penal Code of the Russian Federation includes a specific provision for serious criminal punishment for committing the crime of genocide.

Protecting the constitutional rights of an individual and a citizen, including those related to his/her ethnic origin, is one of the key priorities in the work of governmental authorities in modern Russia. The Concept of the State Nationality (Ethnic) Policy of the Russian Federation was adopted in 1996 by the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation. Implementation of its main principles, such as equality of rights and freedoms of an individual and a citizen irrespective of his/her race, language or religion, and banning any activity aimed at provoking social, racial, international or religious discord, is considered by Russia’s government as one of the main strategies in building a harmonious and integrated society.

I will give you just one example. Only ten years ago there were about 40 national languages taught in schools in the Russian Federation.
Today more than 80 different languages are included in the curriculums within the state education system and more that 9000 ethnic schools are in place.

Russia is not only a multi-ethnic state (according to the 2002 census there are about 160 nationalities represented in the country), but is also religiously diverse, containing several large religious faiths. There are 21. 5 thousand officially registered religious organizations representing not only the so called “traditional” religions, but also over 60 other faiths. Islam is in second place after the Russian Orthodox Church in the number of believers. There are over 15 million Muslims in Russia. Thousands of new mosques have been built in the last decade alone.

The Russian Federation is one of the few countries in the world where native non-Russian peoples enjoy ethno-territorial autonomy guaranteed by the Constitution, including the most important attributes of a state system such as a high level of self-governance and federal representation. Out of eighty-nine equal constituents of the Russian Federation thirty-two are in essence national state formations that enjoy full political and administrative autonomy. There are about two thousand active ethnic public organizations, more than three hundred national cultural autonomies on the regional and local levels and fifteen on the federal level. All of these organizations are working closely with state authorities on all levels and with local self-governing institutions.

We believe that a dialogue with these organizations is a guarantee of coexistence based on equal rights of representatives of different nationalities, races, ethnicities and religious beliefs. It is especially important as the acts of terrorism in Moscow and other cities have made it easy to use nationality or race as a basis for accusations of guilt. Another factor complicating the situation is the huge immigration into Russia. About 6 million people have immigrated to Russia in the last 12 years.

In these circumstances the government has been taking decisive measures to prevent and counteract extremism. The law “On Preventing and Counteracting Extremist Activities” with increased liability including criminal prosecution for organization of groups advocating social, racial or religious intolerance has entered into force. The National Patriotic Party and Russian National Unity association have been banned. Public prosecutor’s offices have opened about thirty criminal cases prosecuting unlawful activities against representatives of different ethnic groups.

Ministry of Press, Television and Radio has issued warnings to a number of publishing houses for publications with contents provoking inter-ethnic hostilities.

The ethno-confessional situation in the country is being monitored by independent scientific experts.

The Federal Program “Shaping Attitudes of Tolerance and Preventing Extremism in Russian Society” is being put into action. The program includes introducing measures in educational institutions in order to enhance the role of the family, public organizations, mass media and the state in promoting the culture of international relations and respect for the rights of an individual. These measures give special attention to the lessons of the Holocaust to preclude the possibility of this monstrous and inhuman tragedy from ever happening again.

Dear Forum participants,

The Russian Delegation supports the Draft Declaration of our Forum where special attention is required of leaders and governments concerning responsibility to prevent genocide in the name of future generations.

In June this year, Russia together with the European Council will host an international forum “The Dialogue of Cultures and Cooperation between Religions”. The Forum will be held in the Volga Region with its centuries-long tradition of peaceful coexistence and cooperation between the many nationalities living in Russia, and between Orthodox Christianity and Islam. On this occasion I would like to invite you to participate in this event.