MOSCOW, November 13 (RAPSI) – Russia’s State Duma has passed in the first reading a bill granting child rights ombudsmen a power to challenge officials’ actions or inactions in courts to protect minors as useful and timely.

The bill stipulates that the ombudsman would be able to file lawsuits with various courts asking them to determine legality of certain decisions, actions or inactions of state and municipal bodies, other organizations with state powers, officials, state and municipal employees, in the name of protecting rights of children.

According to the bill, the ombudsman would also be able to visit detention and penitentiary centers that hold underage persons, pregnant women and women, who have children in special facilities for children in prisons and penal colonies. The child rights ombudsman is to exercise this power without a need for special permission, the bill reads.

The draft law also envisages punishment for interference with actions of the children’s rights commissioner and non-compliance with the ombudsman’s legal requests.