The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) extended the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Russia by one year on Thursday. Mariana Katzarova is the first and present mandate holder. She was appointed in May 2023 and will continue monitoring and reporting on the human rights crisis in Russia.

The mandate of the Special Rapporteur was created in October 2022 based on the reports noting Russia’s use of propaganda, restrictive legislation and violence as a means to suppress civil society, as well as crackdowns on human rights organizations and independent media. The Resolution also cites concerns of the international community over arbitrary arrests and detentions, shutdown of civil society organizations, and restrictions on freedom of speech and expression. It aims at urging Russia to comply with its human rights obligations and uphold fundamental freedoms. It instituted the independent office of the Special Rapporteur and called on Russia to cooperate with the mandate holder.

The Special Rapporteur presented the report on the situation of human rights in the Russian Federation at the fifty-fourth session of the UNHRC in September 2023. The report criticizes the foreign agents law, the fake news law, persecution of sexual and gender minorities, censorship laws, treatment of political opposition, detention of journalists, violations of fair trial standards and undermining of the independence of the judiciary. It concluded that “the situation of human rights in the Russian Federation has significantly deteriorated since its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.” Among its recommendations were the harmonizing of domestic laws with Russia’s international human rights organisations, repeal of repressive legislations, the release of political opposition activists, prosecution of perpetrators of human rights violations and reparations for victims of violations.

Russia had ceased to be a high contracting party to the European Convention on Human Rights in September 2022; there are more than 17,000 applications against the Russian Federation still pending.