AMNESTY’S MASTERCLASS FOR STUDENTS

‘An Introduction to Human Rights: Human Rights in Russia Today’

When? Saturday 20 May 2017, 11:00-15:00 (lunch included)
Where? ‘Amnesty-house’, Keizersgracht 177, Amsterdam

During Amnesty’s Masterclasses for Students, we will offer an introduction to human rights and talk about current human rights issues. We will start with a general introduction about human rights and the work of Amnesty. After the lunch, the Russia coordinators from Amnesty Netherlands will come to discuss the human rights situation in Russia. The masterclass is open to students working in different disciplines and will be held in English. Attendance is free of charge, but registration is required because of limited capacity.

Russia Today “Russia is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.” – Winston Churchill. What is certainly true is that it is not easy to explain Russia. There are many different perceptions of Russia: there is Putin’s Russia, human rights defenders Russia, Chechen people’s Russia, lgbti’s Russia, hipster’s Russia, women’s Russia… Moscow and Grozny are two different entirely different worlds, different planets almost, but at the same time both Russia.

In this masterclass we will look at Russia through human rights glasses and see how Russia has changed over the past two decades: Putin’s era. We will talk about the Bolotnaya demonstrations in 2011-2012, when hope for change was soon crushed in piles of repressive legislation. About the survival of human rights ngo’s in a hostile environment – the Russian authorities are killing them softly, with tricky laws, fake news and alternative truth as sophisticated weapons, resulting in the current illusion of democracy. And last but not least about the somewhat hopeful latest developments: the new wave of protest in which so many young people took part.