Russia: Proposal to create Commissioner for Rights of People with Disabilities
Proposal to create the post of Commissioner for the Rights of People with Disabilities in the Russian Federation
22.01.2024
On 22 January, the news agency RIA Novosti reported that the Head of the State Duma Committee on Social Policy, Yaroslav Nilov, had proposed the introduction of the post of Commissioner for the Rights of People with Disabilities and that this would be included as one of the recommendations that emerge from its parliamentary hearings.
“The person chosen should be someone who is already known, not just by reputation but with first-hand experience in the sort of problems he or she will face on a daily basis. Although we already have human rights bodies, there is still a need for a specially-appointed defender of people’s rights”, said Nilov as reported by RIA Novosti.
This is not the first time that the suggestion for the creation of such an office has been made, with Duma deputies having sent the same proposal to the Ministry of Labour in December 2021. A Bill was introduced last year that would have established the Commissioner post but this was not supported by the State Duma Committee on the Development of Civil Society, Issues of Public Associations and Religious Organisations as they felt it would duplicate the functions of existing human rights institutions.
