Registration of Civic
Forum participants is open

Today registration for the Civic Forum opens. The
event will take place in Moscow on 23 November. All non-political organisations
are invited to take part – those working for human rights, in environmental,
voluntary, educational, and charitable work, and others prepared to exchange
experiences and cooperate with each other.

Private individuals and the following representatives
of NGOs were the initiators of the forum: The Head of the Moscow Helsinki Group
Ludmila Alekseeva, a member of the management team of the Institute of
Contemporary Development Evgenii Gontmakher, a member of the management team of
the human rights organisation ‘Civic Control’ Anatolii Ermolin, the Chairman of
the Commission for Civic Initiatives Aleksei Kudrin, the Head of the Russian
branch of ‘Transparency International’ Elena Panfilova, the Editor-in-Chief of
the journal ‘The New Literary Review’ Irina Prokhorova, President of the
charity for the ‘Glasnost Defence Foundation’ Aleksei Simonov, director of the
Agency for Social Information Elena Topoleva, Director of ‘WWF Russia’ Igor
Chestin and Manager of the Centre for Social Rating, RIA Novosti Irina Yasina.
Pavel Tulin and Elena Topoleva, members of the management team of the Altai
Union for Entrepreneurs, were chosen as co-presidents of the organising
committee for the Civic’ Forum, alongside Kudrin. Evgenii Gontmakher was chosen
as secretary. In total, the organising committee included about 30 representatives
of Russian social organisations.

‘Together we will discuss the challenges the country
faces, we will work out suggestions for the further development of civil
society and the amendment of legislation regarding social organisations’, reads
a statement from the forum’s organising committee. ‘We are open to discussion
with all representatives of the social and political spheres, including the
authorities, who understand that a strong civil society is necessary for
building Russia’s future.’ 

Approximately 1,000 people are expected to take part.

To register for the forum, complete the questionnaire
and send it to the organising committee. The format for the questionnaire can
be found on the KGI site: http://komitetgi.ru/projects/825/

The organising committee has created a designated
working group to select participants. The group is made up of Ludmila
Alekseeva, Anatolii Ermolin, Elena Malitskaya, Marina Mikhailova, Andrei
Nekipelov, Elena Panfilova, Andrei Petrov, Elena Topoleva-Soldunova, Pavel
Tulin, Elena Shatalova and Vladimir Yakimets.

http://www.asi.org.ru/ASI3/rws_asi.nsf/va_WebPages/E5E07685D82EC38C44257BDB00413E26Rus