From the first justice – Newspaper Kommersant No. 24 (7469) dated 02/09/2023

The Ministry of Justice, Kommersant learned, has begun to form a working group to prepare a report at the UN on the state of human rights in the Russian Federation. President Vladimir Putin gave the corresponding instruction to the department, ordering to involve twelve ministries (including the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Defense), the Constitutional Court and the Central Election Commission. As Kommersant was told in the Ministry of Justice, the purpose of the report will be “a comprehensive assessment of our country’s progress in the promotion and protection of human rights over the past five years.” The expert points out that the discussion of this report at the UN by other participating countries will become a “comradely court” for Russia.

Last Monday, Vladimir Putin ordered the creation of a working group to prepare a national report at the UN on the state of human rights in the Russian Federation. Representatives of twelve ministries, including the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Defense, as well as employees of the Federal Agency for Nationalities, the Constitutional and Supreme Courts, the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Investigative Committee, the Central Election Commission and the Public Chamber must enter there. The commissioner for human rights in the Russian Federation Tatyana Moskalkova and the children’s ombudsman Maria Lvova-Belova should also participate in the work. The Ministry of Justice is instructed to form a working group and monitor the execution of the order. “Work on the formation of the composition” of the group has already begun, Kommersant was assured in the department.

Recall that in 2006, on the basis of a resolution of the UN General Assembly, the universal periodic review (UPR) mechanism was created, within the framework of which, once every few years, the implementation of each state from among the UN members (there are 193) of human rights obligations is considered. Other UN members evaluate and comment on a country’s compliance report. Russia submitted its reports to the UNHRC in 2009, 2013 and 2018.

“In 2023, the Russian Federation will have to go through the next cycle of the universal periodic review procedure, the purpose of which will be a comprehensive assessment of our country’s progress in the promotion and protection of human rights over the past five years,” Kommersant was told in the Ministry of Justice when asked about the execution of the presidential order.— In this regard, the Russian authorities should prepare in advance and submit for consideration by the HRC an appropriate national report, which should reflect comprehensive information on the entire range of issues related to ensuring the principles of democracy and the rule of law, as well as the implementation of accepted international obligations in the field of human rights.”

Today, the UN remains for Russia the only platform for international communication, Andrey Klimov, head of the Federation Council commission on protecting state sovereignty and preventing interference in Russia’s internal affairs, told Kommersant. Mr. Klimov is known for his criticism of individual UN representatives. So, last summer, in an interview with Kommersant, he criticized the request of Russian human rights activists to appoint a UN special rapporteur on the Russian Federation (the applicants then pointed to the need to “fix current human rights violations in the Russian Federation”; the special rapporteur was appointed in October 2022). “We are the founders of the UN and one of the permanent members of the UN Security Council, and all our leaders emphasize almost daily that the UN remains the only international legitimate organization for resolving many issues, this is a fact,” the senator explained. different figures – this is also a fact. But this does not mean that the UN has ceased to be the only island (for communication.— “b”). We must use this site to the fullest.”

Mr. Klimov refused to discuss the content of the report to be prepared by the working group, explaining that this topic does not fully relate to the work of the Federation Council commission on foreign interference. The Presidential Council for Human Rights is also in no hurry to comment on the agenda of the report for the UN. The head of the HRC, Valery Fadeev, explained to Kommersant that he would be ready for a conversation later, after a detailed discussion of the issue with his colleagues in the HRC.

On the part of the Russian Federation, we are still talking about formal participation in the UPR procedure and maintaining the image, lawyer Grigory Vaypan points out. He recalls that the universal periodic review mechanism is similar to a “comrades’ court”, the meaning of which is in the comments of other states on the report of the Russian Federation and in their proposal of recommendations. “In a situation where Russia’s military actions in Ukraine have been condemned by almost three-quarters of the UN member states, it will be difficult to save face,” the expert believes. “It can be expected that within the next UPR cycle, the Russian authorities will be subjected to harsh criticism in the UN.”

It should be noted that during the formation of recommendations for a particular country within the framework of the UPR, not only the report of the national authorities, but also documents of other UN structures, appeals and reports of human rights organizations are taken into account. As a rule, these are alternative reports on the state of human rights, which are sent to the UN by Russian NGOs and associations of lawyers. In addition, the UN takes into account the recommendations of its Human Rights Committee (HRC; the body monitors the implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights), the last session of which Russia ignored.

Maria Starikova