Abstract
Within the framework of the article the problem of inequality in the Third Sector is defined. The authors tie the production and institutionalization of this inequality with laws that were passed in the sphere of the regulation of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in recent years as well as with several draft laws. The analysis focuses on the “foreign agent” status. Organizations that receive this status have more obligations and fewer rights in comparison with other NGOs. According to the research, the burden of a foreign agent status can be measured in terms of legal discrimination, but it also may be measured financially. The authors see fit to analyze other existing legal statuses of Russian NGOs, above all the status of an NGO realizing socially valuable projects (SO NGO), and to compare them with the legal status of a “foreign agent” NGO. The analysis shows that foreign agent NGOs and SO NGOs gradually stand at opposite poles of the legal system: the former are synonymous with politically and legally undesirable subjects, whereas the latter step by step become the state-oriented, useful organizations meriting additional support, protection and social, economic and legal benefits.
Highlights
Introduction and ContextThe term “foreign agents law” is used to describe the set of amendments to the statutory acts regulating the activities of non-profit organizations (NPOs) on the territory of the Russian Federation that were passed in the summer of 2012.1 Only one non-profit organization2 that operated on Russian territory entered the Federal Ministry of Justice list of foreign agents voluntarily
The analysis shows that foreign agent non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and SO NGOs gradually stand at opposite poles of the legal system: the former are synonymous with politically and legally undesirable subjects, whereas the latter step by step become the state-oriented, useful organizations meriting additional support, protection and social, economic and legal benefits
The general anxiety felt by non-governmental organization (NGO) employees related to the question of whether they could maintain the flow of their work unhampered and preserve the reputation of their organization rather than to the complication of the daily activities of, and the furnishing of statements by, their organization
Summary
The term “foreign agents law” is used to describe the set of amendments to the statutory acts regulating the activities of non-profit organizations (NPOs) on the territory of the Russian Federation that were passed in the summer of 2012.1 Only one non-profit organization that operated on Russian territory entered the Federal Ministry of Justice list of foreign agents voluntarily. The law was not having the intended effect This situation initiated a wave of investigations by prosecutors against organizations that, in the opinion of regulatory agencies, should be added to the list of organizations functioning as foreign agents. The media formed the public image of a foreign agent as something not very different from a “foreign spy.” The picture was completed by the judicial proceedings against the most politically active (or the most discriminated against) organizations – in Moscow it was the Golos scandal,. After the unscheduled inspections in the spring of 2013, several NPOs received remedial action orders or advisements on the inadmissibility of the federal law infringement; in the majority of cases public prosecutors’ offices did not publish any documents as a result of their investigative activities. Golos is still listed in the registry of foreign agents
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