24 Oct 2018 19:29

HRC surprised with more Russians reporting rights violations

MOSCOW. Oct 24 (Interfax) - Chairman of the Russian Presidential Human Rights Council Mikhail Fedotov said that he had been perplexed at the latest findings of opinion polls, in accordance with which more than half of Russians state violations of their fundamental rights.

"In 2016, to the question about which of your rights and freedoms have been violated this year 45% of respondents said none, already not 45%, but 50% in 2017 that is good, so, human rights are not violated. And, finally, only 42% gave this answer in September 2018. So, their percentage fell from 50% to 42%," Fedotov said at parliamentary hearings in the Federation Council on Wednesday.

These are the findings of the opinion poll, which the Human Rights Council conducts every year, he said.

While the right to labor and the right to leisure and health protection are the most important rights for people, those polled said their rights to health and environment, the rights to just court proceedings and the right to fair and free elections were violated most frequently this year, he said.

"It is sociology. We have never registered these violations in the past years; there have always been other [breaches]. It is necessary to look into why this figure has soared. In general, I am yet not ready to analyze these figures," the HRC head said.

"I have seen them only today. I can say to you frankly that I have been shocked at them, and I believe that we should seriously deal with them. According to the findings related to the authority of human rights organizations, we have also seen a drastic decline. And I would like to understand why," Fedotov said.

Fedotov suggested that the HRC and Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova jointly study all their poll findings.

According to the Public Opinion Fund (FOM) findings, "only 35% of Russians estimate the level of observing human rights as good, while 52% estimate it as bad," Moskalkova said earlier at parliamentary hearings.