During a conference on Strengthening Human Rights in Russia organized by the Norwegian Helsinki Committee in cooperation with Amnesty International Norway in Oslo on 19-22 September this year, a resolution on the establishment of the Natalia Estemirova Documentation Center was adopted by a group of nine leading Russian and international human rights organisations: Memorial Human Rights Center (Russia), Centre de la Protection Internationale (France and Russia), Stichting Russian Justice Initiative (Netherlands and Russia), Interregional Committee Against Torture (Russia), The Society of Russian-Chechen Friendship (Finland), Norwegian Helsinki Committee, Human Rights Watch, Civil Rights Defenders and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH).
The Documentation Center will store and systematize information on violations of human rights, humanitarian law and international criminal law relevant to the on-going human rights crisis in the North Caucasus region of the Russian Federation.
The Center’s objective is to collect material in order to put an end to the climate of impunity in the region and help preserve an accurate historical memory, essential for an effective process of transitional justice. The Documentation Center will cooperate with relevant organisations, institutions and individuals seeking information about the North Caucasus crisis.
The name was chosen in order to honor our close colleague and friend Natalia Estemirova of Memorial Human Rights Center, who was abducted in Chechnya and brazenly killed on 15 July 2009. Natalia gave her life in the struggle for truth and justice, and by establishing the Natalia Estemirova Documentation Center in Oslo, the signatory organisations aspire to honor her commitment and to protect and promote her legacy.
Read the resolution:
– in English
– in Russian