C. Integrity
2.5 Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation
2.5.9 Limited authority under the law
The NGO Penal Reform International noted in 2013 that the requirement for an individual to exhaust all other remedies before lodging a complaint with the Commissioner seriously undermines the ability of the Commissioner to effectively intervene as it is unlikely that the very decision-making bodies that have rejected an individual’s complaint through all instances of review will change their decision after an intervention by the Commissioner (635).
The CoE’s European Commission on Racism and Intolerance has criticised the limited capacity of the federal Commissioner to influence legislation. The lack of authority to address violations in the private sector also limits the Commissioner’s ability to counteract racial discrimination (636).
In terms of general advocacy, the US DoS cited the view of Russian human rights activists that the former Commissioner for Human Rights, Pamfilova, was ‘generally effective as an official advocate for many of their concerns, despite her limited authority and a selective approach to the issues she took on’ (637).
C. Integrity
The Paris Principles, adopted in 1993 by the United Nations General Assembly, are ‘a set of international standards’ containing recommendations on the role, structure, status and functions of national human rights institutions (NHRI) (638). They set out six main criteria for NHRIs: a broad mandate, based on universal human rights norms and standards, autonomy from government, independence guaranteed by statute or constitution, pluralism, adequate resources and adequate powers of investigation (639). Since 2008, the Commissioner in the Russian Federation has received ‘A’
level accreditation (full compliance with the Paris Principles) issued by the International Coordinating Committee of National Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights (ICC) (640).
(632) High Commissioner for Human Rights in the RF, Annual Report 2015 of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation, 22 March 2016, pp. 24-25.
(633) High Commissioner for Human Rights in the RF, Annual Report 2015 of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation, 22 March 2016, pp. 101-107.
(634)High Commissioner for Human Rights in the RF, Annual Report 2015 of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation, 22 March 2016, p. 166.
(635) PRI, National mechanisms for the prevention of torture in Eastern Europe: Belarus, Russia and Ukraine, 2013, p. 20-21.
(636) CoE-ECRI, ECRI Report On The Russian Federation (fourth monitoring cycle), 15 October 2013, p. 17; see also White, S.;
Understanding Russian Politics, 2011, p. 348.
(637) US DoS, 2015 Country Report on Human Rights Practices, Russia, 13 April 2016.
(638)OHCHR, Paris Principles: 20 years guiding the work of National Human Rights Institutions, 30 May 2013.
(639)ICC, ICC Sub-Committee on Accreditation (SCA), n.d.
(640) ICC, Chart of the Status of National Institutions. Accreditation status as of 5 August 2016, 5 August 2016, p. 7.
The Federal Law protects the independence and neutrality of the Commissioner for Human Rights.
The Commissioner is irremovable for the duration of the term of appointment, except for serious shortcomings in the ability to perform the functions of the office (641), including during state of emergency or martial law (642).The Commissioner may not be held criminally or administratively responsible in court proceedings without prior consent of the State Duma (643).
In the exercise of his or her powers, the Commissioner for Human Rights is, under the law, independent and unaccountable to any state agencies and officials (644). The Commissioner shall be guided by the Constitution and other laws of the RF as well as by commonly recognised principles and norms of international law and by international agreements concluded by the RF (645).
The law prohibits the Commissioner from holding a political position or carrying out government functions, or, with the exception of research and teaching, from partaking in another activity.
Furthermore, the Commissioner does not have the right to engage in political activities or to be a member of a political party or association with political goals (646). Despite the restrictions on political activities, two former Commissioners were reportedly members of a political party (647). As mentioned above, media sources note that the new Commissioner for Human Rights, appointed in 2016, is a retired police general and has no human rights background (648). As State Duma deputy of the Just Russia party (649), she has introduced the law on banning NGOs as ‘foreign agents’ and the criminalisation of acts against public morality (650). In her first remarks upon her appointment, she reportedly declared her office would have tools to ‘counteract’ the misuse of human rights for Western propaganda (651).
Staff members of the Commissioner’s Office must exercise their functions in accordance with the Code of Conduct for civil servants or face disciplinary measures, up to and including dismissal (652). According to the Federal Law ‘On Countering Corruption’, all civil servants must provide information on their income, property and property obligations (653). The officials’ information is available on the website of the Commissioner (654). The average salary of the employees of the Office of the Commissioner is
(641)Pravo.gov.ru, Federal Constitutional law No 1-FKZ “On the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation”, 26 February 1997, Articles 2, 13.
(642)Pravo.gov.ru, Federal Constitutional law No 1-FKZ “On the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation”, 26 February 1997, Article 4.
(643)Pravo.gov.ru, Federal Constitutional law No 1-FKZ “On the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation”, 26 February 1997, Article 12.
(644)Pravo.gov.ru, Federal Constitutional law No 1-FKZ “On the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation”, 26 February 1997, Article 2.
(645)Pravo.gov.ru, Federal Constitutional law No 1-FKZ “On the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation”, 26 February 1997, Article 2.
(646)Pravo.gov.ru, Federal Constitutional law No 1-FKZ “On the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation”, 26 February 1997, Article 11.
(647)White, S.; Understanding Russian Politics, 2011, p. 347.
(648)NYT, Russia’s New Human Rights Ombudsman Is Former Police General, 22 April 2016; RBTH, Tatjana Moskalkowa wird Russlands Menschenrechts-Ombudsfrau, 2 May 2016; Tagesanzeiger, Vom Vorkämpfer zur Reaktionärin, 1 May 2016.
(649) EPRS, Human rights in Russia No light at the end of the tunnel, September 2016, p. 3; Russia Direct, Making sense of Russia’s strange new choice to defend human rights, Russia Direct, 27 April 2016.
(650) Russia Direct, Making sense of Russia’s strange new choice to defend human rights, Russia Direct, 27 April 2016.
(651)Russia Direct, Making sense of Russia’s strange new choice to defend human rights, Russia Direct, 27 April 2016.
(652) High Commissioner for Human Rights in the RF, Procedures for entry into the civil service, n.d.; Pravo.gov.ru, Federal Law No. 79-FZ “On the State Civil Service in the Russian Federation“, 27 July 2004.
(653)Pravo.gov.ru, Federal Law No. 273-FZ “On Countering Corruption”, 25 December 2008, Article 8.
(654)High Commissioner for Human Rights in the RF, Information about income, expenses, assets and liabilities of material nature), n.d.
well within the range of average government salaries (655) and well above the overall monthly salary in the RF (656).
According to the Commissioner’s official website, the Levada-Center published an opinion survey on 12 February 2015 (657). According to the Commissioner, the survey shows that there was ‘a significant increase in the index of public confidence in the institute of the Human Rights Commissioner in Russia’
(658).
(655)RG,The salaries of officials increased by 3,5% in the first half of 2016, 18 August 2016.
(656) Moscow Times, Russians Require Minimum Monthly Income of $350, Poll Shows, 12 August 2015; Moscow Times, Russians' Average Salary On Par With Kazakhstan, 24 May 2016.
(657) High Commissioner for Human Rights in the RF, Confidence in institute of human rights commissioner significantly increased, 12 February 2015. For the original survey see Levada-Center, The role of social institutes, 12 February 2015.
(658) High Commissioner for Human Rights in the RF, Confidence in institute of human rights commissioner significantly increased, 12 February 2015; For a comparison of 2014 and 2015 figures, see Levada-Center, Public opinion – 2014, 2015, p.
85.