Russia Ends Opposition to Rights Court

Summary:
The article "Russia Ends Opposition to Rights Court" by Ellen Barry and published on January 15, 2010 in the New York Times explains how the Russian Parliament is deciding to accept Protocol 14 and establish some common ground with it's fellow European countries. Russia was one of 47 countries who refused to ratify Protocol 14. The reason behind this was because Russia looked askance to the International Human Rights Court due to some accusations it's made about Russia in the past. In the past this Court has received several complaints, mainly from France, which has found Russian officials guilty of corruption, torture, and other misconducts. Part of why these complaints bothered Russia so much is because their judges were not part of the reviewing process of the complaints. Russia has decided to accept Protocol 14 and follow the same rules as the other nations as a way of becoming more connected to their fellow European neighbors. Russia felt that they weren't being heard before and that nobody was listening to their complaints. Now that they have been heard they are more willing to work in partner with the other nations in the Human Rights Court rather than against them. Russia has finally realized that it would benefit them to model after the west rather than hurt it. Russia wants to slowly start taking steps towards becoming a Liberal Democracy. Russia has also realized that they aren't as isolated as they thought and that the world needs them involved in global affairs.



Correlation:
This article relates to what we've learned so far in Comparative Government in numerous ways. Firstly, the legitimacy Russia felt for the Human Rights Court was weak because the Human Rights Court had ignored them in the past and uncovered some of their corrupt politicians therefore Russia doesn't trust the court. Secondly, this article describes how much Globalization impacts the world. The article says, "It is already clear that without Russian participation, the Council of Europe will be of no use to anyone.” This quote emphasizes that all countries are needed to cooperate together in order for an International Organization (such as the Human Rights Court) to exist. Also, even though Russia may be physically isolated or the people may feel like they're isolated from the outside world, they're not. What they choose to do and not to do effects other countries. As inferred in the excerpt from the article. Lastly, Aleksei V. Makarkin, a leading analyst at the Center for Political Technologies, a Moscow policy research group, said that these steps Russia is making is a slow advance towards liberalization. This would allude that Russia would be ridding of their communist and socialist values of freedom and stepping towards the equality values of liberals.

Photo Credit: www.russian.arizona.edu/russia.jpg


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