Education < Feature Story

Bay Area and Russian NGOs Plan Legal Education Center in St. Petersburg

"The center would offer training and public education in human and environmental rights"

In San Francisco, delegates from several non-governmental organizations (NGOs) based in St. Petersburg, Russia met with Bay Area counterparts to share ideas for a proposed new environmental human-rights law center in Russia's second-largest city. The meeting was held from August 26 to September 6.

The seminar arose due to a growing need for environmental and human rights education in Russia - for the general public as well as law students - amidst a crackdown on environmental activists by that country's authorities.

"We are excited at the prospect of working hand in hand with the Russian participants to show they are not alone in their struggle to provide environmental justice and rights education to their community," said Jennifer Gaspar de Hamasaki, executive director of the Fund for International Nonprofit Development (FIND), a BAIDO member.

The seminar was convened as part of an Environmental Human Rights Law Initiative, launched by FIND, the St. Petersburg Law School and the participating NGOs from Russia. Its goal, said Gaspar de Hamasaki, was to increase understanding and build working relationships between the attending environmental defense, human rights, and law organizations.

The Environmental Human Rights Law Initiative's purpose is to encourage collaboration among the participating St. Petersburg NGOs, and to demonstrate the potential power of that collaboration in bringing about environmental justice.

This summer's seminar in San Francisco represented the first step toward creating a workable framework for such an institution. Participants drew up an initial document stating agreed program goals, which the Russian participants took back to St. Petersburg for implementation.

FIND also held a public-education forum in San Francisco during the seminar, where delegates addressed students, peers, and the community on the serious human-rights issues confronting Russia and the response of the NGO community. Members of the International Diplomacy Council (IDC), another BAIDO member, hosted the participants in their homes for the length of the seminar.

FIND supports non-profit and non-governmental agencies in Russia and elsewhere in the former Soviet Union through grant-making and management education for the organizations' leaders.

For more information on the Environmental Human Rights Law Initiative, contact Jennifer Gaspar de Hamasaki at FIND, (415) 546 6633, or email jgaspar@find-usa.org