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UN Summit: Clinton Must Not Drop the Ball on Chechnya
(New York, September 6, 2000) -- President Clinton must continue to press Russian President Vladimir V. Putin to hold
accountable perpetrators of gross abuses in Chechnya, Human Rights Watch said today. The U.S. president is slated to
have a bilateral meeting with President Putin as part of the U.N. Millennium Summit this week.
In a letter to President Clinton, the international monitoring group urged that he raise Russia's obligations to create
a credible justice process for abuse in Chechnya, in line with an April United Nations Commission for Human Rights
resolution. In a separate memorandum sent to President Clinton, Human Rights Watch detailed Russian failures to
implement the resolution, which had called for a national commission of inquiry to investigate abuses with a view to
eventual prosecutions.
The letter set out four critical items President Clinton should raise with President Putin:
a transparent and thorough process of accountability for all violations;
access to Chechnya for U.N. special human rights mechanisms and the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights;
redeployment of the OSCE Assistance Group to Chechnya; and
a clearly defined timetable for achieving these benchmarks.
A copy of the letter and memorandum is below.
September 1, 2000
President William Jefferson Clinton The White House Washington, DC 20500
Re: Accountability for Violations of the Laws of War in Chechnya
Dear President Clinton:
I am writing in advance of the Millennium Summit next week, to underscore the importance that we assign to
continued efforts by your administration to ensure accountability for atrocities committed in Chechnya. We urge you and
representatives of your administration to put accountability at the top of your agenda in any discussions with your
Russian counterparts.
We welcomed U.S. co-sponsorship of the resolution on Chechnya adopted by the U.N. Commission on Human Rights in
April, as well as your attention to this issue when you met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in June.
Unfortunately, notwithstanding the Russian government's repeated promises to abide by international standards in
Chechnya, arbitrary detention, torture, and other abuses continue there, and, as winter approaches, more than 100,000
displaced Chechens deeply fear returning home. The Russian government has taken no meaningful steps to hold accountable
those responsible for abuses, and, as detailed in the attached memorandum, continues to flout the central requirement of
the U.N. resolution: the formation of a national commission of inquiry. While it may have been reasonable for the U.S.
initially to accept President Putin's assurances that Russian troops would abide by international law and that any
violations would be prosecuted, the time for patience has long passed.
We urge you to join with your allies to communicate an unequivocal message to President Putin in New York:
Russia must abide by its commitments in Chechnya, including immediate cessation of all violations of international human
rights and humanitarian law; a transparent and thorough process of accountability for all violations; access to Chechnya
for U.N. special human rights mechanisms and the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights; and redeployment of the OSCE
Assistance Group to Chechnya. A clearly defined timetable for achieving these benchmarks should be established; it
should be made clear that if this timeline is not met, the Russian Federation will face renewed calls for international
measures of accountability—such as an international commission of inquiry or an interstate complaint before the European
Court of Human Rights. In addition, we hope that you will underscore with your Russian counterparts that international
public support for financing through new loans from multilateral financial institutions or debt relief will depend on a
demonstrated and consistent Russian commitment to rule of law, not only in Chechnya, but throughout the country.
Thank you for your attention to these matters. We wish you a productive summit.
Sincerely,
Rachel Denber
Acting Executive Director
Europe and Central Asia Division
Enc.
cc: Secretary of State Madeline Albright
Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott
Mr. Samuel Berger
Amb. Stephen Sestanovich
Amb. David Scheffer
Mr. Mark Medish
Mr. Lawrence Summers
Congressman Sam Gejdenson
Sen. Jesse Helms
Sen. Patrick Leahy
----- September 1, 2000
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH MEMORANDUM ON ACCOUNTABILITY FOR HUMANITARIAN LAW VIOLATIONS IN CHECHNYA
Human Rights Watch firmly believes that Russian domestic agencies have not established a meaningful
accountability process, required by the United Nations, to bring to justice those responsible for violations of
international human rights and humanitarian law in the Chechnya war.
In September 1999, Russian forces began a military campaign to regain political control of Chechnya. A series of
bombings in Russia, which the government blamed on Chechen forces, and the summer 1999 Chechen invasion of Dagestan
sparked the armed conflict, the second in the past five years.
Both parties to the conflict committed serious abuses in a brutal war that is costing thousands of civilian
lives, displacing tens of thousands of people, and causing serious damage to civilian homes and infrastructure. Chechen
forces have violated humanitarian law by summarily executing servicemen they have captured, physically abusing
civilians, and violating civilian immunity. But the overwhelming majority of abuse has been committed by Russian forces.
They perpetrated three massacres—in the village of Alkhan-Yurt (December 1999) and in the Staropromyslovski (January
2000) and Aldi (February 2000) districts of Grozny, Chechnya's capital—that cost at least 130 civilian lives; they have
killed or maimed thousands of civilians through indiscriminate and disproportionate bombing; and they have rounded up
and systematically tortured untold numbers of civilians suspected of collaborating with Chechen rebels. Human Rights
Watch documented in detail these violations during field presence in Ingushetia from November 1999 through May 2000.
Russian forces committed similar violations of international humanitarian law during the 1994-1996 war in
Chechnya. Under pressure from the international community, the Russian government made a commitment to investigate these
abuses and hold accountable their perpetrators. Four years later, it failed to live up to this commitment. It would be a
tragic derogation of duty should the international community again fail to insist on a credible, impartial and
transparent accountability process.
Governments and international organizations repeatedly called on Russia to halt and investigate the atrocities
in the current war. On April 25, 2000 the United Nations Commission on Human Rights adopted a resolution deploring
abuses in Chechnya and calling on Russia to investigate them. Introduced by the European Union and joined by many
states, including the U.S., it 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.
The April 25 resolution called on 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 Cooperation and Security 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. Below we discuss the inadequacy of the Russian
response to each of the requirements specified by the Commission in the resolution.
Calls upon the Government of the Russian Federation to establish urgently, according to recognized international
standards, a national, broad-based and independent commission of inquiry to investigate promptly alleged violations of
human rights and breeches of international humanitarian law committed in the Republic of Chechnya in order to establish
the truth and identify those responsible, with a view to bringing them to justice and preventing impunity.
Russia has not created a national commission of inquiry nor has it, through law enforcement agencies or other
special institutions, established accountability or prevented impunity. There are currently three bodies, in addition to
regular law enforcement agencies, that are concerned with human rights issues in Chechnya: the Office of the Special
Representative of the President of the Russian Federation for Ensuring Human and Civil Rights and Freedoms in the
Chechen Republic, headed by Vladimir Kalamanov; a purportedly independent commission headed by former Justice Minister
Pavel Krashenninikov; and a State Duma commission headed by Alexander Tkachev.
None of these agencies can be seen as meeting the international standards for independent commissions of
inquiry. (A summary of such standards developed by the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights is attached.) At best,
they are authorized to forward complaints about serious abuse to law enforcement agencies and request information about
action taken. Their priorities, while laudable, do not lie in establishing the full truth about and accountability for
some of the worst abuses in the war—summary executions and torture. They cannot, for example, subpoena evidence and
witnesses, they do not submit evidence to prosecutorial authorities, and they do not appear to have the full cooperation
of prosecutorial agencies.
President Vladimir Putin appointed Mr. Kalamanov in response to international outcry about atrocities and
torture in Chechnya. Mr. Kalamanov has established an office in Znamenskoe, in northern Chechnya; to its credit, the
office has been instrumental in securing the release of dozens of Chechen detainees in Russian custody and in restoring
to hundreds of civilians identity documents that were lost, confiscated or destroyed. It also responds to individual
complaints, prioritizing those that regard food, housing, pensions, identity papers, and compensation. Mr. Kalamanov's
office has entered into a collaborative relationship with the Council of Europe, with three Council of Europe experts
resident in his office in Znamenskoe, Chechnya; it also accepts technical assistance from the OSCE Office of Democratic
Institutions and Human Rights.
Human Rights Watch values our dialogue with Mr. Kalamanov and his staff, and sincerely believes that his efforts
are making a positive contribution. However, Mr. Kalamanov's office in no way can be considered a national commission of
inquiry. While it has provided human rights organizations with useful information about procuracy investigations into
abuses, it does not investigate complaints of abuse by Russian forces. Nor does it appear to have the authority to
compel the procuracy to investigate meritorious cases. Moreover, it has chosen to prioritize other issues that are
worthy, but that do not contribute to a meaningful accountability process.
The commission headed by Mr. Krashenninikov is an unregistered nongovernmental organization funded by private
donors that has no investigatory authority or function. Its mandate includes the examination of human rights violations
in the North Caucasus in the 1990s; other parts of its mandate and planned activities are highly laudable, but are
unfortunately unrelated to accountability. These include lowering interethnic tensions in Russian society and
maintaining contact with international and Russian organizations and NGOs engaged in the crisis in the North Caucasus.
The commission receives complaints from individuals, which it forwards to the relevant government agencies. It plans to
establish legal aid centers in Moscow, Chechnya, and other regions of Russia to broaden its information-gathering
capacity, but lacks resources to do so.
Led by Alexander Tkachev, the State Duma Commission on Normalizing the Socio-Political Situation and Human
Rights in Chechnya has sixteen members, nine of whom are resident in Chechnya, and an office in Gudermes. The commission
is to be involved in useful initiatives to ensure funds for reconstruction and to reestablish the social welfare
infrastructure. They forward complaints—on issues ranging from pensions, housing, and unemployment to abuse by law
enforcement agencies—to the appropriate state agencies and request information about action on such complaints.
Human Rights Watch has advocated for an independent, international commission of inquiry because domestic
investigative agencies have proven either incapable or unwilling to undertake rigorous, impartial investigations into
atrocities in Chechnya or to prosecute their authors. The military procuracy has closed its investigation into the
Alkhan-Yurt massacre, claiming that it found "no evidence of a crime." Notably, the procuracy limited its investigation
to the period of time leading up to the Russian seizure of Alkhan-Yurt on December 2, 1999. Our research indicates that
this was the date on which the abuses began. The military procuracy failed to open an investigation on
Staropromyslovski; it transferred the investigation of Aldi to the civilian procuracy, claiming that servicemen under
its jurisdiction were not involved in the mop-up operation there. The civilian procuracy has opened a criminal case into
the death of one civilian at Staropromyslovski (Human Rights Watch documented fifty-one civilian deaths in that
massacre); it chose to refer us to the Grozny city procuracy to obtain information on the Alkhan Yurt, Aldi and
Staropromyslovski investigations. If the procuracy general or any regional procuracy has undertaken an investigation
into systematic torture of detainees at the infamous Chernokozovo detention center in January and early February, it has
not made available any information on the progress of its efforts. In March 2000, the Council of Europe's Committee for
the Prevention of Torture requested the Russian authorities to carry out such an investigation within three months; it
is entirely unknown whether the Russian government has complied with this mandatory request.
Procuracy investigations lack transparency, an essential part of any credible accountability process.
Occasionally the procuracy makes available figures on the number of cases under investigation in Chechnya, but leaves
obscured the nature of the crimes under investigation, and whether they were perpetrated against civilians. According to
Mr. Kalamanov, for example, the civilian procuracy has opened twenty criminal cases in reference to Alkhan Yurt, but the
nature of the crimes under investigation is entirely unclear.
Supports the requests made by the High Commissioner for Human Rights, The Secretary-General of the Council of Europe and
the Chairman-in-Office of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe for international involvement, and
urges the Government of the Russian Federation to agree to the requests of those organizations to deploy staff in the
region in line with their mandates.
As mentioned above, Russia has entered into a cooperative relationship with the Council of Europe through the
latter's deployment of three experts to Mr. Kalamanov's office. The Russian government has, however, stubbornly and
persistently refused to allow the redeployment of the OSCE Assistance Group by objecting to its security requirements.
The group has had a mandate to be present in the region since 1995. Its mandate was reaffirmed by all OSCE member
states, including the Russian government, at the 1999 Istanbul OSCE summit.
Urges the government of the Russian Federation to cooperate with the special mechanisms of the Commission [i.e., the
Special Rapporteur on torture, the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, the Special
Rapporteur on violence against women, the Special Representative of the Secretary General on internally displaced
persons and the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict] and, in particular to
give favorable consideration to the requests already presented to undertake visits in the region as a matter of
priority.
As of this writing, the Russian government has not responded to requests filed by the special rapporteurs by
issuing invitations to visit the region. The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded to a request, filed in April,
by the special rapporteurs on torture and violence against women for an invitation to visit the region by noting that
they were welcome, but stating that the visit could not take place at the time due to an allegedly unsatisfactory
security situation. A subsequent request by the Special Rapporteur on torture remains unanswered. The ministry
underscored that any visit would have to be unrelated to the UNCHR resolution. No invitations have been forthcoming for
the other special rapporteurs or special representatives
Calls upon the Government of the Russian Federation to give free and effective access in the Republic of
Chechnya by international and regional organizations, in particular the ICRC, to all places of detention, . . . .
Free and unfettered access to Chechnya is essential for organizations that seek to document human rights
violations and press for accountability. To its credit, the government has granted the ICRC full access to all detention
facilities under its control in Chechnya and in other regions of Russia where detainees are held in relation to the
armed conflict. Access has improved for local humanitarian groups, journalists, and human rights groups. The government
has not, however, responded positively to Human Rights Watch's many requests for access. The experience of
nongovernmental actors operating in Chechnya belies the security concerns that have allegedly prevented deployment of
the U.N. special mechanisms.
Welcomes the invitation extended by the Government of the Russian Federation to the High Commissioner for Human Rights
for a return visit in two to three months.
During the High Commissioner's April visit to Russia, which included three days in the North Caucasus, Foreign
Minister Ivanov extended an oral invitation to the High Commissioner to return review progress in resolving many of the
issues she had raised. No formal invitation from the ministry has been issued, however, in the five months since her
visit.
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