According to the 1993 constitution, Russia is a federation and semi-presidential republic in which the President is the Head of State and the Prime Minister is the Head of Government. The legislature consists of a bicameral Federal Assembly in which the Duma is the lower chamber and the Federation Council the upper. The president is elected in general elections every four years. Women hold 63 seats out of 450 in the Duma (14%) and 8 of the 169 seats of the Federation Council (4.7%) . The Russian Federation is one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and as such has the right to a veto on decisions with which it does not agree. The Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court, the Arbitration Court and lower level federal courts, whose judges are nominated by the Federal Assembly upon recommendation of the president, are responsible for interpretation of the laws and may abolish them where they are deemed unconstitutional.

The judiciary is legally independent although subject to pressure. Human Rights Watch and other human rights organisations have expressed concern at legal procedures which are applied and the increasing centralisation of power continues to be a cause for concern. Specifically, the fact that Vladimir Putin has continued to hold power, first as Prime Minister, then as President, and currently as head of government. Opposition protests have multiplied in recent years. In March 2010, in an unprecedented move, all opposition movements called for a day of protests against inflation and tax rises, in which thousands of people took part. Protests were prohibited in many cities, such as Moscow, and gave rise to violent confrontations with the police which were strongly suppressed. At the start of 2011, Amnesty International requested the immediate release of three Russian opposition activists who were detained in Moscow following a peaceful protest for freedom of assembly and sentenced to administrative detention. Boris Nemtsov, a former Deputy Prime Minister and opposition activists, Ilya Yashin and Konstantin Kosiakin were detained alongside 70 others in the rally which took place in the centre of Moscow on 31st December 2010, part of a series of regular protests in the Russian capital organised to defend the right to freedom of assembly.

The Russian government continues attempts to gradually recover its role as a regional power and reconstruct a sphere of influence. The effects of the global financial crisis on the country are ambiguous. On the one hand, Russia has been severely affected and has had to make use of a large part of its currency reserves, however on the other, it has strengthened its effects on some of the countries Moscow seeks to establish within its sphere of influence, allowing it to obtain political concessions in exchange for economic aid. Agriculture has once more become a priority, with the objective being to achieve self-sufficiency in terms of food. The country imports 30% of its meat, 20% of dairy products and 70% of the fruit it consumes. Industry represents more than one third of GDP, still largely resting upon infrastructure inherited from the Soviet era, and continues to specialise in traditional sectors such as mining and the fishing industry. The government has attempted to improve the dynamics of other sectors, such as the automotive industry. The crisis revealed the Russian economys dependency on hydrocarbons, which make up 60% of its exports. When international prices dropped, the economy of the principal gas exporter and the second largest oil producer was severely affected. GAZPROM, the driving force behind the economy and a diplomatic instrument of the Kremlin has seen its earnings reduced.

A report on corruption by Transparency International , published in October 2010, noted that compared with 2009, Russia has fallen in the ranking, dropping from 146th to 154th out of the 178 countries examined. The level of corruption in Russia is ranked alongside countries such as the Central African Republic, Guinea-Bissau, Cambodia, Kenya, Papa New Guinea and Tajikistan.
Freedom of expression of the press is formally guaranteed although reports continue to offer evidence of restrictions. Carrying out independent journalism continues to be difficult and on some occasions can cost reporters their lives. Five Journalists from the independent daily newspaper Novaya Gazeta have been assassinated in the last ten years, without the crimes being duly investigated and those responsible punished. Specifically, Human Rights Watch reports that journalists investigating human rights violations in Chechnya have been threatened. The current president, Dimitri Medvedev, has affirmed that local authorities must support the work of human rights organisations although at the time of writing no positive changes have been observed in this respect. In December 2010, the house of Bakhrom Hamroev, an active human rights defender, was raided and he was beaten until unconscious. Citing concerns of terrorism, new regulations give law enforcement agencies greater access to electronic surveillance and Internet service providers are required to route all messages through a terminal which allows access to private information.
On 29th March 2010, the Moscow metro suffered a terrorist attack which cost the lives of 40 people. The suicide bombers came from Dagestan, an independent republic in North Caucasus, neighbouring Chechnya. Rebel groups, Islamic extremism, and the activities of mafias who live off contraband oil and caviar from the Caspian Sea have multiplied.

Russians make up 80% of the population and dominate the political system, however the countrys minorities also participate actively. Discrimination on the grounds of ethnicity, gender, language or social status is prohibited, however social and governmental discrimination do occur. Instances of the mistreatment of racial and ethnic groups have been prosecuted. Police and members of the security forces are accused of using torture and brutality to coerce confessions and impunity continues to be a serious problem. Victims of brutality include people from the Caucasus, Central Asia and Africa, as well as the Roma population. Since the Beslan school massacre, the authorities have obstructed access by the Red Cross to those detained as part of the conflict in Chechnya.

Russia is a source, transit and destination country for the trafficking of women and children for sexual exploitation. People trafficking is prohibited by the penal code, however, men coming from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) are subject to trafficking to work in the construction industry. Young, unemployed women aged 15 to 25 are also primary targets and the victims of child trafficking are often homeless children and those living in orphanages. Child pornography is produced and distributed over the Internet from within the country. Some functionaries have been accused of being complicit in people trafficking.

Citizens are required to carry an internal passport from the age of 14 providing evidence of their status (address, civil status, nationality, children under 14, fulfilment of tax and military obligations, etc.) and they must register with the authorities within a specified time frame upon arrival in a new locality. In many regions, Muslim and Roma minorities report suffering harassment and anti-Semitism also appears to have increased. Legal action has been taken against anti-Semitic acts and the government has condemned the nationalist ideology.

Sufferers of HIV-AIDS continue to be subject to discrimination and according to 2010 UNAIDS figures , 940,000 people are affected by HIV in the country. Human Rights Watch reports that HIV-positive mothers and their children face discrimination in healthcare, employment and education. A study noted that 10% of those who are HIV-positive were forced to leave home by their families, 30% were refused healthcare and 10% were dismissed from their jobs. Homosexuality is not illegal although homosexuals often suffer discrimination in society. Homosexual men report being rejected when seeking employment and suffering violence at the hands of skinhead groups. In 2009, ILGA-Europe initiated a programme to promote plurality and combat homophobia in Russia which ends in 2012. For the first time, on 20th November 2010, activists in St Petersburg held a protest with approval from the authorities for the rights of gays and lesbians. The march took place just one month after the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) issued a ruling condemning the prohibition of gay pride marches.

Enrolment is free up to the end of secondary school. Primary education is compulsory and universal. The majority of Russian children complete secondary school, whereas asylum seekers, immigrants and members of certain minorities experience difficulties. 12% of street children taken to shelters have escaped from orphanages or boarding schools. Homeless children receive no education and are vulnerable to drug and alcohol abuse. The Russian Orthodox Church has significantly increased its intervention in education, having signed agreements with the government for public education, above all with the aim of changing specific contents of the curriculum. In June 2010, the Russian Orthodox Church called for an end to the monopoly of Darwinism in Russian schools, claiming that alongside the theory of evolution, children should be taught creationist theories.

The law states that children must first undergo rigorous testing before being assigned to segregated or special classes and that parental consent is required for this to happen. However, the parents of Roma children are often not asked to provide consent and some do not even know that their children are being segregated. Children in special classes receive an inferior quality of education in comparison to those who attend normal classes. They are not taught foreign languages, computing or new technologies, which are currently important skills to make progress in society. Until recently, it was practically impossible for Roma children to be admitted to normal classes. Special classes only exist for the first five years of schooling and Roma students have very few opportunities to continue to middle or secondary school, something which severely limits their opportunities in life and perpetuates their marginalisation as an ethnic group. The existence of segregated classes for Roma students has been reported to the European Court of Human Rights.

In 2008, the United Nations Human Rights Council commended the countrys ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict, and in September 2009, the establishment of the Childrens Ombudsman.

A 3 year programme begins at the age of 4. At this level 7% of education is private and the Net Enrolment Rate (NER) is 72%. Of the 490,146 ECE teachers, 94% are correctly trained and the pupil/teacher ratio (PTR) is 7:1.

Education is compulsory from the age of 6 to 15 and primary school begins at the age of 7 and lasts for 3 years. The NER is 91% (49% female) and 1% of students repeat grades. There are 324,800 primary teachers, 99% of which have received appropriate training. The PTR is 17:1.

Secondary education begins at the age of 10 and lasts for 7 years. 29% of students in upper secondary education study in technical vocational programmes. The GER is 84% and 1% of students repeat grades. There are 1,341,291 secondary teachers (80% female), 93% of which have received appropriate training. The PTR is 9:1 in secondary school.

9,446,408 students (57% female) study in tertiary institutions, with a Gross Enrolment Rate of 77%. At this level 11% of education is private. There are 75,786 international students are studying in Russia, mostly from Asia (28,959) and Central and Eastern Europe (18,047), with the remainder being from unspecified countries. In addition to this, 34,473 Russian students study abroad, mostly in Germany (11,462), the USA (5,532), France (2,597), Kazakhstan (2,177) and the UK (1,878).

Discrimination against people with disabilities is prohibited by law although the legislation is not sufficiently enforced and disabled people do not have equal opportunities in education and employment. The situation is said to have worsened since 2004 when the law replaced government subsidies for transportation and medicine with cash payments. There are approximately 640,000 disabled children in the country, the majority of which are segregated from mainstream society. Conditions in institutions are poor and the situation is exacerbated by a lack of qualified staff and severe overcrowding. Children held in institutions receive poor care, with reports of mistreatment and a lack of access to the social, educational and professional skills which would allow them to develop in society.

Those with mental health problems are catalogued under labels such as imbeciles, idiots or as having a mild mental retardation. The designation appears thereafter in official documents and creates problems upon moving beyond the special institutions. Disabled children who are not held in institutions have difficulty in accessing schools. A lack of special programmes or additional assistance makes their integration into regular school programmes difficult. Home schooling programmes appear to be of inferior quality to regular schooling programmes.

Teachers working in school institutions and universities have not received special training for the treatment of disabled pupils which means they work under extremely hard and difficult conditions. Parents of other children often oppose having children with disabilities in schools. Government reports show that approximately 170,000 children with disabilities receive no education. Of the 230,000 who do receive education, 137,000 attend regular schools, 33,000 study at home and 60,000 attend special schools that make up only 3% of the total number of schools. There are special institutions for child offenders, characterised by mistreatment, a negative psychological environment and lack of access to educational and professional training. Many of the children come from orphanages and schooling in prisons is said to be sporadic.

The law provides for the granting of asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol although the government has not established a system for providing protection to refugees. Federal law establishes the provision of education for all children, however regional authorities frequently deny school access to children of unregistered persons, asylum-seekers and immigrants. The UNHCR estimates that 200,000 displaced people live within Chechnya in temporary accommodation centres.

The law prohibits discrimination based on nationality, but the Roma population, African immigrants and other foreign nationals face widespread discrimination. A significant percentage of ethnic minorities in the country who lack documentation come from the countries of the former USSR. They do not require a visa to enter the country but must register immediately. If they fail to do so, their status is extremely precarious as they do not have access to social security and education. The citizenship act requires foreign nationals to obtain a residency permit (propiska) and demonstrate 5 years of continuous residency before applying for citizenship.

Groups of skinheads and nationalist organizations are involved in racially motivated violence. Muslims and Jews also suffer harassment from these groups. The European Roma Rights Centre notes alarming patterns of abuse among the Roma population. Ethnic minorities with pre-existing residence are allowed access to support established by the law. They may have their own governing bodies and seek compensation if economic development threatens their way of life or lands. Several minorities, Buryats, Enver, Tafarli and Chukchi, continue to preserve and defend their cultures and the economic resources in their regions, and most report receiving the same treatment as ethnic Russians although they are barely represented in government at all levels. Internally displaced persons are frequently refused the status of forced migrantsand according to Russian legislation have limited access to social security benefits, including education.

The law prohibits discrimination based on nationality, but the Roma population, African immigrants and other foreign nationals face widespread discrimination. A significant percentage of ethnic minorities in the country who lack documentation come from the countries of the former USSR. They do not require a visa to enter the country but must register immediately. If they fail to do so, their status is extremely precarious as they do not have access to social security and education. The citizenship act requires foreign nationals to obtain a residency permit (propiska) and demonstrate 5 years of continuous residency before applying for citizenship.

Groups of skinheads and nationalist organizations are involved in racially motivated violence. Muslims and Jews also suffer harassment from these groups. The European Roma Rights Centre notes alarming patterns of abuse among the Roma population. Ethnic minorities with pre-existing residence are allowed access to support established by the law. They may have their own governing bodies and seek compensation if economic development threatens their way of life or lands. Several minorities, Buryats, Enver, Tafarli and Chukchi, continue to preserve and defend their cultures and the economic resources in their regions, and most report receiving the same treatment as ethnic Russians although they are barely represented in government at all levels. Internally displaced persons are frequently refused the status of forced migrants and according to Russian legislation have limited access to social security benefits, including education.

The Russian Federation dropped nine places in the Global Gender Gap Index. In the 2009 report, the country was ranked 51st out of 134 countries in contrast to 42nd in 2007. The causes can be attributed to a drop in the participation of women in the workforce and an increase in the gender pay gap. Men and women have equal rights and opportunities by law although women continue to suffer sexual discrimination in the workplace. Job advertisements specify sex and age groups and sometimes even required physical appearance. Employers hire men rather than women to avoid the costs of maternity leave and child care. The ILO points out that women represent approximately 47% of the active population, the majority of which work in public services. Women make up 85%, 81% and 75% of the health, education and public information service sectors, respectively, and are paid on average two thirds of a mans wage. Professions dominated by women are much poorer paid. Sexual harassment is not illegal, allowing no recourse, and it is reported as widespread. Domestic violence is a pervasive problem and police often fail to respond to incidents.

The employment of children under the age of 16 is almost completely forbidden. Children under 18 are prohibited from dangerous work and working at night time although the law is not strictly enforced. With parental consent, children aged 14 can undertake work which does not damage their health or welfare. Forced or compulsory labour is prohibited although a number of cases have been reported. The availability of adult workers who are paid low wages has impeded the widespread hiring of children. Some parents use their children when begging or send the children out on their own to beg, and homeless children are exploited through prostitution or by criminal gangs.

Workers have the right to form and join trade unions. Some 46% of workers are unionised, and 90% of these belong to the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia (FNPR). The right to collective bargaining is recognised, and collective bargaining is mandatory if requested either by employers or employees. The ILO Committee on Freedom of Association asked the government to amend the Labour Code to allow collective bargaining at an occupational level. The International Trade Union Confederation reports that a law on commercial secrets covers information on wages in companies. Lack of access to such information is a disadvantage to unions in collective bargaining. The FNPR states that some 80% of its unions have concluded agreements. The right to strike is permitted although is difficult to exercise and is threatened as employers may contract replacement workers during a strike. A minimum level of essential services must be provided during a strike and the majority of public sector employees do not have the right to strike. Forced or compulsory labour is prohibited although reports indicate these do occur. Illegally employed migrants from other CIS countries are reported to work for low wages with their passports being retained by the firms that bring them to Russia. According to the ILO, employers of illegal immigrants withheld passports in 20% of forced labour cases. 7,500 North Koreans are said to be employed in Russia with their wages withheld until they return home. A significant percentage of the population earns less than the official minimum subsistence level and the standard working week is 40 hours. Teachers are among those who are owed salaries.

The law establishes the right for external union representatives to access workplaces although this is often ignored in practice. For example, numerous security companies who manage commercial seaports frequently, both state and private, deny access passes, postpone issuing them or require the payment of an entrance fee. Sometimes they also request the list of union members who work at the port. Attempts to secure help from the authorities have been unsuccessful given that the prosecutors office refers the matter to the Ministry of Transport, which does not have the relevant powers.

On 30th July 2009, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg reached a decision in the case of Danilenkov and others v. Russia (Case no 67336/01) relative to anti-union practices in the seaport of Kaliningrad. The port workers, members of the Dockers Union of Russia, had organised a strike in 1997 and as a consequence were reassigned and demoted, resulting in a reduction in their wages and ultimately the loss of their jobs. The authorities refused to pursue those responsible, arguing it would not be possible to prove intent to discrimination. Despite regularly quashing the decisions of the employers, civil rights courts repeatedly rejected accusations of anti trade union discrimination, claiming that discrimination can only be established under the framework of a criminal trial.

The ECHR ruled that the State had violated Articles 11 and 14 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (union rights and non-discrimination) since it had failed to comply with its affirmative requirements to guarantee clear and effective legal protection for discrimination against union action. Similarly, it awarded 28 of the claimants 2,500 each in non-pecuniary damages. The Government requested that the case was examined by the ECHR Grand Chamber but its plea was rejected (without the right to appeal) on 23rd December.