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Khalay represented Russian victims at Holland conference
Written by Ñâåòëàíà Ãóáàðåâà   
Âîñêðåñåíüå, 16 Ìàðò 2008
I met Irina Khalay during a memorial ceremony on Dubrovka a few years ago. She is one of those people who will not make peace with the existing order. With inexhaustible energy, Irina was seeking to legitimize in Russia the legal status of ‘victim of a terrorist attack’, including social security, care and treatment for victims, fair trials, passes for affected children to see the Moscow Christmas tree lighting ceremony, and much more.

In Moscow in October of last year she greeted me with these words: “There will be a conference in Tilburg this March on international standards for victim assistance. We made the proposal in Vienna that they adopt standards of care for victims of terrorist attacks, so we have got to go there!” Due to circumstances beyond my control I was unable to participate, and Irina made it there as the only Russian representative. Below is her story about how the conference went.
- Irina, first I want to know about something. On January 22nd of this year the Russian Public Chamber held the National Civic Congress. Why did you not participate?

I sent my application over the Internet on January 1st. On returning from Moscow on January 11th (at the invitation of the Moscow city government we took affected children to the tree lighting ceremony, ‘Mayor’s Tree 2008’), I wasted the whole day trying to sign up, and the long-distance bills added up to a pretty penny. I was, of course, not invited. Off the record I was told that only those loyal to the government were invited. I called Ella Pamfilova’s assistant with regards to this relationship towards the victims, and he told me that the Public Chamber had removed all social problems concerning victims from consideration, even though we had written letters and never got a response.

 — So this seems to be case of ‘the drowning person can only be saved by himself’. The solution may lay in the development and adoption of international standards. The first time we were able to discuss our problems at the international level was when we were at a high-level meeting of the OSCE in Vienna. By the way, during the Vienna meeting there was simultaneous translation. In Tilburg communication was in English. How difficult was this for you?

On the conference website I read that they would not provide interpreters. So I had to take some English courses. For the last two months I studied English intensively: in the morning I would put in a disc with English and listen for 5 or 6 hours. That saved me! But what struck me was how evenly everyone responded to my terrible English. At home I sort of would say the right thing, but my pronunciation was terrible. During the conference opening I could not understand a thing, but then I calmed down and started to understand, at least when it was not a British or American talking. The British and Americans speak very quickly, so it is difficult to understand them.
- What other difficulties did you encounter?

I had problems in Amsterdam when I arrived. It turns out that vending machines selling tickets for the train to Tilburg only accept credit cards. After some difficulty I found two machines that accepted coins, but I had only paper money and there was no change machine. I spent nearly two hours at the airport until I could buy a ticket. First I ate a bunch of ice cream, which was the only way I could get change, and then I had to figure out which train to ride and in what direction. And do everything in broken English. It was not like Vienna with only one train in one direction. In Amsterdam trains leave the airport to every part of Holland.

 — Who participated in the conference? Who did you meet?

In the morning I finally met Keflin, the conference manager whom I tormented for 3 months with questions. As I understood it, many of the people there already knew each other. Everyone was very friendly and was always smiling.

During the break, Lina Kolesnikova, an employee of International Risk and Management in Belgium, found me out due to my pronunciation. She was very helpful. Lina introduced me to Professor Alex Schmidt, director of the Center for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at the University of St. Andrews in England. This center is involved in developing standards, and Alex Schmidt is one of the luminaries of the global study of terrorism.

 — What was discussed on the first day?

Opening the conference was the director of Tilburg University, Professor Jan van Dijk. Then Professor Alex Schmidt spoke. He is a corresponding member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences, and a member of the Expert Group of the European Commission, which says a lot about his understanding of the problems of terrorism and its consequences. I realized that many were waiting for his address, since Alex Schmidt has long been involved with this problem, and he has a wealth of experience.

Kenneth Feinberg, the director of the 9/11 Compensation Fund, spoke very emotionally. In America their problems are not all as smooth as I had thought.

After dinner there were four subsections. Earlier I had signed up for three of them: ‘Access to justice’, ‘Compensation’, and ‘Socio-psychological assistance’, but it was physically impossible to do them all. So I followed Alex Schmidt into ‘Compensation’ and ‘Socio-psychological assistance’.

At the subsections there was practically only one theory, but it has only just started to be put into practice. But still, the most important thing at the conference was being there and making new acquaintances. Lina Kolesnikova was very helpful to me in this. She told me about many of the participants, and introduced me to Ivo Aertsen, Professor of the Catholic Institute of Criminology in Belgium. Representatives of the Council of Europe also took part in the work, since the Council of Europe was one of the partners of the conference.

 — What were the results of the first day for you?

I began to understand spoken English and understand what they were saying, and made many acquaintances, and, even though I never expected this, I set the stage for the reception of my report. The most important thing, however, was that no one there, not once, ever acted as if I were beneath them. Even though the participants were very high-level persons, they were all very easy to talk to, and benevolent.

 — The second day, March 11th, was the anniversary of the terrorist attack in Madrid. How did this day go?

This day was declared to be the European Day of Victims of Terrorism. At 10:00 am Professor Leticia Paoli from the Leuven University of Criminology in Belgium announced a minute of silence. There was a very eloquent presentation, by Uri Yanay from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, on the role of strengthening the justice system. I met him later. He is a very nice man. I liked a speech by Franco Frattini, vice-president of the European Commission. For me it was a complete surprise to hear a Russian name — Albina Ovcharenko. Later, after we had met, she said that she had only just gotten there late in the evening on March 10th. She is a very pleasant young woman from the Counter-Terrorism Task Force (DLAPIL) of the Council of Europe, and she was glad that there was a Russian representative there, but surprised that I was alone.

After lunch three terror victims spoke. The first was the daughter of a British MP, who was killed by the Irish Republican Army in 1984. The second was the son of a German attorney general, who was killed 1977, and the third was a victim of the 2005 terror attack on the London Underground.

 — I remember when my ‘hamstrings were quivering’ in anticipation of my speech in Vienna. I still feel bad about being so crumpled up and messing up my speech. How was your performance, since you had to give it in English?

I had signed up to speak in the morning, even though Keflin was very surprised that I would even talk at all. I showed her my remarks on paper and said that I was going to read it. I was given 5 minutes.

But while listening to the speakers, I wanted to withdraw my candidacy. I was terribly afraid. Then I remembered what you said: “I said ‘A’ so I have to say ‘B’.” And it spurred me on. Never count on the Russians to fold! I read our proposals with a trembling voice, but what to my surprise did I meet with? Applause, even though I made mistakes in two spots. Everyone whom I managed to meet by that time said that they understood everything and congratulated me on a good presentation.

 — Did we get anything useful out of this conference?

At the international level they found out that there are also organizations of terror victims in Russia, and we managed to voice our suggestions. They even asked me to send them a copy of my speech. But the main thing was making contacts. Alex Schmidt, for example, said that he and his colleagues have created an international database of terror victims, and I offered him our help. Now I can turn to professionals whom I met at the conference with our problems. International cooperation begins, so to speak.

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