The Moscow Helsinki Group (also known as the Moscow Helsinki Watch Group) is a pathbreaking and influential human rights monitoring group, originally started in what was then the Soviet Union; it still operates in Russia. Human rights are rights which some hold to be inalienable and belonging to all humans. ...

It was founded in 1976 to monitor the Soviet Union's compliance with the recently-signed Helsinki Final Act of 1975, which included clauses calling for the recognition of universal human rights. 1976 (MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday. ... The Helsinki Accords is the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe held in Helsinki in 1975 between the United States and Canada, the Soviet Union and the countries of Europe, including Turkey but not Albania. ...

Its pioneering efforts inspired the formation of similar groups in other Warsaw Pact countries, as well as support groups in the West. In Czechoslovakia, Charter 77 was founded in January 1977; members of that group would later play key roles in the otherthrow of the communist dictatorship in Czechoslovakia. In Poland, a Helsinki Watch Group was founded in September, 1979. Unofficial Seal of the Warsaw Pact Distinguish from the Warsaw Convention, which is an agreement among airlines about financial liability and the Treaty of Warsaw (1970) between West Germany and the Peoples Republic of Poland. ... The Charter 77 (Charta 77 in Czech and in Slovak) was an informal civic initiative in Czechoslovakia from 1977 to 1992, named after the document Charter 77 from January 1977. ... For the album by Ash, see 1977 (album). ... This article is about communism as a form of society and as a political movement. ... World dictatorships. ... This page refers to the year 1979. ...

Eventually, the collection of Helsinki monitoring groups inspired by the Moscow Helsinki Group formed the International Helsinki Federation. The International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF) is a self-governing group of non-governmental, not-for-profit organizations that act to protect human rights throughout Europe, North America and Central Asia. ...

Details

Helsinki monitoring efforts began in the then Soviet Union began shortly after the publication of the Helsinki Final Act in Soviet newspapers.

On May 12, 1976, Yuri Orlov announced the formation of the "Public Group to Promote Fulfillment of the Helsinki Accords in the USSR", to monitor Soviet compliance with the Helsinki Final Act. The eleven founders of the group also included Yelena Bonner, Anatoly Shcharansky, Anatoly Marchenko, Lyudmila Alexeyeva, Mikhail Bernshtam, Alexander Ginzburg, Pyotr Grigorenko, Alexander Korchak, Malva Landa, and Vitaly Rubin. Ten other people, including layer Sofia Kalistratova, joined the Group later. May 12 is the 132nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (133rd in leap years). ... Yury Orlov (born August 13, 1924) is a prominent nuclear physicist, a former Soviet dissident, and a human rights activist. ... Soviet redirects here. ... Yelena Georgiyevna Bonner (Russian language: Елена Георгиевна Боннер, born February 15, 1923) is a human rights activist in the former Soviet Union and wife of late Andrei Sakharov. ... Natan Sharansky (Russian: Натан Щаранский, born January 20, 1948) is a notable Soviet dissident, Israeli politician and an author. ... Alexander Ginzburg Alexander (Alik) Ilyich Ginzburg (Russian: ; November 21, 1936 Moscow – July 19, 2002 Paris), was a Russian journalist, poet, human rights activist and dissident. ... Pyotr Grigoryevich Grigorenko, alternative Petro Grigorenko (Russian: Петр Григоренко) (1907-1987) is a former Major General in the Soviet Army and prominent Soviet human right activist, a dissident and a writer. ...

The group's goal was to uphold the responsibility of the Soviet Union's government to implement the commitments on human rights made in the Helsinki documents. They based their group's legal viability on the provision in the Helsinki Final Act, Principle VII, which establishes the rights of individuals to know and act upon their rights and duties.

The Soviet authorities responded with severe repression of the group's members over the next three years; tactics used included arrests and imprisonment, internal exile, confinement to psychiatric hospitals, and forced emigration. By the end of 1981, only Elena Bonner, Sofia Kalistratova and Naum Meiman were free, as a result of the unremitting campaign of persecution. The Moscow Helsinki Group was forced to cease operation, and it announced its own dissolution. 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Yelena Georgiyevna Bonner (Russian language: Елена Георгиевна Боннэр, born February 15, 1923) is a human rights activist in the former Soviet Union and wife of late Andrei Sakharov. ...

However, in 1989, in the atmosphere of glasnost, it was re-established. A group of nine human rights activists, led by Larisa Bogoraz, the widow of Anatoly Marchenko, formally restarted formally restarted the group on July 28, 1989. Included among the re-founders were Yuri Orlov and Lyudmila Alekseyeva, both part of the original group. Other prominent members are Larisa Bogoraz, Sergey Kovalev, Viatcheslav Bakhmin, Lev Timofeev, Henry Reznick, Lev Ponomarev, Gleb Yakunin, and Aleksei Simonov. 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Larisa Iosifovna Bogoraz (August 8, 1929 - April 6, 2004) was a dissident in the Soviet Union (now Russia). ... July 28 is the 209th day (210th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 156 days remaining. ... Larisa Iosifovna Bogoraz (August 8, 1929 - April 6, 2004) was a dissident in the Soviet Union (now Russia). ... Sergei Kovalev Sergei Adamovich Kovalev (Russian: ) (born March 2, 1930) is a notable dissident and political prisoner in the former Soviet Union, and a human rights activist and politician in post-Soviet Russia. ...

Leaders

• Yuri Orlov (1976-1982)
• Larisa Bogoraz (1989-1993)
• Kronid Arkad’evich Lubarsky (1993-1996)
• Lyudmila Michailovna Alekseyeva (since 1996)

Yury Orlov (born August 13, 1924) is a prominent nuclear physicist, a former Soviet dissident, and a human rights activist. ... Larisa Iosifovna Bogoraz (August 8, 1929 - April 6, 2004) was a dissident in the Soviet Union (now Russia). ...

See also

• Sofia Kalistratova

External links

• Moscow Helsinki Group
• Moscow Helsinki Group
• Moscow Helsinki Group (MHG)

Sources

• About the Netherlands Helsinki Committee