Holding on to Legalism

Abstract

Russian nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) increasingly pursue domestic change by litigating before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). The Russian government aims to decrease the amount of these applications and curtail the activities of these NGOs. In Russia, where legalism is often performed but sparsely delivered, NGOs engage into advocacy to supplement their international litigation. Advocating for domestic policy changes has, however, become potentially dangerous for NGOs under new curtailing legislation. Through interviews with Russian human rights practitioners, this article analyzes how two NGOs -the Anti-Discrimination Centre Memorial and the Committee against Torture -work in between their belief that law can effect into change and the necessity to supplement their litigation with other strategies. In particular, it analyzes the interactions between the state and the NGOs by examining, first, how NGOs mobilize claims before the Court as leverage in disputes, and second, how a restrictive environment affects the NGOs' litigation.

Territoriality and Status in Human Rights Litigation: The Case of Israel/Palestine

“…Methodology I adopted a cultural approach to examine how the lawyers explain and justify their actions, with an emphasis on their explanations and interpretations (that is, discursive strategies) rather than the legal arguments they use in court (Ziv 2018;Golan and Orr 2012;Van der Vet 2014). I therefore used in-depth interviews as my primary data source.…”

“…On the one hand, arguing that their client's case falls within the parameters that define a state's obligations to uphold rights-that is, because their political status grants them certain rights or because they reside in a territory that falls under the state's jurisdiction-will likely aid their case. On the other hand, relying on a state's allocation of political status or its definition of its territorial obligations may silence political protestations concerning past and present injustices that established and supported these parameters in the first place (Patler 2018;Hajjar 2017;Kemp and Kfir 2016;Bisharat 2012;Jabareen 2010;Yashar 2005;van der Vet 2014).…”

The lawyers as guardians of the case file: on human-material encounters in immigration law in Russia

“…i These are the special kind of cause lawyers in Russia, who help asylum seekers lodge refugee status applications, defend them against expulsion or deportation and fight for their right to legal status in Russia. ii While marginal within the broader legal profession, these lawyers do not hesitate to sue the state in domestic courts and before international legal fora in the pursuit of justice on behalf of their clients and to set important international legal precedents (Hendley, 2002;Trochev, 2012;Trochev, 2009;Van der Vet, 2018;Van der Vet, 2014;Kubal, 2016). They would have 'chosen legal careers which express their commitments to social change and helping' (Menkel-Meadow, 1998: 48) to those most vulnerable within the Russian society, and undertake largely pro-bono work.…”