On December 10th, 1948 the UN General Assembly adopted the Universal Human Rights Declaration. Since then December 10th has become the Human Rights Day. Tatjana Zdanoka, the MEP on behalf of the Latvian Russian Union and a co-founder of the Latvian Human Rights Committee, is telling why the principles set by that crucial international document are of paramount importance for us now.
The Latvian Human Rights Committee was established in 1992, a year after the USSR had been dismantled. Answering the question if human rights work has changed in the course of these thirty years, Tatjana Zdanoka tells, ”It is easier to respond by repeating the phrase, ”Everything flows and changes”. However, anyone operating in this area should have their foothold. For me, it is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights with its ”All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood”.
Tatjana Zdanoka expresses the view that ”the reasons why some people regard the notion of ”human rights” to be outdated are complex. On one hand, the authorities introduce laws under the pretext of defending human rights which people perceive as unjust. For instance, the authorities of Latvia are trying to justify the law which makes the Latvian language the only language of instruction by their concern that Latvian-speaking and Russian-speaking Latvians should have equal opportunities. On the other hand, people themselves often have a tendency to misuse the terms. If someone steps on your feet, you might scream that your rights are violated. Or if someone makes you feel annoyed because they are different, not like you, or has a different view on some events, you might also express your irritation by referring that it violates your rights”.
Tatjana Zdanoka points out that ”In fact, the claims are accepted only in case when the norms that people have agreed to comply with are violated. In particular, it is required to comply with international obligations, the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights being the most recent of them”. Tatjana Zdanoka stresses that the Latvian Russian Union directly introduced the wording of the Charter relating to the prohibition of discrimination into their new party program adopted at the December 5, 2021 Congress.
Tatjana Zdanoka states, ”Unfortunately, some decisions made by the European Parliament are based not just on double standarts but on double approaches”. As an example, she refers to the Polish ruling ”Law and Justice” party, ”They are being subjected to severe criticism from the EP majority for their refusal to respect the opposition, for their failure to comply with order on judicial independence, for their pressure upon media. However, when representatives of the same party table their resolutions with critics towards Russia, they are eagerly adopted”.
Tatjana Zdanoka gives another example of the same trend. She tells, ”Recently the European Parliament adopted the resolution on ”Strengthening Media Freedom: the Protection of Journalists in Europe, Hate Speech, Disinformation and the Role of Platforms”. It is, indeed, a very important topic. However, the text of the resolution is nothing but mere rhetoric and platitudes. The only name mentioned in the document is Daphne Anne Caruana Galizia, the slain journalist in Malta who carried out journalist investigations”. Tatjana goes on, ”At that, several MEPs from the ”Left” parliamentary group tabled an amendment with the name of Julian Assange, an investigative journalist exposed corruption in the highest echelons of power and who has been persecuted for more than ten years. This amendment was not supported”.
Tatjana Zdanoka says, ”As for the cases of politically-motivated prosecution in the three Baltic states when journalists are accused of ”acting against the interests of their states”, it is extremely hard to break through the wall of silence”. She tells of the fate of the Latvian journalist Yury Alekseev who has been sentenced to 14 months of imprisonment by the first-instance court, ”The EP resolution fully refers to his case”. She also tells about 15 Latvian journalists who are being charged with ”violating the EU sanctions regime against Russia” for actually their journalist work. Zdanoka also reminds of Algirdas Paleckis accused of espionage in Lithuania because of his historical research whose case is being heard now by the appeal court. Another Lithuanian, Aleksey Greychus, has already the guilty verdict in a case similar ro Paleckis, Zdanoka states. Sergey Seredenko, an Estonian human rights defender, is under trial there, she tells.
Telling of Sergey Seredenko’s case Tatjana Zdanoka reminds that in spring 2019 her colleague Miroslav Mitrofanov held hearings at the European Parliament which were organised to discuss facts of politically-motivated prosecution in the Baltic states. ”The fact that Seredenko took part in that event is being interpreted one of the reasons to accuse him while in fact his participation is something which should be used for his defense”, Tatjana Zdanoka states.
MEP Zdanoka tells of support Algirdas Paleckis got from some of her colleagues with the European Parliament. She tells, ”In the end of September this year we held a round table dedicated to Algirdas. It was organised together with two MEPs from Ireland, Clare Daly and Mick Wallace. All together we have been following all the developments in Paleckis’ case. We also attend hearings in the Lithuanian Supreme Court as observers”.
Tatjana Zdanoka expresses her certainty that in a case when an individual’s rights are violated by a state which is a member of the EU, ”it is necessary to apprehend the inevitable attempts by the MEPs from this country ruling parties to disrupt the proposal to speak up in support of a person”.
Tatjana Zdanoka mentions here the ”Orwellian reality” when “all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others”. We all know that George Orwell participated in a real war, when the term ”hybrid warfare” was not invented yet. It is Russia and recently Belarus which are being pictured as aggressors in the ”hybrid warfare”. Daria Krivonos, a researcher at the University of Helsinki, has published an article on the migrants’ crisis in which she warns against thoughtless use of the ”hybrid warfare” term. In her article Daria Krivonos specifies, ”the narrative of “hybrid warfare” does not only misplace the warfare. It also creates a sense that human rights too can become “hybrid” and therefore suspended under these supposedly exceptional “hybrid” circumstances”. Tatjana Zdanoka adds, ”This is an absolutely accurate remark. To add to this, if the word ”hybrid” is used in broader contexts, we would start talking about ”hybrid espionage”, ”hybrid antistate activity”, ”hybrid violation of sanctions”, etc”.
To conclude, Tatjana Zdanoka calls on all, ”It is high time to finally stop and return to the foundations of the basics, without any hybrids – to the concept of a PERSON and her RIGHTS”.
