Resolution 1455 (2005)1
Honouring of obligations and
commitments by the Russian Federation
1. The Russian Federation joined the Council
of Europe on 28 February 1996. Upon accession, it committed itself to
respect its general obligations under the Statute of the Council of Europe,
namely pluralist democracy and respect for the rule of law and for human
rights and fundamental freedoms of all persons under its jurisdiction. The
Russian Federation also agreed to comply, within set deadlines, with a
number of specific commitments listed in the Assembly
Opinion No. 193 (1996).
2. In the last 15 years, the Russian
Federation has undergone fundamental changes. The Assembly’s last monitoring
report and
Resolution 1277 (2002),
adopted in April 2002, welcomed the undoubted progress made by Russia
towards the rule of law and democracy, as well as the significant efforts
made since accession towards honouring its obligations and commitments.
3. In the past three years, the Russian
Federation has adopted a new code of criminal procedure and a law on
alternative military service, substantially decreased the number of inmates
in penitentiary institutions, signed the Convention on the Transfer of
Sentenced Persons (ETS No. 112), ratified a border treaty with Lithuania and
signed one with Estonia. During the same period, however, there has been
very little progress regarding the other outstanding commitments, including
those related to the formal abolition of the death penalty, the withdrawal
of Russian troops from Moldova and the obligation to bring to justice those
found responsible for human rights violations, notably in relation to events
in Chechnya.
4. The period since the last monitoring report
was also marked by an effort by the Russian authorities to deal with a
number of serious problems which represented – and in some cases continue to
represent – a threat to the political stability, economic progress and the
normal functioning of democratic institutions in the country. These problems
included the persisting terrorist threat linked to the conflict in the North
Caucasus, obscure and irregular privatisations which resulted in an
oligarchic control over many of Russia’s economic assets and resources, as
well as allegations of corruption against some federal governors who were
not accountable either to the federal authorities or to the people who
elected them.
5. The Parliamentary Assembly fully supports
the Russian authorities in their efforts to deal with these problems and to
improve the efficiency and the accountability of Russia’s political and
administrative system. It fully recognises the right of the Russian
authorities to carry out reforms adapted to the economic, political,
administrative and historic realities in Russia. However, the Assembly also
believes that the Russian authorities should opt for solutions which are in
line with the Council of Europe’s legally and politically binding standards
and principles.
6. The
Assembly considers the package of reforms, introduced in the autumn of 2004
with a view to reinforcing “the vertical of power”, to be a cause for
considerable concern as it in many respects may undermine the system of
checks and balances indispensable for the normal functioning of any
democracy. In order for democracy to function properly, the power must not
only be vertically reinforced but also horizontally shared.
7. The Assembly is concerned that recent
changes to the legislation concerning the elections of the State Duma and
the organisation of political parties will severely restrict political
competition. The significantly higher electoral threshold (7%), the
prohibition of electoral coalitions and the reduction, from four to two, of
the minimum number of parties to be represented in the lower chamber, as
well as new, restrictive rules for parties entitled to contest State Duma
elections, will significantly raise the entry barrier to the parliament, in
clear favour of the parties already represented in the current State Duma.
8. Similarly, changes providing the President
with a decisive influence in the election of regional governors will affect
the composition of the upper house of the Russian Parliament – the Council
of the Federation – which is responsible for controlling the performance of
the federal government and the President. Under the new legislation, half of
the council members will be appointed by the regional governors who are
themselves selected – and can be at any time dismissed – by the President
himself. Such a situation is clearly not compatible with the basic
democratic principle of the separation of power between legislative and
executive bodies.
9.The Assembly is concerned that recent
proposals to put the appointments, dismissals and disciplinary procedures
regarding judges and judicial administration under the control of the
executive may undermine prospects for an independent and impartial judiciary
in the Russian Federation.
10.The recent creation of a “public chamber”
entrusted with “the co-ordination of interests” between citizens,
non-governmental organisations and public authorities should be critically
assessed. It is indeed difficult to understand why a new body had to be set
up to fulfil a role normally carried out by a democratically elected
pluralist parliament on the one hand, and a genuinely independent freely
operating civil society on the other.
11. Assembly delegations observed the
parliamentary and presidential elections, in December 2003 and March 2004
respectively, and in both cases strongly criticised biased media coverage
and the use of administrative resources in favour of the incumbent President
and his political allies. The Assembly considers that the lack of pluralism
and impartiality with regard to the broadcasting media is an insurmountable
obstacle for the conduct of genuinely free and fair elections and for the
normal functioning of democracy as a whole.
12. The Assembly therefore urges the Russian
authorities to improve the conditions for the normal functioning of
pluralist democracy and, in this respect, to:
i. strengthen legal, administrative and
political conditions in which a democratically elected and genuinely
pluralist parliament will be able not only to support but also to control
the executive power;
ii. review the recently adopted legislation
on the elections of regional governors inasmuch as it affects the
composition and the independence of the upper house of the Russian
Parliament, in order to ensure full compliance with the principle of the
separation of powers;
iii. pursue the objectives behind the
setting up of the public chamber by creating proper administrative, fiscal
and political conditions for the normal functioning of Russian civil
society;
iv. create conditions for pluralist and
impartial broadcasting media by:
a. establishing an independent
public service broadcaster and an independent regulatory authority for
the broadcasting sector in line with Council of Europe standards;
b. improving the conditions for the
normal functioning of private nation-wide broadcasting media, which must
be free of state interference;
v. immediately end the harassment and
intimidation of members of civil society critical of the authorities and
in particular in the journalistic, scientific and environmentalist
communities, which are subject to abusive application of defamation and
state secret laws.
13. With regard to the rule of law and the
protection of human rights, the Assembly urges the Russian authorities to
take the following measures:
i. with regard to the abolition of the death
penalty, immediately ratify Protocol No. 6 (ETS No. 114) to the European
Convention on Human Rights (ETS No. 5). The Assembly recalls that the
original deadline for the respect of this commitment expired in 1999 and
that other countries which failed to respect this key commitment have been
exposed to sanctions;
ii. with regard to the conflict in the
Chechen Republic, comply with the recommendations contained in
Resolution 1403 (2004) and
notably take effective action to put an
immediate end to the ongoing “disappearances”, torture, arbitrary
detentions, incommunicado detention in illegal and secret detention
facilities, and unlawful killings, bring to justice those found
responsible for human rights violations, seek to end the conflict by
peaceful means, strictly respect the provisions of international
humanitarian law, prosecute any attempt to intimidate and harass human
rights activists and applicants to the European Court of Human Rights,
implement the recommendations contained in the reports of the European
Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment
or Punishment and consider their publication;
iii. unconditionally co-operate with the
European Court of Human Rights, refrain from hindering in any way the
effective exercise of the right of individual petition to the Court and
speedily and comprehensively execute its judgments, notably the judgment
in Ilascu and Others;
iv. with regard to ill-treatment and deaths
in the armed forces outside military conflicts, apply a zero-tolerance
approach to the continuously endemic problem of hazing, through
educational programmes for officers, and systematic, credible and
transparent investigation and prosecution of abuses;
v. with regard to the recently adopted law
on alternative military service, revise it in order to change its
disproportionate character and bring it in line with European practice;
vi. increase efforts to fight religiously,
ethnically and racially motivated violence and discrimination, improve in
particular the situation of those Meskhetian Turks wishing to stay in the
Krasnodar region and investigate and punish all proven cases of harassment
and discrimination;
vii. guarantee the exclusion of any legal,
administrative and fiscal discrimination against so-called non-traditional
confessions and bring the implementation of the federal law on freedom of
conscience and religious associations in line with Council of Europe
standards;
viii. pursue reforms in the field of the
judiciary in strict compliance with Council of Europe standards in order
to effectively eradicate any doubts on the fairness and independence of
the justice system in Russia, raised, inter alia, in the context of
the trials against Yukos executives;
ix. continue to reform the Prokuratura
in line with relevant European standards
and the Venice Commission Opinion No.
340/2005 adopted on 10 to 11 June 2005, in particular with regard to the
extensive general oversight powers, and withdraw the reservation
made to Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights;
x. with regard to the law on the Federal
Security Service:
a.revise the law on the Federal
Security Service in order to bring the scope of its investigative powers
and law enforcement prerogatives in line with Council of Europe
principles and standards and thus comply with the commitment for which
the initial deadline expired in February 1997;
b.transfer the responsibility for
Lefortovo and all other pre-trial detention centres currently
administered by the Federal Security Service to the Ministry of Justice
without any further delay;
xi. with regard to the European Charter for
Regional or Minority Languages (ETS No. 148), ratify it without further
delay and thus comply with the commitment for which the initial deadline
expired in February 1997;
xii. with regard to the European Social
Charter (ETS No. 163) and the Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced
Persons, ratify them as soon as possible.
14. As regards Russia’s relations with
neighbouring states and other Council of Europe states in the region, whilst
welcoming the recent agreement on the closure of the remaining Russian
military bases in Georgia, the Assembly urges the Russian authorities to
take the following measures:
i. with regard to the withdrawal of the
remaining Russian military forces and their equipment from the territory
of Moldova, carry out this withdrawal, which should have been completed by
October 1997, without any further delay;
ii. with regard to treating neighbouring
states and other countries in the region as zones of special influence,
denounce as wrong the policy of the
“near abroad”, constructively contribute to the resolution of open
issues and cease with activities, such as the issuing of Russian passports
to inhabitants of the Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia,
which may – directly or indirectly – undermine these countries’
sovereignty and territorial integrity;
iii. co-operate with the Georgian
authorities in order to create conditions for the voluntary return of
Meskhetian Turks to the regions from which they were forcefully deported;
iv. as
regards the compensation for those persons deported from the occupied
Baltic states and the descendants of deportees, as stated in Opinion No.
193 (1996), paragraph 7.xii, to settle these issues as quickly as
possible;
v.
complete work on signing and ratifying the border agreement with
Latvia;
vi.
facilitate the consultation of archives kept in the
Russian Federation, as stated in
Opinion No. 193 (1996), paragraph 10.xv;
vii.
settle rapidly all issues related to the return of cultural property
claimed by Council of Europe member states, as stated in Opinion No. 193
(1996), paragraphs 10.xii and xiv;
viii.
with regard to relations with
Belarus, make any political or financial assistance to the Government of
Belarus conditional on the respect of the human rights and civil liberties
of the people of Belarus.
15. The Assembly is encouraged by the recent
statements by the Russian delegation promising progress on some outstanding
commitments. However, it wishes to stress that the Russian authorities
should not only significantly accelerate the pace of compliance with the
remaining commitments but also adjust the direction of some of the recent
political, legislative and administrative reforms. This is particularly
important with regard to changes affecting the normal functioning of
pluralist democracy, which requires the organisation of free and fair
elections, guaranteeing appropriate rights to the opposition, accountability
of the executive power and the independence of the media.
16. Against this background, the Assembly
resolves to pursue its monitoring of the honouring of obligations and
commitments by the Russian Federation until it receives evidence of
substantial progress, particularly with regard to the issues mentioned in
this resolution.
1. Assembly debate on 22 June 2005 (20th Sitting) (see
Doc. 10568, report of
the Committee on the Honouring of Obligations and Commitments by Member
States of the Council of Europe (Monitoring Committee), Co-rapporteurs: Mr
Atkinson and Mr Bindig).
Text adopted by the Assembly on 22 June 2005 (21st Sitting).
