Today the Swedish prime minister, Fredrik Reinfeldt, and the foreign minister, Carl Bildt, will visit Moscow to hold talks with President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. One of the topics on the agenda will be human rights. The Swedish representatives should speak up and take Russia to task on this issue. The criticism should be clear, concrete and public.
It is important to give human rights concerns high priority at the meeting, especially in light of the ambitions described by President Medvedev during the last year. Several times he has stressed the need "to modernize" Russia, reinforce the rule of law and eliminate the "legal nihilism" in the country.
Still, no concrete steps have been taken to come to terms with one of the most central problems in this respect: the failure to implement the European Court of Human Rights judgments on Chechnya.
In more than 120 rulings to date, Russia has been held responsible for serious human rights violations in Chechnya, including enforced disappearances, extrajudicial executions and torture. Russia has an obligation to implement the rulings of the court, by paying monetary compensation awarded by the court, and also by taking general steps to prevent similar violations from recurring as well as by reopening criminal investigations and holding perpetrators accountable.
Russia generally has paid the monetary compensation due in a timely manner. But except for that, it has failed to implement the judgments. Although the perpetrators in several cases are known, no one has been brought to justice, which means that there exists an almost total impunity for the crimes committed. This also means that Russia has not fulfilled its commitment to the European Convention.
Besides its unwillingness to implement the European Court's judgments, Russia has also in other ways obstructed the work of the European Court, for example by refusing to share central documents from the criminal files belonging to cases the Court has examined.
Full implementation of the European Court's judgments on Chechnya would be an important step to improve the human rights situation in North Caucasus. It would also be a good indicator that Medvedev is serious when he talks about establishing the rule of law in Russia.
A growing problem, linked to the above-mentioned issue, concerns the more and more difficult conditions for those who work against human rights violations. This is certainly true for the North Caucasus region. Several human rights defenders have been murdered - the most well known of them being Natalya Estemirova, who was killed in July 2009. Others live under constant threats due to their work. The criminal investigations into these cases have been ineffective and consequently the problem of impunity also applies there.
Sweden and other EU member states should take Russia to task and demand measures against the widespread impunity, concerning crimes within the framework of the Chechnya conflict as well as attacks on human rights defenders. But the criticism must not - as has been the case so far - be delivered behind closed doors and in vague wording. It should be made public and formulated with referral to concrete facts.
Beyond consistently bringing up human rights issues in their talks with Russia, states like Sweden could also act concretely in support of human rights defenders in need of physical protection. They could for example help to evacuate human rights defenders at risk or - in cases of immediate threat - offer protection at its embassies.
We are convinced that the Russian political leadership listens to criticism from outside. It is in the interest of both sides for Russia to be integrated into a common political context with Europe. But such an integration cannot be achieved if human rights are not respected. This message should be central and brought forward at every official meeting between Russia and EU member states, including the discussions that will be held today between Fredrik Reinfeldt and Dmitry Medvedev.
