Conceptual and Institutional Specifics of Human Rights Activities in the Russian Federation

Abstract

Human rights activities in the Russian Federation as a function of public bodies of the Russian Federation and as a special type of activity of civil society institutions have transformed into a priority factor in ensuring stability and effective development of the country. The main problem requiring research is the correlation of conceptual and organizational and institutional aspects of human rights activities.  In the modern world as a whole and in Russia in particular, there is clearly a gap in the conceptual modification of both the doctrine of human rights and freedoms and the institutional forms of cooperation between citizens and civil society institutions with each other and with the state that are adequate to the new realities. The article defines the specifics of the current state of the human rights concept in Russia and its institutional context, identifies the combination of universalism and regionalism characteristic of Russia, the ratio of hierarchy and balance of types of sovereignty, determines the reasons for the dominance of the public element in the process of institutional support of human rights activities. As a result of the study, the authors conclude that the crisis processes in the modern world do not require abandoning the concept of universal human rights which is one of the most important achievements of the civilizational development of mankind, but reveal the need to correct their conceptual reception in Russia, a certain modification of their catalog, taking into account the cultural and historical identity of the evolution of Russian statehood, and centuries-long formation of the state, that have also reflected on the structural and institutional specifics of human rights activities.