Russian Federation/Chechnya: Briefing to the 60th Session of the UN Commission on Human Rights

Objective

The Commission on Human Rights should adopt a strong resolution on the situation in Chechnya, condemning ongoing violations of human rights and international humanitarian law by both parties to the conflict; urging the Russian authorities to establish a genuine accountability process for these abuses; calling on Russia to desist from coerced returns of internally displaced persons and to ensure their well-being; calling on Russia to invite key U.N. thematic mechanisms, in particular the Special Rapporteurs on torture and on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; and urging Russia to agree to a new Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) mandate for Chechnya.

Background

The October 2003 presidential elections in Chechnya did not change dynamics in the republic. Despite government claims of normalization, the situation there continued to be very tense.

Russian forces round up thousands of men in raids, loot homes, physically abuse villagers, and frequently commit extrajudicial executions. Those detained face beatings and other forms of torture, aimed at coercing confessions or information about Chechen forces. Federal forces routinely extort money from detainees relatives as a condition for release.

Disappearances remain a hallmark of the conflict, and their frequency rose sharply in early 2003. According to statements by pro-Moscow Chechen officials, in the first half of 2003 an average of two people went missing every day, many of them after being detained by Russian forces. The Russian human rights group Memorial documented 294 disappearances between January and November 2003, including forty-seven people whose corpses were later discovered in unmarked graves or dumped by the roadside. The group estimates that the real number of disappearances was three or four times higher.

Starting in spring 2003, the conflict increasingly spilled over into other regions of Russia. Human Rights Watch research in Ingushetia in July found that Russian forces regularly conducted military operations there, targeting both Chechen internally displaced persons but also the local Ingush population. A series of suicide bombings in the North Caucasus and Moscow, often carried out by Chechen women, reinforced fears of a spreading conflict.

Harassment of applicants to the European Court of Human Rights emerged as a new and worrisome trend. After having disappeared an applicant in June 2002, Russian forces extrajudicially executed another applicant and her family in May 2003. Also, nongovernmental groups that represent Chechen victims of human rights abuses before the Court have documented threats against other applicants or their families in at least seven other cases.

IDP crisis. Russian authorities have continued to put undue pressure on displaced persons to return to Chechnya, where they remain at risk. In 2003, they closed two more camps for internally displaced persons in Ingushetia. Although eventually some camp dwellers were allowed to resettle in Ingushetia, months of carrot-and-stick tactics had already resulted in the return of many to Chechnya. Following a September 2003 visit to the region, the U.N. Representative of the Secretary General for Internally Displaced Persons stated that IDPs in camps in Ingushetia were acutely apprehensive that the camps might be closed and that they might be forced to return to a situation in Chechnya which they regarded to be unsafe. He also noted that persons who had returned to Chechnya due to incentives asserted that they had not found much of what they had been promised including compensation and adequate humanitarian assistance and that they remained seriously concerned about the security situation and their own safety.

Abuses by Chechen fighters. Chechen rebels were responsible for several suicide bombings in and around Chechnya that caused major loss of civilian life. In December 2002 and May 2003, suicide bombers destroyed administrative buildings in Grozny and Znamenskoe. In June, a suicide bomber drove a truck into a military hospital in Mozdok. Chechen rebel groups may also have been responsible for a series of other suicide bombings in Chechnya and other parts of Russia. Rebel fighters also continued their assassination campaign against civil servants and others who cooperated with the Moscow-appointed administration in Chechnya.

Accountability. Russia continued to resist establishing any meaningful accountability process for crimes committed by its forces. Although the procuracy opened hundreds of criminal investigations into abuses by Russian troops, in most cases officials failed to conduct even the most basic investigative steps (including questioning eyewitnesses and relatives). As a result, most investigations remained unsolved and almost none were sent to the courts.

In one significant positive development, after three years of convoluted legal battles, Yuri Budanov, the only high-ranking officer tried for abuses related to the Chechnya conflict, was found guilty of murdering a young Chechen woman and sentenced to ten years' imprisonment. Budanov's conviction demonstrates that the Russian authorities are capable of bringing to justice those responsible for abuse provided the political will is there.

Access. In contrast to 2002, for most of the year no international monitors worked in the region. The OSCE Assistance Group's mandate expired in late 2002 and Russia has since refused to agree to a mandate that contains a human rights component. The Council of Europe's experts were withdrawn from Chechnya in early 2003, after a bomb attack on their convoy, and the volatile security situation since has not allowed them to return. In the four years of the conflict, Russia has not complied with U.N. resolutions calling for deployment of U.N. thematic mechanisms, with the exception of the Representatives of the Secretary-General on children in armed conflict and internally displaced persons. Among those who have been seeking access for years are the Special Rapporteurs on torture and on extrajudicial, summary, and arbitrary executions. While agreeing to a visit by the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, Russian authorities have canceled scheduled missions on a number of occasions, citing security conditions.

The Russian military periodically prevents access by journalists and human rights activists to the remaining tent camps in Ingushetia.

Recommendations

The Commission on Human Rights should:

• Condemn ongoing violations of human rights and humanitarian law by both parties to the conflict. The resolution should call on the Russian authorities to immediately put an end to arbitrary detention and to observe international and Russian legal standards; to end the use of torture and ill-treatment; to put an end to the pattern of enforced disappearances; to end extrajudicial executions; and to stop harassing and threatening applicants to the European Court of Human Rights. It should call on Chechen rebel leaders to cease all attacks on civilians, including retaliatory attacks on Chechen civilians who cooperate with the Russian authorities.
  

• Insist on accountability. The resolution should call on the Russian authorities to ensure meaningful investigations into all reported crimes by Russian troops against civilians in Chechnya or Ingushetia, and for the prosecution of the perpetrators; it should call on the Russian authorities to publish a detailed list of all current and past investigations into such abuses and indicate their current status; it should renew its call for a national commission of inquiry to document abuses by both sides to the conflict; and make clear that Russian authorities' continued failure to make progress on accountability will result in the establishment of an international commission of inquiry to document and produce an official record of abuses.
  

• Call on Russia to desist from coerced returns of internally displaced persons and to ensure their well-being. The resolution should strongly condemn Russia's efforts to force internally displaced persons to return to Chechnya. It should call on the Russian authorities to stop moving any displaced persons to parts of the conflict zone where their safety and security cannot be guaranteed and where international humanitarian agencies do not have free and safe access.
  

• Call on Russia to invite key U.N. thematic mechanisms, particularlythe Special Rapporteur on torture, the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, and the Special Rapporteur on violence against women. Russia should also renew its invitation to the High Commissioner for Human Rights to visit the region and report to the Commission on the findings.
  

• Call for renewal of the OSCE Assistance Group's mandate and cooperation with the Council of Europe. The resolution should call on the Russian government to agree to the renewal of the Assistance Group's mandate that expired on December 31, 2002, which should include a human rights component. It should also call on the authorities to cooperate with the Council of Europe.

Source:

http://www.hrw.org/legacy/english/docs/2004/01/29/russia7248_txt.htm