Interaction of the human-rights ombudsman in the Russian Federation with human rights law enforcement (on the example of the prosecutor’s office and the investigative committee)

The purpose of the study is to analyze some systemic problems in the organization and activities of the institution of the Human-Rights Ombudsman in Russia, bodies of the Prosecutor’s Office, the Investigative Committee of Russia, as well as the conditions of interaction between the Human-Rights Ombudsman and law enforcement and human rights bodies. The methodological basis of the study was the use of system-structural and dialectical methods of scientific knowledge. For a more detailed study of the problems, the methods of analysis, synthesis, and generalization were applied. For the study of normative legal regulations, special methods of document analysis in the field of knowledge under study were applied. The result of the study was the conclusion that the protection of human and civil rights and freedoms is an integral part of a developed democratic state governed by the rule of law. The authors believe that in order to improve the quality of protection of human and civil rights and freedoms it is necessary, first, to reform a large number of elements of the state system. Particular attention in all this must be paid, first and foremost, to the organization, activities, and legal status of the institution of the Human-Rights Ombudsman in Russia, as well as the bodies of the Russian Prosecutor’s Office and the Russian Investigative Committee. The second stage should be the creation of optimal conditions for interaction between the Russian Human-Rights Ombudsman and the Russian Prosecutor’s Office, the Russian Investigative Committee, and other law enforcement agencies in order to protect human and civil rights and freedoms. The novelty of the study is in the author’s approach to the consideration of these problems, as well as in the development of appropriate proposals to address them.

Der Schutz älterer Menschen durch das Strafrecht

Despite the demographic change of our society, elderly people as victims of crime are still a group little noticed within the context of crime research. Therefore, this thesis deals with the victimization of the elderly and their protection by German criminal law. To this end, firstly the current state of empirical-criminological research with regard to elderly victims is elucidated to clarify fundamental questions: Is there a European and constitutional legal framework for a special protection of this group under German criminal law? Is such protection compatible with criminal law principles? On this foundation, the author then discusses the quality of protection of elderly victims.

Migrant protection regimes: Beyond advocacy and towards exit in Thailand

International migrants are subject to many types of violence, such as trafficking, detention, and forced labour. We need an improved understanding of what protects migrants from such violence. The concept of ‘migrant protection regimes’ draws our attention away from formal rights advocacy and to both the informal dimensions of protection and the way migrants help determine the quality of protection they receive. ‘Migrant protection regimes’ are sets of rules and practices regarding who ought to protect whom. These regimes include formal rights to protection in the law and informal relationships that protect migrants from lawful violence by the state. They may be changed by ‘power grabs’, when sovereign actors seek to monopolise protection relationships, but also by ‘exits’, when migrants refuse to accept the protection on offer. The study demonstrates the value of these concepts by using them to explain an unlikely case: a change in laws concerning migrant protection in an authoritarian state: Thailand. Drawing on rich qualitative sources, the article reveals how, after a human rights advocacy campaign had placed migrants’ protection in jeopardy, a mass migrant exodus compelled the country's junta to offer migrants protection on better terms.

The General Characteristics of Extremism and Analysis of the Current State of the Fight Against Extremist Crimes

Introduction: the Constitution of the Russian Federation and other Federal laws in this country guarantee the protection of the population against crimes, including criminal attacks of extremist orientation. However, recently there has been a steady trend towards an increase in the number of committed crimes of extremist orientation, which determines the need to improve the quality of protection of individual rights, and along with them, the constitutional framework of the state, since demonstratively committed extremist crimes cause a great public response and contribute to the undermining of state power. The crime statistics show a significant increase in the number of extremist crimes; there is a natural tendency to spread the ideas of extremism among the population. Unfortunately, only some of the extremist crimes are counted as such in the official statistics. The crimes of this category are often registered without taking into account the qualifying feature – the motive of national, racial, religious hatred or enmity, and, as a result, are not considered in the group of crimes of extremism. Another reason for not fully accounting for these crimes is their latency: not all victims of such criminal actions declare this for various objective and subjective reasons. The public danger of crimes of the group in question is due, on the one hand, as usual, to their group character, and on the other hand, such illegal actions incite interethnic and other hatred, which is very harmful in the context of the efforts being made to build a civil society. Currently, the legislative bodies do not clearly pay enough attention to the organization of counteraction to extremism as an anti-social phenomenon. For example, over the past ten years, the problems of countering extremism have been resolved through the adoption of only four normative legal acts of a national nature. In this regard, the authors aim to give a general description of such a phenomenon as extremism and the state of the fight against such crimes. Methods: the methodological framework for this research is a set of methods of scientific knowledge, among which the main ones are the methods of information processing and logical analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction and generalization. Results: the authors’ content of the general characteristics of extremism and analysis of the current state of the fight against crimes of extremist orientation actualizes the problem of the need to improve the state of the theoretical base, prepare recommendations based on it, which would contribute to improving the efficiency of the state authorized bodies in the fight against various manifestations of extremism, and primarily in order to solve and investigate crimes of extremist orientation. Conclusions: the study has given the general characteristics of extremism and the analysis of the current state of the fight against extremist crimes in order to inform law students, and the teaching staff of law schools and practitioners to better understand the characteristics and dangers of this phenomenon.

Use of the Territorial Defence Forces (TDF) in counter-subversive operations

The Territorial Defence Forces (TDF, Polish abbrev. WOT) are to participate in combat counter-subversive operations, alone or in cooperation with other security actors. Using both offensive and protective-defensive forms and methods, they will create freedom of action for operational troops. Precise reconnaissance of the area, infrastructure knowledge in permanent areas of responsibility (Polish abbrev. SRO), cooperation with the non-military system (Polish abbrev. UPM), and cooperation with the local population in combination with the training of the TDF commanders and soldiers equipped with modern weaponry, reconnaissance and object monitoring systems will ensure good quality of protection while reducing the number of human resources involved. All forms and methods of conducting combat counter-subversive activities presented in the article are a compilation of the content contained in the literature on the subject and the practical conduct of training classes with cadets and officers at the Military University of Land Forces.

Corrosion resistance evaluation of carbon steel plates protected by zirconium and titanium nanoceramic coatings

Metal surface pre-treatment is a known process and is used to increase corrosion performance as well as improve adhesion between the substrate and the paint layer. The present paper evaluated the corrosion resistance of carbon steel before and after treatment with nanoceramic coatings. The comparison was between a pure zirconia nanoceramic compound (Bonderite NT-1), with the addition of a dispersant (polyacrylic acid) and another nanoceramic coating developed from titanium oxide. Additionally, salt spray, open circuit potential (OCP), polarization and impedance tests were performed to obtain a methodology to quantitatively assess the quality of protection. The zirconia coating presented superior characteristics than the corrosion protection. The corrosion potential of this coating was about twice as low as the others. The addition of dispersant produced no significant improvements in corrosion resistance and was similar to uncoated carbon steel, possibly due to the high concentration used.

Event-based Security Policy and Formal Model of Critical Information Infrastructures Protecting Mechanism

The article considers the possibilities of security management of critical information infrastructures. Approaches to the construction of policies not focused on a fixed list of threats are proposed. It substantiates the possibility of building a security policy based on security events monitoring. A formal description of security events and formal model of protection mechanisms based on monitoring security events is proposed. The features of this approach for the protection of critical information infrastructures in order to improve the quality of protection are considered.