Human rights activity in the Russian Federation in the 1960's - early in the 21st century

The analysis of human rights activity during the second half of the 20th century - early 21st century allows us to assert that it had gone through a number of stages. In the second half of the 1950s - mid-1960s, the preconditions for human rights actions appeared. First, this was manifested in the relative democratization of the society, the humanization of legal relations, which enabled a part of the intelligentsia to expand their opportunities for demonstrating the freedom of creativity and demand the fulfillment of human rights enshrined in 1936 Constitution of the USSR. However, in time, the government established a rigid ideological framework to be observed, which some citizens did not accept. The ideology of dissent, which is personified, first, with human rights activists, started to form. In the second half of the 1960s, relatively mass human rights actions began to shape in various forms: sending letters to government structures, rallies and demonstrations in connection with the violation of the citizens' rights. In the late 1960s the world outlook programs of human rights defenders were developed. A. Sakharov's article "Reflection on Progress, Peaceful Coexistence and Intellectual Freedom" was particularly important then. At the turn of the 1960-1970s, the organizational structures of human rights defenders ("Initiative Group for the Protection of Human Rights in the USSR", "Human Rights Committee in the USSR") took shape. Through the network of "samizdat" (self-published) literature, human rights defenders established contacts with their supporters in the regions of the country, including Western Siberia. Some human rights organizations ("Human Rights Committee in the USSR") were first recognized in foreign countries and the UNO, which caused opposition from power structures that acted thoughtfully and flexibly, combining the methods of "prevention" and criminal penalties. A new stage in the work of human rights defenders that occurred in the second half of the 1970s is associated with the period of easing of international tension. The Moscow Helsinki Group, established in the USSR, assumed the responsibility for monitoring the implementation of humanitarian articles of the all-European meeting held in 1975. It began to inform the government and the public of Western countries about human rights violations in the country. That is the activities of human rights defenders acquired a political character. Due to the specific situation, human rights defenders became the hostages of the relations between the USSR and the United States against them in the center (Moscow) and the regions ("Tomsk case"). According to authors, in the mid-1980s, the next stage of human rights activism began, which continues to the present time. It is connected with the policy of Perestroika, the demand for dissident ideas and their active participation in the political struggle for power. The human rights movement has become legalized. Non-governmental organizations have been established to protect political, civil, social and economic human rights.

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