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United Nations Association of Russia |
As part of the events dedicated to the International Year of Volunteers proclaimed by the U.N. General Assembly, a Russian Volunteers' Conference was held at the RF Foreign Ministry's Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) on November 22, 2001. Starting work on the second day of the Civic Forum then being held, the Conference became a part of it.
The Conference was opened by Anatoly Torkunov, Chairman of
the Russian Committee for Conducting the International Year of Volunteers, 
MGIMO
Rector, and Chairman of the United Nations Association of Russia. In his speech,
he spoke at length on the Russian Volunteer Movement's contribution to the re-establishing
of civil society.
Minister of Labour and Social Development Aleksandr Pochinok, who supported the creation of a volunteer movement in the RF, greeted the assembled delegates.
Frederick Lyons, the UN Resident Coordinator and UN Development Programme Resident Representative in the Russian Federation, spoke of the international experience of volunteers' participation in solving socio-economic problems.
Deputy Chairman of the Russian Committee for Conducting the International Year of Volunteers Yuri Reshetov spoke at length on the aims and principles of the volunteer movement in Russia.
The delegates to the Russian Volunteers' Conference approved a Communiqué calling for the energetic support of the volunteer movement in the Russian Federation.
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The Russian Volunteer Conference, held in Moscow on November 22, 2001, led by the U.N. Charter and the generally recognized standards in the area of human rights, and inspired by the aims and missions of the International year of Volunteers, calls for the recognition and energetic support of the volunteer movement in the Russian Federation.
The Russian Volunteer Movement is a mass, public, non-political movement. As such, it is the heir to those volunteer movements which exited previously in our country, and which greatly served our Motherland and People.
The Russian Volunteer Movement and its associations, organizations, and participants are collaborating to solve the problems of the Russian Federation's economic, social, cultural, humanitarian, and ecological development.
It bases its activities on the principles of universal human values, recognizing and respecting human rights, non-discrimination and tolerance, freedom of choice and accessibility to volunteer activities, mutual assistance, sympathy for the needs of others, and responsibility.
Volunteers, in making their contribution to achieving the movement's goals on the basis of their individual and collective participation, should be an example of serving the nations' democratic development, based on the principles of government by, of and for the people, legality, and loyalty to the Constitution.
The Russian Volunteer Movement is an active participant in the Worldwide Volunteer Movement.
Volunteer Day is observed annually on December 5.
Moscow, November 22, 2001.
