Human Rights Watch today called on European parliamentarians meeting in Strasbourg to take a tough stand on Russia's war in Chechnya.
"The Council of Europe's top priority must be getting a sustained international monitoring presence in Ingushetia," said Peter Bouckaert, Human Rights Watch's representative in the northern Caucasus, who traveled to Strasbourg to press his case with members of the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly holding their quarterly meeting this week. "Having people from the international community on the ground to bear witness to what is happening is the best means of getting some immediate relief. If the Russian Federation is serious about living up to its commitments to the Council of Europe, it must agree to such scrutiny."
In an open letter to Parliamentary Assembly members, Human Rights Watch urged the parliamentarians to throw their weight behind an international monitoring mission in Ingushetia. The rights group also pressed for:
suspension of Russia's delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly;
the filing of a complaint against Russia before the European Court of Human Rights; and
the initiation of an inquiry into violations of Russia's Council of Europe commitments.
A copy of the Human Rights Watch letter calling for an inquiry into Russia's conduct in the war is available below.
Human Rights Watch monitors in Ingushetia have interviewed hundreds of civilians fleeing the fighting in neighboring Chechnya. Their findings include several incidents of indiscriminate and disproportionate bombing of civilian targets by Russian forces. In Russian-controlled territory troops have also engaged in widespread looting, abuse of civilians, and, in some instances, summary executions and rape. Soldiers manning border posts have become notorious for extorting bribes from both those fleeing the conflict and those seeking to return to their homes. For their part, Chechen rebels have repeatedly beaten and threatened civilians, and endangered them by taking up military positions in heavily populated areas.
January 21, 2000
Re: Urgent Debate on Chechnya
Dear Members of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly:
As you convene in Strasbourg for your January session, we write to convey the results of our on-going monitoring of the conflict in Chechnya. We hope that you will take advantage of the urgent debate to express your unequivocal condemnation of the abuses being committed in Chechnya and to signal that continued violations will have serious consequences for Russian relations with the Council of Europe and its member states.
Human Rights Watch, a privately funded international human rights monitoring organization, has since mid-October maintained a staff presence in Ingushetia, where we have taken the testimony of hundreds of displaced persons from Chechnya. As summarized in the attached memorandum, we now have substantial evidence of serious violations of international humanitarian law being committed by the Russian forces. We have documented several incidents of disproportionate and indiscriminate bombing of civilian targets, including the apparently deliberate bombing of columns of refugees fleeing Chechnya. Soldiers manning border posts have become notorious for extorting bribes from both those fleeing the conflict and those seeking to return to their homes. Once Russian forces establish control over population centers, soldiers apparently have carte blanche to strip homes of household goods and valuables; many people have returned briefly to their homes to find them looted bare. In the village of Alkhan-Yurt, soldiers who occupied the town went on a rampage, not only looting but also summarily executing at least fourteen residents who tried to stop them.
Meanwhile, the Russian authorities have grossly neglected the needs of displaced persons in Ingushetia and in December began pressing them to return to Chechnya by cutting their food rations. For their part, Chechen rebels have repeatedly beaten and threatened civilians who attempted to spare their villages from Russian bombardment. They have also endangered civilians by taking positions in areas heavily populated by civilians, from which they have then fired on Russian aircraft.
We have welcomed the role that the Council of Europe Commissioner on Human Rights, Secretary General and Parliamentary Assembly have taken in condemning these abuses and urging the parties to the conflict to abide by their international commitments. We trust that the Parliamentary Assembly will continue on this course this week and encourage you to include the following points in any recommendation or resolution that you adopt:
Establish a sustained and substantial international monitoring presence in Ingushetia. It is our view that your highest priority must be securing access to Ingushetia for an international monitoring presence and that this should be a key subject of your discussions with your Russian counterparts, as well as your primary recommendation to the Committee of Ministers. While the periodic visits to the region by Council of Europe officials have made an important contribution, it is our view that only under such on-going scrutiny can the international community hope to see the parties to the conflict abide by international law. The monitoring mission should have a mandate that includes, among other things: gathering information on humanitarian and human rights problems from all sources, including displaced persons, the Russian authorities, and Ingush authorities; gathering information about access to humanitarian assistance and protection for internally displaced persons in Ingushetia and in Chechnya; engaging the Russian authorities directly in cases of violations or threats thereof; observing daily all checkpoints on the main "humanitarian corridors" out of Chechnya; supporting the relief effort in the Northern Caucasus; making frequent trips, security conditions permitting, to Chechnya; pressing for access to Chechnya for non-governmental organizations that seek it; and issuing periodic, public reports of its findings. In keeping with its preeminent expertise in the field of human rights, as well as the program of the current chair of the Committee of Ministers, the Council of Europe could play a significant role in establishing such a mission.
Call on the Committee of Ministers to undertake a special monitoring procedure with respect to developments in Chechnya. In accordance with the Committee of Ministers' 1994 Declaration on compliance with Commitments Accepted by Member States of the Council of Europe (adopted 10 November 1994), the Parliamentary Assembly should call on the Committee of Ministers to investigate the Russian Federation's compliance with its Council of Europe commitments in the context of the conflict in Chechnya.
Call on member states to initiate interstate proceedings against the Russian Federation before the European Court on Human Rights. The Russian government's activities in Chechnya are in clear violation of several provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights, which envisions interstate complaints as an essential collective enforcement mechanism. As signatories to the Convention bound to uphold and enforce its provisions throughout the Council of Europe region, member states are obligated to bring and interstate complaint in the face of such egregious and systematic violations. The Parliamentary Assembly should call on member states to initiate such proceedings as a matter of urgency. Human Rights Watch is prepared to provide documentation to help establish a prima facie case before the Court.
Suspend the credentials of the delegation of the Russian Federation. In its December debate on Chechnya, the Bureau concluded that "persistence in violations could lead the Parliamentary Assembly to put under question Russian participation in the Assembly's work and in the Council of Europe in general." That warning was met with defiance by the Russian Federation: first came the issuance of a barbaric ultimatum that the people of Grozny flee or face "destruction," followed by the pressuring of displaced persons in Ingushetia to return to the war zone and most recently a declaration that men aged ten to sixty would be barred from crossing the Chechen border. The Parliamentary Assembly must in the face of these escalating abuses follow through on its December warning and suspend the credentials of the Russian parliamentary delegation.
We hope that the attached summary of conditions in the Northern Caucasus provides a useful reference as you engage in your important deliberations this week. Please do not hesitate to contact us if we can be of further assistance.
Sincerely,
Holly Cartner
Executive Director
Europe and Central Asia Division
Lotte Leicht
Brussels Director
Human Rights Watch
