The first meeting of the CIS Human Rights Commission was held on November 29 in Minsk.
Opening a meeting of the commission, the chairman of the CIS Executive Committee Sergei Lebedev noted: “It is symbolic that the first meeting of the Commission on Human Rights of the CIS is held in the year of the 75th anniversary of the General Convention on Human Rights.”
The head of the CIS Executive Committee expressed confidence that the commission will become an important tool in protecting human rights and freedoms in the CIS countries.
The CIS Human Rights Commission should be concentrated not on political, but on humanitarian issues. This was stated by the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation Tatyana Moskalkova, elected by the chairman of the commission for two years.
The decision to create a human rights commission in the CIS was made more than 10 years ago. The decision to hold the first meeting was made last year in Astana,
The commission includes representatives of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
The interstate body will be engaged in the preparation of thematic reports on topical issues of protecting human rights and freedoms in the CIS, as well as consider the reports submitted by states.