2006年VOA标准英语-Non-Governmental Organizations Face Russian Dea

By Anya Ardayeva
Moscow
17 October 2006
 
watch report Russian NGOs

By October 18th, all foreign non-governmental organizations operating in Russia must submit their paperwork to seek registration¹ by the Russian authorities - or else their activities in Russia will be curtailed².  This under the terms of a new law governing NGO activity in Russia.

The country's authorities say only a few dozen organizations have so far received the necessary paperwork to continue operating. There are several hundred NGOs currently represented in Russia, and many of them accuse the authorities of unnecessarily complicating³ the registration procedures.

----

The new law governing the activities of Non Governmental Organizations came into force in Russia in April. Under its terms, all foreign NGOs have to submit paperwork to win government approval for their continued activities.

Amnesty International is one organization that has yet to receive its registration documents from the authorities.

And its representative in Moscow, Elena Franklin, says the bureaucratic⁴ hurdles⁵ being imposed by the Russian government are high. "They are demanding some ridiculous things, in our opinion.  Things that are bureaucratically⁶ inexplicable⁷.  For instance, they demanded the home address of the organization's general secretary, Irene Khan.  We don't know why.  They also demanded to see the death certificates of our founders⁸".

In the Moscow office of Human Rights Watch the work on the documents needed for registration is not complete either. The head of the office, Alison McGill, says the problem is more than just the time the paperwork takes.  According to the new law, non-governmental organizations also have to coordinate⁹ with authorities plans for their future work.

"If, God forbid, there's a serious human rights crisis that starts tomorrow and our office would want to engage in that process, of course since we didn't predict it, it wasn't in our annual plan, since we didn't predict it in advance we couldn't inform the authorities of our change so it really does take away the possibility to do an emergency response. The other thing that is important to note is that penalties of violations¹⁰ is usually the closure of the office which is a disproportional response to a kind of regulatory administrative¹¹ infraction¹²".

Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that only two non-governmental organizations out of 400 had their registration requests rejected. He asserted that is in line with global democratic standards. President Putin has also said Russia will not permit any foreign financing of political activities in the country.

Kremlin ally Sergei Markov, of Moscow's Institute of Political Studies, says the country's leadership is concerned about the impact NGOs might have on public opinion. "Strong government is always a responsible government.  That's why it tries to get rid of any dangers in the country. And 'color revolutions,' like the revolution in Ukraine showed that even a small number of people in the center is able to break the whole country, which is outside of the capital."

Two years ago, tens of thousands of people gathered in Kiev's central square to protest against fraudulent presidential elections in Ukraine. The so-called "Orange Revolution" brought Viktor Yushchenko, the country's current President, to power. Similar popular uprisings also occurred in Georgia and Kyrgyzstan.

According to Victor Kremenyuk, an expert with Moscow's USA and Canada Institute, the Kremlin's concerns about the influence that non-governmental organizations might have on the public opinion in Russia are unfounded.

"Revolutions do not happen because someone brings them in. Revolutions happen when people are not happy with their lives. And you can restrict it, just like the tsar's regime did, like the communist regime did, you can destroy them all and imprison¹³ all of their leaders.  But if people are not happy with their lives, if it's hard, they will come to the streets, sooner or later."

Observers say that by October 18th, the majority of non-governmental organizations are not likely to get their paperwork done, and will have to suspend their work in Russia.

1 registration   

n.登记，注册，挂号

参考例句：

• Marriage without registration is not recognized by law.法律不承认未登记的婚姻。
• What's your registration number?你挂的是几号？

2 curtailed   

v.截断，缩短( curtail的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Spending on books has been severely curtailed. 购书开支已被大大削减。
• Their public health programme had to be severely curtailed. 他们的公共卫生计划不得不大大收缩。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 complicating   

使复杂化( complicate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• High spiking fever with chills is suggestive of a complicating pylephlebitis. 伴有寒战的高热，暗示合并门静脉炎。
• In America these actions become executive puberty rites, complicating relationships that are already complicated enough. 在美国，这些行动成了行政青春期的惯例，使本来已经够复杂的关系变得更复杂了。

4 bureaucratic   

adj.官僚的，繁文缛节的

参考例句：

• The sweat of labour washed away his bureaucratic airs.劳动的汗水冲掉了他身上的官气。
• In this company you have to go through complex bureaucratic procedures just to get a new pencil.在这个公司里即使是领一支新铅笔，也必须通过繁琐的手续。

5 hurdles   

n.障碍( hurdle的名词复数 )；跳栏；（供人或马跳跃的）栏架；跨栏赛

参考例句：

• In starting a new company, many hurdles must be crossed. 刚开办一个公司时，必须克服许多障碍。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• There are several hurdles to be got over in this project. 在这项工程中有一些困难要克服。 来自辞典例句

6 bureaucratically   

参考例句：

• Bureaucratically unpopular orders can be evaded in a variety of ways. 官僚主义式的，不孚众望的命令，可以被人们用各种各样的办法来回避。 来自辞典例句
• His bureaucratically petty behavior annoyed her. 他无聊的官僚作风惹恼了她。 来自互联网

7 inexplicable   

adj.无法解释的，难理解的

参考例句：

• It is now inexplicable how that development was misinterpreted.当时对这一事态发展的错误理解究竟是怎么产生的，现在已经无法说清楚了。
• There are many things which are inexplicable by science.有很多事科学还无法解释。

8 founders   

n.创始人( founder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He was one of the founders of the university's medical faculty. 他是该大学医学院的创建人之一。 来自辞典例句
• The founders of our religion made this a cornerstone of morality. 我们宗教的创始人把这看作是道德的基石。 来自辞典例句

9 coordinate   

adj.同等的，协调的；n.同等者；vt.协作，协调

参考例句：

• You must coordinate what you said with what you did.你必须使你的言行一致。
• Maybe we can coordinate the relation of them.或许我们可以调和他们之间的关系。

10 violations   

违反( violation的名词复数 )； 冒犯； 违反（行为、事例）； 强奸

参考例句：

• This is one of the commonest traffic violations. 这是常见的违反交通规则之例。
• These violations of the code must cease forthwith. 这些违犯法规的行为必须立即停止。

11 administrative   

adj.行政的，管理的

参考例句：

• The administrative burden must be lifted from local government.必须解除地方政府的行政负担。
• He regarded all these administrative details as beneath his notice.他认为行政管理上的这些琐事都不值一顾。

12 infraction   

n.违反；违法

参考例句：

• He was criticized for his infraction of the discipline.他因违反纪律而受到了批评。
• Parking at the bus stop is illegal,Motorists committing this infraction are heavily fined.在公交站停车是违法的，触犯此条的司机将受重罚。

13 imprison   

vt.监禁，关押，限制，束缚

参考例句：

• The effect of this one is going to imprison you for life.而这件事的影响力则会让你被终身监禁。
• Dutch colonial authorities imprisoned him for his part in the independence movement.荷兰殖民当局因他参加独立运动而把他关押了起来。