had a positive impact on the Constitutional Court’s judgment in Mskhiladze’s case, which, in turn should result in amendments to Russian laws on stateless persons in the future. It is important to use tools of international advocacy to accelerate the process of legislative amendments. To this end, ADC Memorial has raised the problems of the rights of stateless persons in Russia in alternative reports for the UN Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (2017)81 and the UN Committee Against Torture (as part of a coalition report, 2018).82 The recommendations these committees made to the Russian Federation in turn became tools for human rights advocacy. ADC Memorial also uses the mechanism of the Universal Periodic Review of the UN Human Rights Council for its advocacy work. In 2018, the Council made important recommendations to Russia with account for a joint report by ADC Memorial, the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion, and the European Network on Statelessness.83 These recommendations included considering the matter of ratifying the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Person and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness and adopting additional measures to reduce statelessness among members of minorities, enhance the implementation of policies to reduce the number of unregistered persons, particularly stateless persons, and guarantee registration at birth for all children born in the country, including stateless children and members of minority groups. An important result of awareness work has been the improved legal literacy and personal interest of stateless persons in the battle for their rights. For example, photographs, commentary, and video recordings made by Viktor Nigmatulin, a stateless person confined in a foreign national detention center in Kemerovo, were included in ADC Memorial’s report “Imprisoned Stateless Persons in Russia: The Search for a Way Out of a Legal Dead End” (2017).84 In another case, when Denis Lee, a stateless person imprisoned in July 2018 in a detention center in Abakan, learned of 81 “The Russian Federation: Violation of the Economic and Social Rights of Vulnerable Groups. Alternative Report of ADC Memorial to the UN CESCR,” https://adcmemorial.org/ www/publications/the-russian-federation-violation-of-the-economic-and-social-rights-ofvulnerable-groups?lang=en 82 “Russian NGO Shadow Report on the Observance of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment by the Russian Federation for the period from 2012 to 2018,” https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CAT/ Shared%20Documents/RUS/INT_CAT_CSS_RUS_31612_E.pdf 83 https://adcmemorial.org/wp-content/uploads/ENS-UPR-Submission_Russia.pdf 84 https://adcmemorial.org/www/publications/imprisoned-stateless-persons-inrussia-the-search-for-a-way-out-of-a-legal-dead-end?lang=en 46