Presidential Commissioner for the Rights of the Child

In December 2018, amendments to federal laws were adopted that introduced the following requirements for a candidate for the position of federal children's ombudsman ^[1] :

• The Presidential Commissioner for the Rights of the Child is appointed for five years for no more than two consecutive terms;
• The candidate for the position of the Commissioner must be at least 30 years old, have an impeccable reputation, higher education, experience in protecting the interests of children, or experience in human rights activities.

The Commissioner has the right to:

1. request and receive in the prescribed manner the necessary information, documents and materials from federal bodies of state power, bodies of state power of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation , local governments, organizations and officials;
2. to freely visit federal bodies of state power, bodies of state power of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, local authorities, organizations;
3. independently or jointly with authorized state bodies and officials, verify the activities of federal executive bodies, state bodies of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, as well as officials, receive relevant explanations from them;
4. send to the federal executive bodies, state bodies of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, local governments and officials, in decisions or actions (inaction) of which he sees a violation of the rights and interests of the child, his opinion containing recommendations on possible and necessary measures to restore these rights and interests;
5. to attract in the prescribed manner for the implementation of expert and scientific-analytical work related to the protection of the rights of the child, scientific and other organizations, as well as scientists and specialists, including on a contractual basis.

In December 2018, the “children's” Commissioner received additional rights ^[1] :

• file lawsuits on the recognition of unlawful actions of state bodies in relation to children. At the same time, he is exempted from paying state duty when applying to the court with any lawsuits relating to the protection of minors;
• on his own initiative to participate in the trial of a civil case concerning the interests of children;
• The right to refuse to testify in relation to information that became known to him in connection with the performance of his duties.

The constituent entities of the Russian Federation also have their own Commissioners for the Rights of the Child - regional children's ombudsmen. Formally, they are appointed, funded and accountable to the authorities of the constituent entity of the Russian Federation. In fact, they are part of the structure of the Federal Commissioner for the Rights of the Child. By 2011, there was a kind of “vertical” of Russian children's ombudsmen led by the Federal Commissioner for the Rights of the Child ^[2] . In December 2018, it was legislatively fixed (by analogy with the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation ) that the federal children's Commissioner becomes the coordinator of regional children's ombudsmen and agrees on the candidatures for these posts ^[1] .

On the ground, regional children's ombudsmen coexist with the regional Commissioners for Human Rights , who are also appointed and funded by the authorities of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. The relationship between “specialized” and “general” ombudsmen is different. For example, in the Chelyabinsk region , the “common” and “children's” ombudsmen have one working apparatus. We went even further in the Tver region - there in 2010 the Commissioner for the Rights of the Child was subordinate to the regional Commissioner for Human Rights in the status of an assistant ^[3] . In the Krasnoyarsk Territory, as of 2016, the regional Commissioner for Human Rights appoints (with the consent of the Legislative Assembly of the region ) the Commissioner for Children's Rights ^[4] .

The relationship between the “general” and the “children's” regional ombudsmen may not add up. For example, in 2016, regional “general” commissioners complained that the introduction of “specialized” ombudsmen erodes the institution of the ombudsman in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation ^[5] . In 2015, a federal law entered into force that allows regional authorities to assign the Commissioner for Human Rights the functions of Commissioners for the Rights of the Child ^[6] . This law is being implemented in practice. For example, in December 2016, the post of Commissioner for Human Rights and the Rights of the Child was introduced in Tuva ^[7] .

In practice, there is an intersection of the functions of regional ombudsmen with children's Commissioners. For example, in the report of the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Sverdlovsk Region T.G. Merzlyakova for 2016, several sections are devoted to the protection of children's rights, but the report does not even mention the name of the regional children's ombudsman I.R. Morokov ^[8] .

1. Alexey Ivanovich Golovan (September 1 - December 26, 2009) ^{[9] [10]}
2. Pavel Alekseevich Astakhov (December 30, 2009 - September 9, 2016 ) ^{[11] [12]}
3. Anna Yuryevna Kuznetsova (since September 9, 2016) ^[13]

The first years under the Ombudsman for Children's Rights there was no Public Council - a structure that exists under many Russian authorities. In 2016-2017, this body was created. It is divided into working groups ^[14] . At the beginning of 2017, the Public Council included many priests of the Russian Orthodox Church , as well as activists of Orthodox public associations ^[15] .

Under Pavel Astakhov, the official website of the children's ombudsman was www.rfdeti.ru. However, after his resignation, it turned out that the site is the personal property of Pavel Astakhov ^[16] . Therefore, after the ombudsman’s resignation, all sections were removed from the site and instead they posted the Bulletin of the Presidential Commissioner for the Rights of the Child (for the summer of 2016) with the only publication “18 no Pavel Astakhov”, which lists the merits of the former children's ombudsman ^{[16 ]} . At the same time, the new Commissioner for the Rights of the Child found herself completely without an official website and was forced to communicate with the population through the Facebook social network ^[16] . Later, a new official website was created: http://deti.gov.ru/ . On the new site, no information about Astakhov and his activities as the Commissioner was posted ^[17] .

Journalist Maxim Artemyev notes: “The powers of the children's ombudsman are not specified in the constitution or in a separate law. This position exists on the basis of a presidential decree, and even the activities of the Commissioner for the Rights of the Child are ensured by the apparatus of the Public Chamber. The Ombudsman's capabilities are very, very limited and come down mainly to the right to submit requests. <...> In modern conditions, the children's commissioner is a public relations figure, indicative; her statements and actions are designed to demonstrate what the state wants and where the government is going in children's politics ” ^[18] .

Regional children's ombudsmen also criticized for inaction in protecting children, as well as for supporting government initiatives aimed at infringing on the interests of minors. For example, the Commissioner for the Rights of the Child in the Perm Territory Pavel Mikov supported the regional law adopted in 2016, which did not provide for the payment of a regional birth benefit to mothers who raise children without fathers ^[19] . According to Mikov, the state should not support women who give birth to children from irresponsible men ^[19] .

• Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation

• Official website of the Presidential Commissioner for the Rights of the Child
• Former official website of the Presidential Ombudsman for the Rights of the Child (does not work after the resignation of Pavel Astakhov)
• Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of September 1, 2009 No. 986 “On the Commissioner for the Rights of the Child under the President of the Russian Federation”
• Commissioner for the Rights of the Child in the Kemerovo Region