Letter to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (Human Rights Watch September 8, 2000)

HRW World Report 2000: Russian Federation

Letter to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights

September 8, 2000

Your Excellency,

On April 25, 2000, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, of which your Government is a member, adopted a resolution deploring abuses in Chechnya and calling on Russia to investigate them. Introduced by the European Union and joined by many other states, CHR Resolution 2000/58 represented perhaps the broadest consensus among international actors that impunity would not be countenanced in Chechnya; it also marked the first time the Commission had singled out a permanent member of the Security Council in this manner. Many viewed implementation of the resolution as the best hope for accountability. After its adoption, governments and international organizations that had pressed for accountability set aside alternative measures, such as an interstate complaint before the European Court of Human Rights, in favor of the process set out in the resolution.

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Russia to take specific action to investigate violations of human rights and international humanitarian law and to cooperate with intergovernmental and nongovernmental agencies seeking to conduct their own inquiries. The centerpiece was a requirement that Russia establish a national commission of inquiry to investigate abuses, in order to hold accountable their perpetrators. This signified that henceforth Russia's commitment to accountability would be assessed by the way in which it mounted a credible and impartial inquiry. The resolution also urged Russian cooperation with U.N. thematic mechanisms, which were to be deployed to the conflict zone, and with the Organization for and Security and Cooperation in Europe, the Council of Europe, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and other international and regional organizations.

The Russian government rejected the resolution and refused to implement its chief requirements in a transparent manner. Five months after the resolution's adoption, Russia has made no meaningful progress toward establishing accountability for abuse. It has effectively denied access to the conflict zone for thematic rapporteurs but has, to its credit, permitted limited access to Council of Europe representatives. In the attached memorandum we discuss the inadequacy of the Russian response to each of the key requirements specified by the Commission in the resolution.

As the Commission on Human Rights is about to hold its intersessional meeting, Human Rights Watch calls on you to strongly condemn the continuing abuses against civilians in Chechnya and the Russian failure to accept the requirements of the resolution. We also urge you to remind Russia of its responsibility to implement the resolution's requirements, particularly granting access for thematic mechanisms and a formal invitation for the High Commissioner to visit the region.

We thank you for your attention to the concerns raised in this letter.

Sincerely,

Rachel Denber
Acting Executive Director
Europe and Central Asia division
Human Rights Watch

Joanna Weschler
U.N. Representative
Human Rights Watch

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