On April 2, 2026, the 6th meeting of the CIS Commission on Human Rights was held at the CIS Executive Committee in Minsk.
Taking part in the meeting were:
- Commission members from Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Uzbekistan;
- representatives of the Secretariat of the Commission;
- representatives of the CIS Executive Committee;
- representatives of the Secretary of the CIS Health Cooperation Council;
- members of the Council of Permanent Plenipotentiary Representatives of CIS Member States to the CIS Statutory and Other Bodies;
- President of the CIS Economic Court;
- representatives of the CIS Statistical Committee;
- representatives of diplomatic missions of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation in the Republic of Belarus;
- First Deputy Minister of Health of the Republic of Belarus;
- Deputy of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus;
- member of the Permanent Commission on Social Policy and Human Rights of the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly;
- representatives of the offices of the Human Rights Defender in the Republic of Armenia
- Ombudsperson of the Kyrgyz Republic;
- Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation;
- Human Rights Commissioner in the Republic of Tajikistan;
- representatives of the National Center for Human Rights of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
The agenda included a wide variety of issues regarding the development of cooperation of the CIS member states in the field of human rights and freedoms protection.
Special attention was paid to efforts to ensure the citizens’ right to health care within the framework of 2026, which was declared the Year of Health Care in the CIS. The country reviews reflecting the domestic level of accessible and qualitative healthcare were presented at the meeting. As a result of the discussion on the issue the Members of the Commission decided to prepare a thematic report based on the country reviews presented by the member states, which should be considered at the 7th meeting of the Commission.
The discussion resulted in the adoption of the Statement on the Protection of Human Rights to Health Care in the CIS. The document confirms the common position of the member states on the key issue of the human rights agenda and shows the unity of views regarding this basic right.
The participants of the meeting discussed the preparations for the international campaign “Health and Human Rights Week in the Commonwealth of Independent States” (6-10 April 2026), aiming to achieve the Goals of Sustainable Development 3 “Good Health and Well-being” and 16 “Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions”.
Members of the Commission reported on the work done:
- The representative of the Republic of Kazakhstan informed about the events listed in the national Plan for the campaign above-mentioned.
- The deputy representative of the Republic of Uzbekistan highlighted the work of the website “Healthy Lifestyle”
- The representative of the Office of the Human Rights Commissioner in the Republic of Tajikistan described the key aspects of the “Health Caravan” initiative.
- An online survey “Voice of the Commonwealth. Health, Law, Well-being” was launched on the website of the CIS Executive Committee.
The members of the Commission adopted the new edition of its Rules of Procedure, its official emblem and Regulations on the Emblem.
Among other decisions the regulations for an artistic competition “Right to Health” were adopted.
The participants of the meeting heard the following information:
- report of the representative of the Kyrgyz Republic on early marriages in the context of international standards of human rights;
- report presented by the representative of the Russian Federation on measures to improve the efficiency of transfer of convicted persons to the state of their nationality;
- review by the representatives of the Republic of Belarus and the Kyrgyz Republic regarding the implementation of statistical indicators for the testing of the Methodology Index of the Respect for Human Rights.
During the meeting the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation Tatiana Moskalkova awarded the Chairman of the Commission Eugenia Paramonova a certificate for her personal contribution to human rights protection.
The next meeting is scheduled for December 2026 and is to be held in Minsk.
The members of the Commission also visited the penitentiary institutions. On the eve of the meeting the participants laid flowers to the memorial to the victims of the Stalag 352 concentration camp, visited the museum complex and took part in the events dedicated to the Day of Unity of the Peoples of Belarus and Russia.