II International Sakharov Congress [Обьявление: II Международный Сахаровский Конгресс]

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The year 2001 is the tenth anniversary of the dissolution of the USSR. It is also the year of Andrei Sakharov 80th birthday and 10 years from the First International Sakharov Congress "Peace, Progress, Human Rights". Despite significant changes during the last 10 years in the countries of the former Soviet Union, many of the hopes for democratic development symbolized by Andrei Sakharov were not realized. At the same time, there are almost no contacts and little co-operation between the democratic forces of the post-Soviet countries. For the above reasons The Andrei Sakharov Foundation decided to conduct the Second International Sakharov Congress "Peace, Progress, Human Rights".The main purpose of the Congress is to promote networking and co-operation of the democratic forces from the different countries of the former Soviet Union. The overall theme of the Congress is
"10 years after Soviet Union: crisis of democratic values and ways of overcoming it." Congress will open on November 28, 2001 in "cyber-space" at www.sakharov-congress-hall.ru and will continue its work for approximately two months. In the spring of 2002 The Andrei Sakharov Foundation is planning to conduct a seminar with the Congress' participants to plan future work. For the countries of the former Soviet Union, Congress will be the fist full-scale electronic conference. The experience and insight gained by Congress' participants will have significant value in determining ways of using the electronic space as an instrument of civil society Congress will develop recommendation to the civil society organizations and to the countries' authorities. The work will be organized around the following sessions:

• 1. Post-Soviet societies: myths and reality; 2. Problems and mechanisms of civil society development in the countries of the former Soviet Union; 3. Politicians' responsibility to respect human rights; 4. Human rights work in the countries of the former Soviet Union; 5. Post-Soviet information space: information as a commodity, weapon and living space; 6. Problems of migration, refugees and the freedom of movement on the post-soviet space; 7. Problems of democracy in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan; 8. Problems of democracy in Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia; 9. The war in Chechnya and the work of NGOs in civil and ethnic conflicts; 10. The challenge of the XXI century: the concept of the Open Society in light of the acts of terrorism in USA on September 11.

Congress' electronic format allows the program to be flexible and to add additional topics of discussion if necessary. Questions and suggestions should be addressed to the Organizing Committee at
sc@sakharov-center.ru or by phone (095) 923-44-20,(095) 917-26-53 (fax).Organizing Committee:

Chair

• (Russia)

Deputy Chair

• A. Semyonov, The Andrei Sakharov Foundation (USA);

Members:

• N. Ablova; Bureau for Human Rights and Law (Kyrgyzstan);

V. Gefter; Human Rights Institute (Russia);
P. Dyryldaev; Kyrgyz Human Rights Committee (in exile) (Austria);
E. Kline; The Andrei Sakharov Foundation (USA);
S. ; The Andrei Sakharov Foundation (Russia);
Yu. ; Andrei Sakharov Museum and Public Center (Russia)
A. Sasykbaeva; Public group "Interbelim" (Kyrgyzstan);Secretary

• Gul'nur Kulambaeva (Russia).

Financial support for Congress is provided by Jacob Blaustein Institute (USA) and by National Endowment For Democracy (USA). The Organizing Committee express deep gratitude for the support.