Kazan helps reunite East and West

The European Ombudsman Conference will take place in Kazan this year in October. That is the decision made at the meeting of RT President Mintimer Shaimiev and the chief director of the European Ombudsman Institute, Nikolaus Schwaerzler. The meeting was held on March 3 in the Kazan Kremlin.

Earlier, the European Ombudsman Association, which residence is in Ginsburg (Austria), approved of holding the conference in Kazan. They believe that the symposium will help the ombudsmen working in the East and West get closer. Tatarstan will serve as a center. An ombudsman is a specially appointed official responsible for the observation of human, citizen and peoples rights. Nikolaus Schwaerzler thinks that Tatarstan occupies a worthy place in the Ombudsman Association in Europe owing to the successful work of Rashit Vagizov, the RT Commissioner for Human Rights. Tatarstan has been chosen because people of many nationalities and religions live here. The participants intend to discuss the role of the ombudsman in preventing ethnical, national and religious conflicts. This sort of conflicts sometimes happen in Europe, Nikolaus Schwaerzler marked. The role of the ombudsman historically came down to bringing the conflict to peace, but now we want to reconsider and change this role, enabling the ombudsman to not only reconcile the conflicting sides, but also make preventive measures. Tatarstan is believed to be a region where the possible conflicts are avoided.

The human rights issue in the Russian Federation is uncertain, Rashit Vagizov said to the journalists after the meeting. There are problems caused by confessional or national differences. The public security, struggle for women and children rights, liquidating poverty, and terror – this kind of problems need to be solved. In his opinion, this sort of conferences usually take place in Europe or America. This is the first time it will be hold in Russia.

On the same day the Vice–Chairman Robert Minnullin met with Nikolaus Schwaerzler in the State Council. They discussed the issues of human rights in Tatarstan, and things concerning the holding of the European Ombudsman Conference.