E/CN.4/2005/62/Add.2 page 18 de la Federación. Para prever cualquier irregularidad o parcialidad que las autoridades locales puedan cometer de forma dolosa o por mera incapacidad en torno a una investigación, el Ejecutivo Federal presentó al Congreso de la Unión una iniciativa de Reformas a diversos artículos de la Constitución Política de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos, el 27 de abril de 2004, en la que se plantea una reforma a la fracción XXI del artículo 73, para establecer que las autoridades federales podrán conocer de los delitos del orden común relacionados con violaciones a los derechos humanos, cuando éstas trasciendan el ámbito de los Estados o del Distrito Federal, en los términos que establezca la ley. La Secretaría de Gobernación constituyó una Mesa de Trabajo sobre Promoción y Protección de los Derechos Humanos. Las propuestas para la mesa consisten en analizar las acciones de protección para los defensores de los derechos humanos y los planteamientos que ayuden a encontrar soluciones a casos de violaciones a los derechos humanos. Asimismo, servirá para diagnosticar la situación actual de las distintas instituciones de protección de los derechos humanos y de su marco jurídico. Por su parte, la CNDH cuenta con el Programa de Agravios a Periodistas y Defensores Civiles de Derechos Humanos, que atiende quejas por presuntas violaciones a los derechos humanos de miembros de organismos no gubernamentales dedicados a la defensa de los derechos fundamentales. Russian Federation Follow-up to the recommendations made by the Special Rapporteur in the report of his visit to the Russian Federation in 1994 (E/CN.4/1995/34/Add.1, paras. 77-86). 92. By letter dated 26 November 2004, the Government provided information on the followup measures taken. 93. Recommendation (a) stated: The Special Rapporteur believes that only by adopting at once the following recommendation can the Government of the Russian Federation begin to discharge the responsibility of the Russian State to those within its jurisdiction under its own law and under international law to prevent torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. He, therefore, appeals to the Government of the Russian Federation to remove from confinement in centres of detention on remand (isolators) all 71,000 detained in excess of the officially proclaimed capacity of existing institutions. 94. The Government reported that for a long time, the remand centres of the penal correction system were considerably overcrowded. This contributed to a large extent to the harsh detention conditions referred to by representatives of human rights organizations, who were justified in equating such conditions with torture. In 2000 and 2001, the Ministry of Justice, together with procuratorial bodies, investigated the lawfulness of choosing remand in custody as a preventive measure; as a result, some 20,000 persons who were being unjustifiably held in remand centres were released in 2000, and 24,000 were released in 2001. The amnesties of 2000 and 2001 made it possible to reduce the number of persons in custody. As a result of the first amnesty alone, the number of persons held in remand centres was reduced by 46,000. 95. Recommendation (b) stated: This recommendation should be put into effect by Presidential Decree if necessary. It could probably be achieved by ordering the release pending trial of all non-violent first-time offenders, any remaining overcrowding could be