Russia - Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation

Institutional characteristics

1. Establishment

- Date of creation: April 4, 2005

- Year operational: 2006

- Nature of the texts that create the institution (Constitution, law, decree, etc.): 

the Federal Law No. 32-FZ

- Have any changes in recent years happened concerning the nature, membership, capacities of the Institution.

2. Mandate

Consultation and advisory ☐

Negotiation ☐

Both ✅

3. Mission and attributions

The Civic Chamber’s goal is to provide engagement and establish interaction between citizens, NGOs, civil associations, other institutions and state and municipal authorities.

The objectives are as following:

• Exercise public oversight over the government activities,
• Develop institution of public electoral monitoring,
• Provide public expertise of socially significant legislative initiatives,
• Advise state policies towards civic associations, NGOs, and other institutions acting to develop civil society in Russia,
• Protect citizens’ civil rights, including those in detention,
• Exercise public initiatives and respond to the citizens’ appeals,
• Develop relations and exchange experience with similar civic society institutions worldwide.

4. Composition :

- Number of members: 168

- Duration of the term: every 3 years

- Membership categories:

40 members approved by the Presidential Executive Order, 85 members elected from regional civic chambers, and 43 representing nationwide public organizations

- Process of designating the members (election, nomination, by whom, etc.):

Since 2014 the Civic Chamber has been elected every three years and has comprised 168 members, including 40 members approved by the Presidential Executive Order, 85 members elected from regional civic chambers, and 43 representing nationwide public organizations. Once a new chamber is formed, the new members hold an organizational plenary meeting to elect the President and Vice Presidents of the Civic Chamber.

To become the Civic Chamber member, one should be either an opinion maker, a professional in any sphere, or work for a nonprofit or religious organization. Inspiring public leaders are preferable.

In different compositions of the Civic Chamber such prominent figures of the Russian society served their public mission as its members: governor of the Udmurt Republic Alexander Brechalov, poet Andrey Dementyev, Russian film, theater and TV actress, cofounder of a countrywide Russian nongovernmental charitable organization Podari Zhizn (Gift of Life) Chulpan Khamatova, founder and rector of the National Research University Higher School of Economics Yaroslav Kuzminov, Soviet and Russian cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, ex-Vice UN Secretary General Sergei Ordzhonikidze, founder and president of Interros Group investment company Vladimir Potanin, head of Russia’s Federal Agency for the Commonwealth of Independent States Affairs, Compatriots Living Abroad, and International Humanitarian Cooperation Yevgeny Primakov, noted pediatrician, expert for the World Health Organization Leonid Roshal, ex-Russian minister, ex-State Duma deputy, President of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Alexander Shokhin, curator, film director and director of the Multimedia Art Museum in Moscow Olga Sviblova, world known painter, sculptor and architect, Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, ethnologist Valery Tishkov, mayor of the Lipetsk city Yevgenia Uvarkina, and many others.

5. Management organs

Presidium / Bureau / Cabinet / Other: Please specify role, composition, designation :

Assembly General / Plenary session / Other: Please specify role, frequencies of meeting: 1 session buy two months

General Secretariat: Please specify role, composition, designation:

Executive Office of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation

federal public authorities, public authorities of the subjects of the Russian Federation, and local authorities, and organizes the presence of members of the Public Chamber at plenary sessions and meetings of committees and commissions of the chambers of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, the Government of the Russian Federation, and the boards of federal executive authorities;

The Head of the Office is appointed by the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation.

6. Operational arrangement of the Permanent Secretariat

Yes ✅

No ☐

7. Gender balance (% of women)

Between 0% and 9% ☐

Equal or more than 10% ☐

Equal or more than 30% ✅

Equal or more than 50% ☐

8. Reporting Institution

Government ☐

Parliament ☐

Cabinet of President ☐

Cabinet of Prime Minister ☐

Ministry of Finance ☐

Ministry of Labour ☐

Ministry of Social Affairs ☐

Others (please specify): civil society

9. Budget

Amount :

Between $0 and $249,000 ☐

Equal or more than $250,000 ☐

Equal or more than $500,000 ☐

Equal or more than $750,000 ☐

Source of funding:

III. Organizational Structure

1. Committees/Sub-committees/working groups:

Every member of the Civic Chamber works for one of the commissions. The current 7th the Civic Chamber (2020-2023) has 20 specialized commissions covering almost all spheres of public life in the country, i.e.

• Commission on Physical Training and Promotion of Healthy Lifestyle;
• Commission on Health Care and Public Health Development;
• Commission on Ecology and Environmental Protection;
• Commission on Examination of Socially Significant Draft Laws and Other Legislative Initiatives;
• Commission on Territorial Development and Local Government;
• Commission on Charity and Social Work;
• Commission on Youth, Volunteerism and Patriotic Education;
• Commission on Accessible Environment and Inclusive Practices Development;
• Commission on Security and Cooperation with Public Supervisory Commissions;
• Commission on Demography, Protection of Family, Children and Traditional Family Values;
• Commission on Harmonization of Interethnic and Interreligious Relations;
• Commission on Development of Information Society, Mass Media And Communications;
• Commission on Culture Development and Preservation of Spiritual Heritage;
• Commission on Preschool, School and Secondary Vocational Education and Educational Activity;
• Commission on Development of Higher Education and Science;
• Commission on Development of Economy and Corporate Social Responsibility;
• Commission on Housing, Public Utilities, Construction and Roads;
• Commission on Social Policy, Labor Relations and Support of Veterans;
• Commission on Nonprofit Sector Development and Social Benefit Nongovernmental Organizations Support;
• Commission on Development of Agricultural Sector and Rural Areas

Other working bodies of the 7th Civic Chamber include 4 intercommission working groups, a scientific advisory council, 10 coordination councils, 9 working groups affiliated to the Civic Chamber, and 2 working groups affiliated to the Civic Chamber commissions.

The Civic Chamber operates in various formats: public hearings, roundtables, offsite meetings, etc. Every year the Civic Chamber holds several hundred public events, including plenary sessions attended by all members to address the most significant issues related to the country’s and civil society’s development. On average, there are 3-4 plenary sessions per year.

2. Is there in your country any institutions of social dialogue outside your institutions?

There are now 85 regional civic chambers and more than 2,000 municipal chambers.

IV. Functioning of the ESC

1. Who convenes the Institution?

2. Has the Institution a legal right to issue own-initiative opinion?

yes

3.How are decisions taken inside the Institution

By vote ✅

By consensus ☐

4. What kind of payment do the Councillors receive: wage, compensation, other?

No payment

5. Is the Government obligated to follow the opinion issued by the Institution?

Since 2009 the Civic Chamber has examined socially significant bills prior to their review in the State Duma (the lower chamber of the Russian Parliament). It is up to the commissions to decide whether bills are socially significant and worth debating. And since 2014 the Civic Chamber has acquired the right of holding preliminary hearings of the bills.

6. Is the Government obligated to report on the fate of the Institution opinions?

The Civic Chamber’s proposals are usually incorporated in the process of consideration and adoption of the Parliamentary bills.

7. Are there official publications of the Institution opinions?

Every year the Civic Chamber releases its Report on the State of Civil Society in the Russian Federation, covering the analysis of the current trends in the civil society development, assessment of ups and downs of the civil society initiatives, review of the most pressing issues of the third sector, recommendations on systemic response to those challenges. The Report is distributed among the state authorities and civil society institutions.

The Civic Chamber annually publishes a compendium of the best practices of the regional civic chambers featuring the most engaging social work cases, problems solved, decisions suggested, goals achieved and leaders emerged. The idea is to exemplify the best practices of one region and disseminate them all over the country.

Commissions of the Civic Chamber also produce special reports on different topics of current priority, focusing on the roadmaps and approaches the civil society brings forward to the issues the country faces. Recently the following reports were published:

• Demography 2024: how to Ensure Sustainable Natural Population Growth;
• Involvement of the Nonprofit Organizations in Providing Social Services to the Citizens;
• How to Preserve Rural Communities: Problems of Employment;
• On Activities of the Public Supervisory Commissions in the Regions of the Russian Federation.

8. Is the public opinion informed about the Institution works? How?

The Civic Chamber has a website www.oprf.ru as well as different social media accounts:

• facebook.com/CivicChamber/
• Instagram.com/oprf_official/
• Telegram: t.me/oprf_official

9. What kind of relationship does the ESC have with civil society?

Collaboration ✅

Part of the Institution

Institutionalised relation ☐

Uninstitutionalised relation ☐

Collaboration ☐

Participation in the drafting of reports ☐

Nothing at all ☐

V.Main technical areas of competencies

Since the Council discusses topics upon social partners´ interest and request, all the mentioned fields are subject of discussion within the Working Teams and Plenary Session.

Agriculture :

All the activities are exercised by the Commission on Development of Agricultural Sector and Rural Areas

Civil Society

Since 2015 the Civic Chamber has organized the Community active citizens’ forum, an open platform for dialog between civil society, business and government to improve the development and implementation of social projects and advance cooperation. There are several forums organized in the Russian regions within a year and the final forum is held in Moscow. The forums’ goal is to define the civil society’s state and develop socially oriented practices, discuss current problems and ways out, find and expand best practices. The Community forums are both a means of searching for public opinion leaders and a promotion for moving upwards on the social ladder for active citizens and NGO representatives.

“My Project to my Country” is an annual contest of the socially significant projects held by the Civic Chamber since 2017. The idea is to uncover and boost the best practices, to support and involve its leaders in developing the civic engagement. More than 6,000 applications have been received since the start of the contest. Since 2017 the Civic Chamber has been holding the annual civil society festival “Kind People” in Moscow, which introduces participants to the NGO’s activities. Being a place for the presentation of projects implemented by charitable foundations, public associations and social activists, the Festival also informs people about the opportunities for an ordinary citizen to participate in social projects. The Festival program includes interactive workshops, lectures by practicing experts, performances by famous benefactors, artists etc. In 2020, the Festival was attended by over 1.2 million people and more than 20 charitable foundations became partners. In 2020, the Festival’s motto was "Doing good together!"

Corporate Social Responsibility :

All the activities are exercised by the Commission on Development of Economy and Corporate Social Responsibility

Culture

Countering the trend for falsifying the historical science and distributing false historical facts, which has recently became evident in the information space, the Civic Chamber together with the Russian Historical Society and the State Central Museum of Contemporary History of Russia developed a concept of annual winter and summer international historical schools for young researchers and teachers from Russia and foreign countries. Participants are to be selected through competition. The schools’ programs will prioritize historical issues connected with contemporary topical issues (ethnical self-awareness, inter-ethnical conflicts, ethno- and politogenesis, historical memory, impact of the history on the current political agenda). The topic of the Second World War will become mandatory in the schools’ programs.

Education and Training

The University of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation is a series of training for social leaders and innovators. The University unites successful and ambitious leaders of social projects by providing them with an efficient platform for interaction, communication and self-improvement.

Employment policy and labour market regulation ☐

Environmental Policy

In the Russian Federation, there are 109 state nature reserves, 64 national parks, and 60 federal nature protected areas, which cover 3.2 per cent of the country’s surface area. It is in preserving and enlarging them that our primary objective consists. Currently, the Civic Chamber, together with the government institutions, business and expert communities, public organizations, and associations focuses on improving the protected natural areas’ development and management system. the Civic Chamber regards these areas as socio-economic growth points for regions, and are taking steps to maintain biodiversity and to create there tourist and recreational clusters as well as environmental education system. The Civic Chamber has drawn up the list of best practices for business structures. As a result, in 2021 more than 40 environmental projects are planned to get support from major Russian industrial companies. By engaging parties in a constructive dialog, the Civic Chamber ensures the opportunity for civil society to participate in the historical, cultural, and natural heritage preservation of the Russian regions.

European Affairs ☐

Financial and Economic Policies ☐

Fiscal and Taxation Policies ☐

Fundamental principles and rights at work ☐

Gender equality and anti-discrimination ☐

Governance ☐

Health and Medical Policy

All the activities are exercised by the Commission on Health Care and Public Health Development

Infrastructure, Transport, and Energy Policies ☐

International affairs :

Annually the Civic Chamber receives approximately 20 foreign delegations and pays around 30 visits to the partner organizations abroad. Members of the Civic Chamber participate in major international forums hosted by the leading institutions and organizations like the UN, OSCE, ILO, etc. The Civic Chamber has signed 26 memoranda and cooperation agreements with similar civil society institutions in various countries.

Among the most significant global events held in the Civic Chamber the international conference “From Inequality to Justice: Global Experience and Solutions for Russia” hosted in Moscow on December 11, 2019 is to be mentioned. Experts, academics, politicians, public figures and representatives of the economic and social councils and other Civic Chamber partner institutions within the AICESIS from 43 countries attended the conference to discuss the reasons behind the high level of inequality in economy, education, health, ecology, etc. the world now faces and ways to reduce it using the world’s best practices.

In 2007, the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation joined the International Association of Economic and Social Councils and Similar Institutions (AICESIS), which unites organized civil society institutions in 75 countries and is meant for promoting dialogue and exchange of views and good practices among its members. Member organizations should be autonomous with the authority on a national level that is based on the Constitution, a law, a decree or any other recognition from the authorities and represent a faithful representation of the economic and social interests.

In 2011, the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation became member of the Board of the AICESIS. In 2013-2015, the Civic Chamber chaired the AICESIS.

Annually the Civic Chamber participates in the AICESIS General Assembly and biannually – in the Board meetings.

Labour Law reform ☐

Legal Affairs :

All the activities are exercised by the Commission on Examination of Socially Significant Draft Laws and Other Legislative Initiatives

Productivity and competitiveness ☐

Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy and Industrial Policy :

All the activities are exercised by the Commission on Development of Economy and Corporate Social Responsibility

Social Affairs ☐

Social Dialogue and Tripartism :

The Civic Chamber systematically supports the nonprofit organizations methodologically, educationally, and informationally. In 2009, the Civic Chamber initiated the development of the Federal Law “On Support of the Social Benefit Nongovernmental Organizations” which was adopted in 2010. In 2014, the Civic Chamber initiated an update of the NGOs legislation and forming a register of the NPOs. Since then, the Civic Chamber holds serious research on uncovering the most efficient NGOs and helps to form the register of the Social Benefit NGOs. In 2020, the Civic Chamber introduced a regional rating of the third sector, “REGION-NGO”, which analyzed the nonprofit sector development level and quality in each Russian region. The project is meant to be annual. During the pandemic of COVID-19, the Civic Chamber initiated the creation of support measures special package for the nonprofit organizations providing help to the citizens confined by the lockdown.

Industrial relations and Collective bargaining ☐

Dispute prevention and resolution ☐

Social Security and Social Protection :

All the activities are exercised by the Commission on Social Policy, Labor Relations and Support of Veterans and the Commission on Demography, Protection of Family, Children and Traditional Family Values

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) ☐

Territorial Management :

All the activities are exercised by the Commission on Territorial Development and Local Government.

Workplace compliance and working conditions :

All the activities are exercised by the Commission on Social Policy, Labor Relations and Support of Veterans

Youth Employment

In February 2020, the Civic Chamber established the Coordination Council for the Development of Young Professionals’ Communities to promote the value of work and professionalism among youths and Russian society in its entirety. Its main task is to create an effective system for support and development of the young professionals’ communities across the country. In practical terms, what is important is to establish communication between the two parties: leading Russian brands, by outlining the values they promote, and young people who are in search of their professional identity. Thus, it is easier for young specialists to find their place in national companies and see career prospects within the country. The dialogue platform provided by the Civic Chamber offers young employees of all industries the opportunity to communicate and discuss ideas and projects from the perspectives of different experiences and practices. These discussions foster the synergy among the participants and enable them to become stronger owing to the experience and ideas of a larger team.

Other :

VI. Brief description of major results obtained by your Institution in the last 3 years

Please give examples (Recommendations issued, Reports, Collective Agreements concluded, Conflict prevention and social peace obtained, National policies or legal frameworks including recommendations, Reform of your institution) and attached relevant documents

In 2018, the Civic Chamber formed a public standard of social and engineer infrastructure accessibility in rural areas, underscoring the necessity of social facilities and improving the rural areas’ living conditions. In 2018, the institution of public ecological inspectors was established.

In 2019, the President of the Russian Federation signed a law protecting the bona fide real estate purchasers' rights, a bill the Civic Chamber had been working on for 4 years. In 2019, the Civic Chamber mediated the public protests on an SMW landfill near Shies in Arkhangelsk region, which led to the suspension of its construction. While working on the conflict, the experts of the Civic Chamber revealed loopholes in the legislation on the public oversight and proposals for their elimination were drafted.

In 2020, the Civic Chamber also mediated the conflict on the “shihan” hills, unique natural objects in the Republic of Bashkortostan. The local residents and ecologists strongly opposed the industrial development of the remained Kushtau shihan. The Civic Chamber supported bestowing a “specially protected natural area” status to the Kushtau shihan. Moreover, the Civic Chamber is endorsing the initiative to grant Kushtau the status of “specially protected natural area” of federal significance.

In 2020, the Civic Chamber pressed for an amendment to the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, providing a corporate income tax deduction for legal entities that donate property (financial assets) to the Social Benefit NGOs. This measure is meant to enhance the involvement of the business community in charity and support for socially significant activities, thereby stimulating the development of the third sector.