Russia, Commissioner on Human Rights

Russia, Commissioner for Human Rights

The Activities of the Commissioner on Human Rights in the Russian Federation in 1999 and the Nearest Perspectives

The year 1999 has had a special importance for the formation of the institution of the Commissioner on Human Rights in the Russian Federation. By the beginning of this year, the main elements of the existing structure of the Commissioner's Office were created and the basic mechanisms of realization of the objectives within his jurisdiction were set up. At the same time, the practical activities devoted to rehabilitation of the violated rights of citizens, improvement of the national legislation, legal education and development of international cooperation in the human rights area started. The year 1999 was the year when the institution of the Commissioner on Human Rights in the Russian Federation became a real and tangible factor in the life of the society and the state.

During the whole year the Federal Commissioner and his Office carried out practical steps aimed at normalizing the human rights situation in the country and ensuring that the newly created mechanism took a worthy place among other constitutional bodies and made a proper contribution to the state protection of human rights and freedoms. In spite of the evident problems and difficulties linked with the process of formation of an institution absolutely new for Russia, it is possible to state that the decisive stage has already been passed and the institution of the Commissioner on Human Rights in the Russian Federation has come into existence.

The necessity of the creation of the institution of the Commissioner on Human Rights in Russia came about as the result of a combination of factors, including the human rights situation in the Russian Federation and the tendencies of its development, the evolution of national democratic institutions, the international experience and the conditions imposed by Russia’s participation in international organizations acting in the human rights area, primarily in the Council of Europe.

After the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Russian Federation entered the road of reforms including the creation of democratic institutions and transition towards market economy. During the last eight years, significant progress had been achieved in the human rights area.

In 1993 a new Russian Constitution was adopted. New legislation regarding human rights and freedoms has been elaborated. Some existing laws dealing with these issues have been amended or supplemented, the law-enforcement practices have been improved. Russia has joined the fundamental international treaties in the field of human rights. One of the most important steps in this direction was the ratification on May the 5th, 1998, of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, which presented the Russian citizens with the possibility of directing their complaints to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

At the same time now it is too early to claim that Russia has undergone a complete transformation into a state based on the rule of law, providing its citizens with all-encompassing guarantees of protection of human rights and freedoms. The social and economic situation of today's Russia is characterized by the degradation of living standards of the majority of population in combination with still uncertain outcome of economic reforms. This presents a serious danger for the full-scale formation of democratic institutions. The country lacks an effective long-term practice of functioning of such institutions and this could lead to serious conflicts between the branches of power. The “checks and balances” system typical for a developed democratic society has not been completed neither in the legal nor in the political sense.

The federal structure of the Russian State faces serious difficulties in the process of its formation. The right to establish the Human Rights Commissioners in the regions (subjects) of the Russian Federation, provided by the Federal Constitutional Law, has been realized only in 6 Federal subjects (in 7 other subjects the relevant laws have been adopted, but the Commissioners on Human Rights have not been appointed up to now due to various reasons).

The tendency of further criminalization of society which Russia witnesses during the past years leads to mass violation of human rights, which, in turn, cultivates negative attitudes of the people towards democracy as a system. Certain forces see the only option of fighting this phenomenon in returning to old methods, typical for the totalitarian system.

The development of democratic reforms is being slowed down due to the conservatism of existing administrative and legal institutions, which often appear to be obstacles in the way of application and realization of rules and procedures provided by modern legislation. Disrespect of law, disregard of the rights and legitimate interests of the citizens have a negative influence on the situation in the society as a whole, cause people's distrust of the state, its bodies and officials, give rise to civil apathy.

Russia lacks a duly elaborated comprehensive concept of human rights protection, accepted and supported by all the branches of power, by the regions, the local authorities, the mass media, by the society as a whole.

Serious and in some cases wide-scale violations of civil, political and especially social and economic rights and freedoms of Russian citizens are still happening. The rights of refugees and forced migrants are being violated, an intolerable situation remains in the penitentiary system, the rights of military servicemen are being infringed systematically, the danger of extremism, fascism and anti-Semitism is existing.

In the face of all these serious problems, which give the Commissioner on Human Rights in the Russian Federation the reason to characterize the present situation with human rights in the country as unsatisfactory, the matter of choice of the most suitable forms and methods of democratic protection of human rights and freedoms is on the agenda.

The existing situation, according to the Commissioner’s opinion, highlights the necessity of further development and strengthening of the institution of the Commissioner on Human Rights in the Russian Federation.

Founded for the first time almost two hundred years ago in Sweden, the Ombudsman institution has demonstrated its significance as the most important body in the system of constitutional protection of civil rights and freedoms in the states with developed democracy. Not by chance by the end of the twentieth century the ombudsman (or similar to them) institutions were created in the majority of the countries in Europe, South and North America, in Australia and New Zealand, in some states of Asia – their total number today is about 90.

The experience of the national human rights institutions in different countries, especially in the countries of Eastern Europe also undergoing the process of democratic reform (e.g., Poland and Hungary), shows that the creation of such institutions in the majority of cases provides the “missing link” the gap in the relationship between the state authorities and the people and promotes the construction of democratic and human rights institutions.

The post of the Commissioner on Human Rights in the Russian Federation was established by the Constitution of the Russian Federation of 1993. According to point “d”, paragraph 1 of Article 103, the State Duma has the right to appoint or dismiss the Commissioner on Human Rights in the Russian Federation, who acts within the frameworks of the Federal Constitutional Law.

The Federal Constitutional Law "On the Commissioner on Human Rights in the Russian Federation" was adopted by the State Duma on the 25th of December 1996, approved by the Federation Council on the 12th of February 1997, signed by the President of the Russian Federation on the 26th of February 1997 and entered into force on the 4th of March 1997. It determines the procedure of the appointment to the post and dismissal from the post of the Commissioner on Human Rights in the Russian Federation, his jurisdiction, organizational forms and the conditions of his activity.

The post of the Commissioner on human rights in the Russian Federation is established with the aim of providing the guarantees of the protection by the state of civil rights and freedoms, their observance and respect by the state bodies, institutions of local self-government and officials. The Commissioner in discharging his duties is independent and is not accountable to any state bodies or officials. The activity of the Commissioner supplements the existing means of protection of human rights and freedoms, does not revoke and does not entail the revision of the competence of state bodies that provide the protection and restoration of violated rights and freedoms.

While fulfilling his duties the Commissioner possesses immunity and privileges comparable to those provided by Article 40 of the Statute of the Council of Europe, and the agreements and conventions concluded on its basis.

In his human rights protecting activities, the Commissioner is guided by the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the legislation of the Russian Federation, as well as by the principles and norms of international law and international treaties.

The institution of the Commissioner on Human Rights in the Russian Federation presents all the Russian citizens for the first time with the untraditional, unusual and unique possibility – to get their voices to be heard irrespective of their position in the state hierarchy, and their violated rights to be rehabilitated despite still existing traditionalistic bureaucratic system.

The main directions of the Commissioner’s activities are the following:

The examination of complaints and pleas dealing with violations of human rights and liberties, the adoption of measures aimed at their reinstatement;
The analysis of the legislation of the Russian Federation in the area of human and civil rights, the preparation of recommendations on its improvement and bringing it into line with universally recognized principles and norms of international law;
The development of international co-operation in the area of human rights;
The legal education on the issues of human rights and liberties, the forms and methods of their safeguarding;
The information to the state authorities and the general public about the situation with the observance of civil rights and liberties in the Russian Federation.

The Commissioner prepares an annual report about his activities and submits to the State Duma special reports on specific aspects of observance of human rights.

To support the activities of the Commissioner on Human Rights the Office of the Commissioner is established. The Office consists of four Directorates – on restoration of the violated human rights; on international cooperation and improvement of the legislation; on legal education, information and public relations; on organizational and technical matters. The Directorates include divisions specialized according to the branches of law (constitutional and administrative law, civil law and housing legislation, land disputes, labor law, criminal law, the investigation of complaints from military servicemen, complaints from refugees and forced migrants, etc.) as well as divisions dealing with relations with the Federal subjects and the human rights NGOs; international relations; protocol matters; improvement of legislation; ethnic and religious issues; legal education; mass media; codification and legal information; information technology; information and analysis.

Under the auspices of the Commissioner on Human Rights in the Russian Federation the Council of Experts has been established. It gives the opportunity for the legal specialists and prominent human rights activists to contribute to the activity of the Commissioner on Human Rights by providing expert evaluations, informational and analytical materials.

In 2000, the activities of the Commissioner on Human Rights in the Russian Federation will be directed towards further consolidation of the status of this constitutional body in the state and in the society, increase of its role as a state mechanism protecting human rights and freedoms, information of the various strata of the society about the objectives and prerogatives of the Commissioner, provision of his openness for all Russian citizens whose rights were violated or are being violated. Consistent defense of the rights of citizens will enable to raise the quality of life of the population, helping to solve the complicated problems of the country today and in the future.

In this connection, the Commissioner on Human Rights encounters the following priorities:

To contribute towards the elimination of mass violations of human rights related with the delay of salary payments, pensions, social benefits;
To express recommendations on the correction of the activities of the militia and of other law enforcement bodies in order to form a civilized law-guided style of dealing with people;
To keep the state bodies, officials, mass media and all the citizens of the Russian Federation constantly informed about the institution of the Commissioner on Human Rights;
To pursue the aim of active interaction of all branches of power with the institution of the Commissioner on Human Rights as a control organ and instrument of asserting the rights of citizens before the bureaucratic institutions;
To promote bringing the Russian legislation into line with the highest international and European standards of human rights and freedoms, to monitor the draft laws and international treaties submitted to the Federal Assembly;
To develop cooperation between the Commissioner’s Office and the subjects of the Russian Federation, including the co-operation with the regional Commissioners on Human Rights, Commissions on Human Rights and the regional human rights NGOs;
To pay permanent attention to the persons detained in investigation wards, prisons and psychiatric facilities with the aim of bringing the living conditions there into line with the European norms;
To carry out dissemination and distribution of publications and periodicals on the activities of the Federal Commissioner on Human Rights;
To continue the establishment of functional contacts with the international organizations active in the field of human rights protection and with the national ombudsman institutions of foreign countries.

About the Discrepancy of the Provisions of the Law “On Militia”, Tolerating the Use of Force, with Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms

The Conclusion of the Commissioner on Human Rights in the Russian Federation

Article 3 of the European Convention on human rights and fundamental freedoms prohibits torture and inhuman or humiliating human dignity treatment or punishment. Article 15 (part) of the Convention does not stipulate any exclusions or reservations to its observance.

In the questions of application of Article 3 there exist a number of precedents based on the experience of the Council of Europe's bodies, particularly in the cases concerning Greece, Northern Ireland and Turkey, where mass infringements of its provisions by police authorities took place.

Inhuman treatment or punishment in the interpretation of the European Court on Human Rights means the infliction of deep physical or mental suffering; the treatment or punishment that humiliates dignity means bad treatment, aimed at causing the feeling of fright, depression and inferiority, in order to insult, humiliate and break the victims physically and morally.

The task of the European Court in any case presented under Article 3 consists of determining whether the facts that had been revealed point to the existence of an established administrative practice of the infringement of the Convention. Two elements are necessary to discover the existence of such a practice: the recurrence of actions and official tolerance.

“The recurrence of actions” means a considerable number of incidents of bad treatment that reflect the general situation. The pattern of these actions can signify that the officials of the same police or military authority exercise them.

“Official tolerance” means, that although the acts of bad treatment are absolutely illegal, they are partly accepted because the superiors of the people who bear first-hand responsibility are aware of these acts, and nevertheless do not undertake any actions in order to punish for them or not to allow their repetition. This can also mean that the higher authorities, although in possession of numerous facts, display indifference, refuse to carry out the appropriate investigations in order to verify these facts; or that that there is no unprejudiced court hearing of these complaints.

In case if Russian citizens appeal to the European Court on Human Rights, the patterns of the existing activity of the Russian militia (police) authorities may entail a court decision stating the presence of an administrative practice of inhuman and humiliating human dignity treatment. Flaws in legislation in part determine these problems.

Although paragraph 2 of Article 5 of the RSFSR Law “On Militia” directly states that the militia cannot use treatment humiliating human dignity, its Article 13 makes the provision that militia officers have the right to use physical force, including fighting techniques, for preventing crimes and administrative infringements, for detention of culprits, and for overcoming the resistance to lawful demands, if non-violent methods do not ensure the performance of militia duties. Article 14 of this law also gives to the police officers the right to use the available special devices means, in particular, for the discovering of persons suspected of committing crimes.

Apparently, these provisions in their present state are extremely general and may lead to different interpretation, thus creating the conditions for the infringement of Article 3 of the European Convention. In particular, such administrative infringements as traffic violations, may be interpreted by the militia officers as giving them the right to use physical force, including fighting techniques, that fall under the definition of inhuman treatment and treatment humiliating human dignity. The responsibility of senior militia authorities for such actions, falling under the definition of "administrative practice" of infringement of Article 3 in the interpretation of the European Court, is not recognized.

Unfortunately, the Federal Law of March 31, 1999 “On the amendment of the RSFSR Law “On Militia” doesn't take into account the demands of the European Convention. It simply adds to the list of allowed special devices electric shock implements.

In this connection, it is necessary to make more precise the provisions of the Law “On Militia” reserving to the militia officers considerable freedom of action and of subjective evaluation of the situation.

To achieve this, it is necessary to supplement the Law with the provisions stating that the use of physical force and special devices in cases entailing limited public danger is qualified as inhuman treatment or treatment humiliating human dignity and brings about responsibility, fixed by the law; and that the senior militia authorities tolerating repetition of such cases bear the same responsibility. Simultaneously, it is necessary to insert into this law the definitions of terms "non-violent means" and "limited public danger", for instance by determining the inclusive list of the administrative infringements, that do not permit the use of force and referring to the appropriate provisions of the Code on administrative infringements.

STATEMENT
by Mr. Oleg Mironov, the Commissioner on Human Rights
in the Russian Federation, on the developments in Chechnya

The Commissioner on Human Rights in the Russian Federation expresses his serious concern about the current situation in Chechnya. Not doubting the necessity of further antiterrorist measures by the Federal authorities, he would like to stress at the same time that the analysis of the situation, based on the results of his visit to Northern Caucasus, as well as the stay there of a group of leading experts from the Commissioner's Office, demands to attract attention to the following:

1. The growth of the number of casualties, dead and wounded among the Russian troops taking part in the military actions, that demonstrates, in particular, miscalculations in carrying out of the operation, causes serious anxiety. The information about the dead and wounded is evidently being released to mass media incompletely; besides it reaches their families through the military commissariats (registration and enlistment offices) with delay.
Such an attitude lowers the implied value of every human being and therefore violates the fundamental right to life that is guaranteed by the Russian Constitution.

2. The witnesses, including the experts from the Office of the Commissioner on Human Rights, stated that in spite of the lessons of the first Chechen military campaign, there often occur cases when the Russian soldiers suffer from bad medical and hygienic conditions, lack of food and warm clothing. This leads to undesirable developments during the operation, undermines the authority of the federal forces among the Chechen civilians. Thus, it represents a direct violation of point 2 of Article 21 and point 1 of Article 41 of the Russian Constitution prohibiting inhuman or degrading treatment and guaranteeing by the State of the right to health secure and medical treatment.

3. The attempts to differentiate local citizens, leaving Chechnya, by age and by sex cause bewilderment. The reasonable intention of the military commanders to discover the potential terrorists seems to be realized in a very formal manner. The right of the people to free movement over the territory of the Russian Federation is being denied and the families who become divided undergo moral sufferings.
The Federal Commissioner on Human Rights stands for immediate correction of the style and methods of the actions of the Federal authorities. The cornerstones of this should be real stabilization of the situation in the region and strict observation by the authorities of the constitutional rights and freedoms of all citizens including Russian military personnel and peaceful law-abiding citizens.

Newsletter No. 20

Russia, Commissioner for Human Rights

The Activities of the Commissioner on Human Rights in the Russian Federation in 1999 and the Nearest Perspectives

The main directions of the Commissioner’s activities are the following:

The examination of complaints and pleas dealing with violations of human rights and liberties, the adoption of measures aimed at their reinstatement;
The analysis of the legislation of the Russian Federation in the area of human and civil rights, the preparation of recommendations on its improvement and bringing it into line with universally recognized principles and norms of international law;
The development of international co-operation in the area of human rights;
The legal education on the issues of human rights and liberties, the forms and methods of their safeguarding;
The information to the state authorities and the general public about the situation with the observance of civil rights and liberties in the Russian Federation.

The Commissioner prepares an annual report about his activities and submits to the State Duma special reports on specific aspects of observance of human rights.

In this connection, the Commissioner on Human Rights encounters the following priorities:

To contribute towards the elimination of mass violations of human rights related with the delay of salary payments, pensions, social benefits;
To express recommendations on the correction of the activities of the militia and of other law enforcement bodies in order to form a civilized law-guided style of dealing with people;
To keep the state bodies, officials, mass media and all the citizens of the Russian Federation constantly informed about the institution of the Commissioner on Human Rights;
To pursue the aim of active interaction of all branches of power with the institution of the Commissioner on Human Rights as a control organ and instrument of asserting the rights of citizens before the bureaucratic institutions;
To promote bringing the Russian legislation into line with the highest international and European standards of human rights and freedoms, to monitor the draft laws and international treaties submitted to the Federal Assembly;
To develop cooperation between the Commissioner’s Office and the subjects of the Russian Federation, including the co-operation with the regional Commissioners on Human Rights, Commissions on Human Rights and the regional human rights NGOs;
To pay permanent attention to the persons detained in investigation wards, prisons and psychiatric facilities with the aim of bringing the living conditions there into line with the European norms;
To carry out dissemination and distribution of publications and periodicals on the activities of the Federal Commissioner on Human Rights;
To continue the establishment of functional contacts with the international organizations active in the field of human rights protection and with the national ombudsman institutions of foreign countries.

About the Discrepancy of the Provisions of the Law “On Militia”, Tolerating the Use of Force, with Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms

The Conclusion of the Commissioner on Human Rights in the Russian Federation

STATEMENT
by Mr. Oleg Mironov, the Commissioner on Human Rights
in the Russian Federation, on the developments in Chechnya

Varuh

ČP

Russia, Commissioner on Human Rights

Russia, Commissioner for Human Rights

The Activities of the Commissioner on Human Rights in the Russian Federation in 1999 and the Nearest Perspectives

About the Discrepancy of the Provisions of the Law “On Militia”, Tolerating the Use of Force, with Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms

Newsletter No. 20

Russia, Commissioner for Human Rights

The Activities of the Commissioner on Human Rights in the Russian Federation in 1999 and the Nearest Perspectives

About the Discrepancy of the Provisions of the Law “On Militia”, Tolerating the Use of Force, with Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms

Išči:

Varuh

ČP

Russia, Commissioner on Human Rights

Russia, Commissioner for Human Rights

The Activities of the Commissioner on Human Rights in the Russian Federation in 1999 and the Nearest Perspectives

About the Discrepancy of the Provisions of the Law “On Militia”, Tolerating the Use of Force, with Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms

Newsletter No. 20

Russia, Commissioner for Human Rights

The Activities of the Commissioner on Human Rights in the Russian Federation in 1999 and the Nearest Perspectives

About the Discrepancy of the Provisions of the Law “On Militia”, Tolerating the Use of Force, with Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms