On September 9-10, 2025, at the 78th session of the UN Committee on Socio–Economic and Cultural Rights in Geneva, experts reviewed the state report of the Russian Federation on the implementation of the Pact. Addressing their questions to the Russian delegation, the Committee members had in mind alternative information received from civil society. ADC Memorial participated in the preparation of two alternative reports: on the rights of indigenous peoples of the Russian Federation (in collaboration with the International Committee of Indigenous Peoples of Russia (ICIPR) and the Institute for Ecology and Action Anthropology (INFOE)) and about the rights of vulnerable groups (together with the Memorial Human Rights Defense Center, Civic Assistance Committee, and the Stichting Justice Initiative).
The experts asked the Russian delegation many questions about the issues raised in the alternative materials: the rights of Indigenous peoples to resources; the free prior and informed consent of Indigenous communities in the case of business projects on their traditional lands; the preservation of languages and cultural heritage of the peoples of Russia; persecution of human rights defenders; discrimination against the Roma minority; violations of women’s rights in the North Caucasus region; rewriting history, etc.
The experts had to repeat some of the questions during the dialogue, as the answers from the Russian delegation turned out to be unsatisfactory. They concerned the application of the Pact in conflict conditions, in particular, violation of the rights to preserve Ukrainian identity and cultural heritage in the occupied territories; exclusion of the Ukrainian language from the school curriculum; militarization of school education; coercion to accept Russian citizenship in the occupied territories and dependence of medical and social guarantees on the Russian citizenship; deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia; attacks by the Russian army on Ukrainian schools and hospitals, etc.
The recommendations addressed to the Russian Federation will be published by the Committee at the end of the 78th session.