On 15 November, the UN Universal Periodic Review Working Group (UPR) adopted a list of recommendations made by UN Member States to the Russian Federation authorities, of which 30 are specifically aimed at solving a wide range of problems affecting the country’s prison system.
Part of these recommendations reflect recent submissions made by EPLN and several of its partners.
>> READ MORE ABOUT OUR SUBMISSIONS
The widespread use of torture in Russian prison led UN States to recommend that the authorities bring their legal framework into line with the UN Convention against Torture, ratify the Optional Protocol thereto, and make torture a separate criminal offence. Effective measures should also be put in place to prevent and combat torture in detention, investigate all reported cases and bring perpetrators to justice.
The widespread use of torture and arbitrary detention of civilians in the occupied territories of Ukraine, as well as the illegal deportation of civilians to Russia was also strongly condemned by the recommending States, who urged the Russian authorities to cease such actions immediately.
Russia was also called on to abolish death penalty de jure.
Last, a number of recommendations aim at bringing the prison system in line with the UN Mandela Rules by improving detention conditions, and developing a system of reintegration of prisoners into the society.
In spite of its scale (as of November 2023 it concerns an estimate of 70,000 individuals), the recruitment of prisoners by semi-private military contractors affiliated with the Russian armed forces has not been addressed. Neither have the recommending States asked the Russian authorities to alter their restrictive and highly punitive drug policy – two issues which were also extensively covered in our joint reports.
