Challenges in the Legal Regulation of Obtaining Statements from Public Officials and Civil Servants by the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation and the Staff of the Commissioner’s Office

The paper is devoted to identifying problems in the legal regulation of one of the instruments used by the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Russian Federation and the staff of his working apparatus in the course of examining citizens’ complaints — namely, the obtaining of explanations. It proposes various ways to enhance the effectiveness of state human rights oversight, including: amendments to federal legislation (pertaining to the uniformity of terminology employed for «obtaining explanations» and «clarifications» by commissioners for human rights at both the federal and regional levels; the legal obligation to provide explanations; and the possibility for the staff of the working apparatus to obtain such explanations); amendments to the Regulations on the working apparatus of the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation (to establish the right of certain staff members to obtain explanations without a power of attorney). In addition, the paper recommends the approval of a procedural statute (or methodological guidelines) for conducting inspections, including procedures for obtaining explanations from officials in the context of complaint handling. This procedural document should be mandatory and define the relevant processes, thereby enabling staff of the Commissioner’s office to refer to it when requesting explanations.

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