This report was drafted, in collaboration with the European Asylum Support Office (EASO), by Country of Origin Information (COI) specialists from the COI units and asylum departments of Belgium, Norway, Poland and Sweden. Prior to publication, this report was submitted for review and comment to the Danish and Swiss asylum departments. A further review and content update was carried out by ACCORD (Austrian Centre for Country of Origin and Asylum Research and Documentation).
This report was written according to the EASO COI Report Methodology and aims to provide information which is relevant for international protection status determination (refugee status and subsidiary protection).
The purpose of this report is to provide an overview of the functionality of the administration of the Russian Federation within the justice and security sectors in their role as State actors of protection. The primary focus of the report is the state functions identified as central from a citizen’s perspective – the official institutions that constitute the ultimate guarantee for the individual’s possibility to exercise his or her rights.
The report is composed of three chapters. Chapter 1 provides information on the Russian Federation’s Constitution and on the State’s structure. Chapter 2 identifies the relevant state actors of protection in Russia (Ministry of Internal Affairs, Prosecutor’s Office, courts, State Investigative Committee, Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation). Chapter 3 is specifically devoted to the situation in Chechnya.
The drafting of this report was finalised in December 2016. Any event taking place after this date is not taken into consideration for this report, except for the law on domestic violence approved in February 2017.
Policy
The policy implemented by the Commissioner General is based on a thorough analysis of accurate and up-to-date information on the general situation in the country of origin. This information is collated in a professional manner from various, objective sources, including the EASO, the UNHCR, relevant international human rights organisations, non-governmental organisations, professional literature and coverage in the media. When determining policy, the Commissioner General does not only examine the COI Focuses written by Cedoca and published on this website, as these deal with just one aspect of the general situation in the country of origin. The fact that a COI Focus could be out-of-date does not mean that the policy that is being implemented by the Commissioner General is no longer up-to-date.
When assessing an application for asylum, the Commissioner General not only considers the actual situation in the country of origin at the moment of decision-making, he also takes into account the individual situation and personal circumstances of the applicant for international protection. Every asylum application is examined individually. An applicant must comprehensively demonstrate that he has a well-founded fear of persecution or that there is a clear personal risk of serious harm. He cannot, therefore, simply refer back to the general conditions in his country, but must also present concrete, credible and personal facts.
There is no policy paper for this country available on the website.