NGOs under European Convention on Human Rights / Tymofeyeva

possible membership in NGOs on the UN level. The second meaning of the term ‘citizen’ is that it is “an inhabitant of a particular town or cit”. 75 This definition may be seen as being more appropriate and corresponding to the substance of the notion in question. The current definition of ‘NGO’ is silent as to the formal existence criterion. It is possible to conclude that legal registration of an NGO is not required. To summarise, the ‘NGO’ in the universal human rights treaties is a group of citizens, which: 1) does not follow an aim to obtain a profit; 2) usually is not engaged in the political life of a country as a political party; 3) closely cooperates with intergovernmental organisations; and 4) is responsible for specific activities depending on the area andmandate. In order to give the comprehensible assessment of the term of ‘non-governmental organisation’ in international law, let us also have a look at how the term is defined in regional human rights treaties. 1.1.3 Regional human rights documents On a regional level, four main geographic systems for human rights protection may be identified: 1) European; 2) American; 3) African and 4) Asian. One may speak also of a number of other systems, such as, for example, the Arab system based on the Arab Charter on Human Rights 76 or the Russian Commonwealth‘s system, represented by the Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of the Commonwealth of Independent States, 77 but in view of their ineffectiveness the author decided to cover them only briefly. For example, in accordance with Article 40 of the Arab Charter on Human Rights as amended in 2004, the member states of the Arab League Council, parties to the Arab Charter, 78 had to create the Arab Committee of Human Rights; however, as of 2015 this body had not been established. 79 Article 34 of the Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of the Commonwealth of Independent States of 1995 envisaged the creation of the Human Rights Commission of the Russian Commonwealth. Twenty years after adoption of this treaty, this Human Rights Commission is not among the bodies of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). 80 Moreover, in 2001 the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe introduced a report on the co-existence of the Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of the Commonwealth of Independent States and the European Convention on Human Rights. 81 The suggestions proposed by the CoE Parliamentary Assembly were that the 76 League of Arab States, Arab Charter on Human Rights , 15 September 1994. 77 Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of the Commonwealth of Independent States, Law No. 6966, 26 May 1995. 78 The Arab Charter on Human Rights entered into force on March 16, 2008, 60 days after ratification of the seventh member state of the Arab League. States that have ratified the document are: Algeria, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Libya, Palestine and Syria. 79 The web pages of the Arab Committee of Human Rights, http://www.lasportal.org/, are empty. 80 See web pages of the Commonwealth of Independent States: accessed 20 July 2015. 81 Co-existence of the Convention onHuman Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of the Commonwealth 75 Ibid .

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