Contemporary Issues
World Russian People’s Council opened in Moscow
By
Apr 4, 2006, 23:57

Moscow, April 4, Interfax - The World Russian People’s Council, a church-public forum opened at the Church of Christ the Saviour on Tuesday, will have as its main theme the Mission of the Church in the 21st Century.

Among the central themes for the Council is the protection of human rights and freedoms.

As Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad stated before the opening of the forum, the human rights advocacy should be a subject of attention not only for the civil society but also for the Russian Orthodox Church.

The participants are expected to consider among other things a project for an Orthodox Human Rights Center intended to help resolve problems involved in human rights and freedoms in accordance with Russian national and spiritual tradition.

‘The mistake of many human rights activists today is that their work disagrees with the opinion and values of most of our people. The faults in today’s human rights advocacy should rectified,’ Metropolitan Kirill said.

Founded in 1993, the Council seeks to play a considerable role in forming the civil society in Russia. Its meetings are attended by officials from all the power branches, public organizations leaders, high-ranking clergy of the traditional religions, educators from major universities, scholars and cultural figures, delegates from communities in the near and far abroad, representatives of the youth.

From its outset the Council was called to become a representative public forum, a meeting place for people of various political convictions united by concern for the future of Russia and set to engage in dialogue and cooperation.

Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russian has been the head of the Council from the very beginning.

On July 21, 2005, the World People’s Council was granted a special consultative status at the UN.

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