DOES RUSSIA NEED A NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COURT?
Authors:   Tomsk State University (Tomsk, Russian Federation), Andreeva Olga I. , Kachalov Victor I. ,   Russian State University of Justice (Moscow, Russian Federation), Kachalova Oksana V. ,   Russian State University of Justice (Moscow, Russian Federation)
Published: December 2021

The issues of human rights protection are under the constant scrutiny of the state and civil society. In this regard, the purpose of the article is to raise the problem of the advisability of creating a national human rights court. In the course of the analysis of the current state of judicial protection of the rights and freedoms of citizens in Russia, the study of foreign experience and the study of expert assessments on this issue the authors of the given article outline the main issues, the resolution of which will enable us to conclude that it is expedient to create a national human rights court. The supporters of the creation of such a court believe that it should become a body for re-solving specific disputes related to the restoration of violated rights caused by the actions (omission of acts) of state bodies and organizations that are the last national instance before applying to the ECHR. This court is called to solve a systemic problem in Russia–the problem of human rights violations, which the existing judicial system cannot currently solve. The opponents of the establishment of a national human rights court suggested that the crea-tion of an additional filter before applying to the ECHR would worsen the guarantees for the protection of human rights since it would create another additional stage that the applicant would have to go through before filing a complaint to a supranational judicial body. They also expressed the idea that the need to define the concept of a new human rights body, its com-petence, status and place in the judicial system of Russia will require amendments to the Constitution of the Russian Federation and the restructuring of a well- established judicial system. The analysis of the Turkish experience in the establishment of a national human rights court leads to the conclusion that it is a fairly effective instrument of national legal protection. Individual complaints about violations of the rights provided for in the Constitution of the Republic of Turkey and the European Convention on Human Rights are considered. The authors of the given article conclude that the assessment of the need to create a Russian court for human rights should be based not only on the expressed opinions and assumptions but based on a comprehensive study, including the analysis of the objective need to create such a body, taking into account the real effectiveness of the current judicial system, established empirically and through expert assessments; determination of the proposed model of the national court (its competences and place in the judicial system of Russia, procedural aspects of activities, issues of execution of judgments of such a court); examination of the expected effectiveness, taking into account the analysis of the resources spent (financial, organizational, personnel, etc.), changes in the Constitution of the Russian Federation and the expected results of the activities of such court.