About us

Citizens Watch is a human rights NGO initiated in 1992 by a group of Russian human rights activists, lawyers, journalists, and deputies to the Russian Parliament and to the St. Petersburg City Council. The founders' goals were to assist in establishing parliamentary and civic control over police, security service, and armed forces, and to help prevent violations of constitutional rights by these governmental agencies.

Citizens Watch sees its strategic priority in bringing the Russian legislation related to human rights and the practice of its application closer to international legal standards. We arrange seminars, conferences and study visits for Russian judges, lawyers and law enforcement officers to the countries of traditional democracy. We translate and publish guidelines and international documents on the functioning of courts and police in a democratic society, as well as rights-related literature aimed to raise the legal awareness of Russian citizens.