Human Rights Watch calls on the United Nations Commission on Human Rights 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.
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.
