OREANDA-NEWS. November 12, 2012. Vladimir Putin is holding a meeting of the Council for Civil Society and Human Rights.

The Council is meeting for the first time since its membership was renewed. The latest rotation in membership took place based on the results of public discussions and internet voting, in which more than 100,000 people took part.

In accordance with the President’s Executive Order, the Council has 62 members, of which 39 are new members.

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PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA VLADIMIR PUTIN: Good afternoon, colleagues.

This is the Council’s first meeting since the membership was renewed. Many of you I already know, while for others it will be the first time that we are working together.

As you know, broad discussions and internet voting on the Council’s members took place. I remind you that more than 100,000 people took part in the voting and there were more than 400,000 visits (430,000, I think) to the sites where people could make their vote.

Choosing the Council’s members drew a lot of public interest. This is why Mr Fedotov [Presidential Adviser and Chairman of the Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights Mikhail Fedotov] and I decided to increase the number of members so as to include all of those who received the most votes, given that people clearly want to see you have a place on this presidential advisory body.

This in turn raises questions about the Council’s management. With this many members, we have to organise efforts in such a way as to ensure that not only does it help me in my work, but that we can have an impact together on the performance of the country’s executive bodies and law enforcement agencies in general.

There are several proposals in this respect. One proposal is to establish a presidium, the membership of which will rotate on a regular basis, or to set up specific working groups for the areas of activity of greatest interest to particular Council members. The important thing in all of this is to ensure that we have direct contact of course, and that this direct contact helps us to carry out the Council’s tasks and objectives.

As far as the tasks are concerned, there is nothing really new here, I think. I hope very much that our work will continue what has already been accomplished over these last years. We must certainly pay attention to all aspects of our life: political issues, the way our society and state are organised, and social issues.

No doubt, people expect that those professionally involved in human rights will be able to give them substantial support, especially at moments when there are breakdowns in the state mechanisms. I look upon our cooperation as a form of direct feedback from Russian society, reaching right to the top level of power, and this enables us to work together on improving our instruments of government and establishing the conditions that will let us solve our country’s problems in our citizens’ interests above all.

I will not make a long speech and want to give the floor now to Mr Fedotov. After that, we will discuss all of the issues that you think most important and fitting to raise at this first meeting.