News & Media

Memorial Receives the European Parliament's Sakharov Prize

16.12.2009

Remembering Natalia Estemirova - Human Rights defenders still at risk in Russia
 
The European Parliament has awarded today the Sakharov Prize for the Freedom of Thought to Ludmila Alekseeva, Sergei Kovaliov and Oleg Orlov, from the NGO Memorial Human Rights Centre and other human rights activists in Russia The European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE) welcomes the prize as a sign of support for Russian civil society and stresses that NGOs continue to face immense difficulties in their work in the Russian Federation. “The EU’s support towards human rights activists who work from the region and people who come to Europe fleeing this terror is essential”, said Bjarte Vandvik, ECRE Secretary General.

Trying to find a safe haven: From the North Caucasus battleground to face the EU asylum lottery
With 18.000 asylum claims, in 2008, citizens of the Russian Federation (most being from Chechnya) were the second largest group of people seeking protection in the EU, where they had to face a dangerous asylum lottery. In 2008, virtually no Chechens were recognised as refugees in Slovakia, while in Lithuania, Austria, Poland and Denmark over 70% of Chechen asylum seekers were given international protection. Under the Dublin system, as a general rule, the first EU Member State that an asylum seeker reaches is the one to examine the application.