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Russia “As If They Fell From the Sky” Counterinsurgency, Rights Violations, and Rampant Impunity in Ingushetia
HRW Index No.: 1-56432-345-5 June 25, 2008 Also available in 
Download PDF, 842 KB, 110 pgs Purchase online Download E-Book Choking on Bureaucracy State Curbs on Independent Civil Society Activism
HRW Index No.: D2001 February 20, 2008 Download PDF, 348 KB, 74 pgs Purchase online Download E-Book Rehabilitation Required Russia’s Human Rights Obligation to Provide Evidence-based Drug Dependence Treatment
HRW Index No.: D1907 November 8, 2007 Also available in
Download PDF, 422 KB, 112 pgs Purchase online Download E-Book Singled Out Russia’s Detention and Expulsion of Georgians This 78-page report documents the Russian government’s arbitrary and illegal detention and expulsion of Georgians, including many who legally lived and worked in Russia. HRW Index No.: D1905 October 1, 2007 Also available in
Download PDF, 323 KB, 78 pgs Purchase online Download E-Book The “Stamp of Guantanamo” The Story of Seven Men Betrayed by Russia’s Diplomatic Assurances to the United States This 43-page report reconstructs the experiences of the detainees after being returned to Russia in March 2004, based on interviews with three of the detainees, their family members, lawyers, and others. Access to the ex-detainees is limited because three of them are in prison and the rest have either managed to leave the country or are in hiding. HRW Index No.: D1902 March 29, 2007 Download PDF, 406 KB, 50 pgs Purchase online Download E-Book Positively Abandoned Stigma and Discrimination against HIV-Positive Mothers and their Children in Russia As Russia’s HIV/AIDS epidemic spreads, thousands of HIV-positive mothers and their children face pervasive discrimination and abuse. This 41-page report focuses on the discrimination that these women face, as do their children, many of whom are abandoned to the care of the state. Today, as Russia’s escalating HIV/AIDS epidemic reaches beyond high-risk groups to the general population, a growing number of expectant mothers and infants have been placed in the path of the virus. Since the Federal AIDS Center in Moscow first started recording these statistics annually in 1997, nearly 10,000 HIV-positive women have given birth, the vast majority of whom had their children since 2002. HRW Index No.: D1704 July 16, 2005 Also available in
Download PDF, 310 KB, 43 pgs Purchase online The Wrongs of Passage Inhuman and Degrading Treatment of New Recruits in the Russian Armed Forces This 86-page report documents the serious human rights abuses involved in dedovshchina, or “rule of the grandfathers,” which results in the deaths of dozens of conscripts every year, and serious—and often permanent—damage to the physical and mental health of thousands others. Hundreds of conscripts commit or attempt suicide each year, and thousands run away from their units. HRW Index No.: D1608 October 20, 2004 Download PDF, 602 KB, 88 pgs Purchase online Lessons Not Learned Human Rights Abuses and HIV/AIDS in the Russian Federation This 62-page report documents how harsh drug policies and routine police harassment of injection drug users—the population hit hardest by AIDS in Russia—impedes their access or makes them afraid to seek basic HIV-prevention services such as syringe exchange, which is available in other countries around the world. Now that AIDS is rapidly spreading into the general population, these misguided policies have widespread consequences. HRW Index No.: D1605 April 28, 2004 Download PDF, 380 KB, 62 pgs Purchase online Empty Promises Diplomatic Assurances No Safeguard Against Torture Individuals suspected of terrorism should never be returned to a country where they risk torture and ill-treatment. Promises of fair treatment by states with well-known records of torture are inherently unreliable, and governments that justify returns through such promises, known as “diplomatic assurances,” are violating the absolute prohibition against torture and eroding a fundamental principle of international law. The death penalty, however reprehensible, is legal and usually carried out publicly. But torture is illegal and practiced in secret. Governments routinely lie about whether they’re torturing people or not, and in some situations they may not even have adequate control to guarantee security. This 39-page report documents cases where governments returned or considered returning suspects on the basis of such formal guarantees, and raises concern that in some cases, those returned were, in fact, tortured or ill-treated. HRW Index No.: D1604 April 15, 2004 Download PDF, 360 KB, 39 pgs Purchase online To Serve Without Health Inadequate Nutirtion and Health Care in the Russian Armed Forces This 40-page report details how conscripts are deprived of adequate food. The diet of conscripts often lacks meat and green vegetables, and falls short of the Russian military’s own nutritional standard for soldiers. The food they do receive is often of poor quality, rotten, or bug-infested. The hazing system that has made Russia’s military notorious also prevents junior conscripts from getting enough to eat, as senior conscripts confiscate younger conscripts’ most desirable food. In some dramatic cases, this treatment has led to the death of conscripts or permanently damaged their health. HRW Index No.: D1509 November 14, 2003 Download PDF Purchase online Spreading Despair Russian Abuses in Ingushetia Russia’s forces are committing abuses against displaced Chechens in Ingushetia as the conflict in Chechnya spills over into this neighboring republic. This 28-page report documents arbitrary arrest and detention, ill-treatment, and looting by Russia’s forces in Ingushetia this summer. The report charges that these abuses are among the tactics Russian authorities are using to pressure displaced persons living in Ingushetia to return to Chechnya. The report details seven security operations federal and local forces conducted in June 2003 in settlements for displaced persons, as well as in Ingush villages. The operations followed a pattern of sweep operations or targeted raids seen in Chechnya: large groups of armed personnel, often arriving on armored personnel carriers, would surround a settlement and conduct sweeps or random checks at peoples’ homes. In those security operations, at least eighteen people were arbitrarily detained, most of whom were not released until several days or weeks later, without ever receiving an explanation of the grounds for their detention. In other operations, federal forces appear to be responsible for killing one civilian and seriously injuring two others. HRW Index No.: D1508 September 22, 2003 Download PDF Purchase online Into Harm’s Way: Forced Return of Displaced People to Chechnya Russia’s ongoing record of serious human rights abuse in Chechnya impugns its claim that the war there contributes to the international campaign against terrorism, Human Rights Watch said in a new report published today The twenty-seven page report, “Into Harm’s Way,” comes as Sergei Yastrzhembsky, special assistant to the Russian president, is scheduled to visit Washington to give a presentation on Chechnya.Yastrzhembsky serves as the government’s chief spokesperson on Chechnya, and has frequently likened the armed conflict in Chechnya to the global campaign against terrorism. The report documents continuing humanitarian law violations committed by both Russian and Chechen forces, as well as Russia’s efforts to close tent camps and return people displaced by the conflict to Chechnya. HRW Index No.: D1501 January 29, 2003 Download PDF Purchase online Conscription Through Detention In Russia's Armed Forces Each year, hundreds of young men in Moscow and St. Petersburg are detained and forcibly conscripted into the Russian armed forces, Human Rights Watch said in a new report today. The twenty-page report, entitled "Conscription through Detention in the Russian Armed Forces," examines the discriminatory treatment of young men who have not been successfully served with draft summonses and are forcibly brought to recruitment offices by police officials. They are given no effective opportunity to challenge their conscription, although Russian law gives draftees that right. ilitary officials send these conscripts to their assigned military units the very day they are detained, preventing contact with their families or advocacy groups who would help them appeal a conscription order. The report found that this practice effectively denies young men the right, under Russian law, to appeal their conscription. Using accelerated conscription procedures, draft boards deny those detained for conscription a thorough medical examination and the benefit of medical or other exemptions and deferrals that are clearly provided for in Russian law. In several of the cases researched by Human Rights Watch, the arbitrary proceedings resulted in young men with valid deferral or exemption grounds being drafted into the armed forces. HRW Index No.: D1408 November 21, 2002 Download PDF Purchase online Last Seen . . .: Continued “Disappearances” in Chechnya Persons in Chechnya continue to "disappear" in the custody of Russian forces.Days after the U.N. Commission on Human Rights in Geneva introduced a resolution on the situation in Chechnya, Human Rights Watch released a new 49-page report, Last Seen…: Continued "Disappearances" in Chechnya, detailing 87 cases of "disappearances" carried out between September 2000 and January 2002. The actual total of "disappearances" is believed to be far higher. Human Rights Watch was strongly critical of the efforts of Russian authorities to curb abuses by its security forces. Russian authorities have introduced some improvements, including better access to complaint mechanisms, the formal opening of investigations in most cases, and the introduction of two decrees requiring the presence of civilian investigators and other nonmilitary personnel during all large-scale military operations and targeted search and seizure operations. These welcome changes notwithstanding, most abuses remain uninvestigated and unpunished. Civilian prosecutors lack authority to investigate crimes by the military and military prosecutors make little effort to look into allegations of abuse. There is also credible evidence that the military obstructs investigations, notably by transferring accused security and law enforcement personnel to avoid having them questioned. HRW Index No.: D1403 April 15, 2002 Download PDF Purchase online Swept Under Torture, Forced Disappearances, And Extrajudicial Killings During Sweep Operations In Chechnya The Russian government's plan was to normalize the situation in Chechnya by 2001: with most troops withdrawn and most internally displaced persons expected to return to their homes. The events of three weeks in late June and early July 2001 shattered these hopes and painfully illustrated just how far removed Chechnya remained from lasting peace. Between June 15 and July 4, Russian troops conducted exceptionally harsh sweep operations in at least six villages in different parts of Chechnya. Troops rounded up several thousand Chechens, mostly without any form of due process, and took them to temporary military bases in or near the villages. According to eyewitnesses, soldiers extrajudicially executed at least eleven detainees, and at least two detainees "disappeared" in detention. Human Rights Watch interviewed twelve former detainees who gave detailed testimony of torture and ill-treatment, including electric shock, severe beatings, and being forced to remain in "stress positions." They said independently that dozens, if not hundreds, of other detainees had also faced torture and ill-treatment. Eyewitnesses also gave testimony about widespread extortion, looting, and destruction of civilian property. HRW Index No.: D1402 February 2, 2002 Download PDF Purchase online Crisis of Impunity: The Role of Pakistan, Russia, and Iran in Fueling the Civil War in Afghanistan The United Nations Security Council should impose a comprehensive embargo on all military assistance against all warring factions in Afghanistan, Human Rights Watch urged today. In this report, Human Rights Watch accused Pakistan, Iran, and Russia of providing military support to Afghan factions with a long record of committing gross abuses of human rights. Other states in the region have also contributed to the ongoing war. The 55-page report details the nature of military support provided to the warring parties; the major transit routes used to move arms and other equipment; the suppliers; the role of state and nonstate actors; and the response of the international community. Human Rights Watch conducted research on military assistance to the Taliban and the United Front over a two-year period, traveling to both Kabul and areas of Afghanistan under United Front control, as well as Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Pakistan, and interviewing government officials, members of the diplomatic community, military officers, civil servants, journalists, academics, and others. HRW Index No.: C1303 July 1, 2001 Download PDF Purchase online Russian Federation: Child Soldiers Global Report 2001 From the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers There are no indications of under-18s in government armed forces as the minimum age for compulsory and voluntary recruitment is 18. Armed opposition groups, especially in Chechnya, reportedly use child soldiers. June 12, 2001 Burying the Evidence: The Botched Investigation into a Mass Grave in Chechnya Russian authorities have literally buried evidence of extra-judicial executions in Chechnya, said Human Rights Watch. In this 24-page report, the organization documents the Russian government's botched investigation of a mass grave site discovered in late February 2001. This week senior European Union and United Nations officials are preparing for meetings with President Putin in Moscow. Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov will be meeting Secretary of State Colin Powell in Washington on Friday, May 18. Human Rights Watch called on the international community to press Russia at these meetings for a new investigation and for the implementation of last month's U.N. resolution on Chechnya. In late February, fifty-one bodies were found in Dachny, an abandoned village less than one kilometer from the main Russian military base in Chechnya. According to the report, of the nineteen victims whose corpses were identified by relatives, sixteen were last seen as Russian federal forces took them into custody. Two weeks later, the authorities buried the rest of the bodies without prior notice and without performing adequate autopsies or collecting crucial evidence that would have helped to identify the perpetrators. HRW Index No.: D1303 May 1, 2001 Download PDF Purchase online The 'Dirty War' in Chechnya: Forced Disappearances, Torture and Summary European Union governments must press the issue of the "disappeared" in Chechnya when Russian President Vladimir Putin visits Stockholm this week, Human Rights Watch urged in releasing a new report on Chechnya today. The 40-page report, "The 'Dirty War' in Chechnya: Forced Disappearances, Torture and Summary Executions," details the cases of fifty-two "disappeared" individuals who were last seen in the custody of Russian federal forces. HRW Index No.: D1301 March 1, 2001 Download PDF Purchase online "Welcome to Hell": Arbitrary Detention, Torture, and Extortion in Chechnya This report details the cycle of torture and extortion faced by thousands of Chechens whom Russian forces have detained in Chechnya. The rights group called on European states to file a case against Russia in the European Court of Human Rights, for these and other abuses during the war in Chechnya. HRW Index No.: 253X October 1, 2000 Purchase online |
 Video  Russia on Trial  European Court Rules against Russia Photos  Portraits of the ‘Disappeared’ in Chechnya
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