U.N. Must Condemn Russia for Chechnya Abuses

U.N. Must Condemn Russia for Chechnya Abuses

Commission meeting in Geneva Must Not Whitewash Moscow's Inaction

(New York, September 14, 2000) The U.N. Commission on Human Rights must expose and condemn Russia's failure to investigate gross abuses of human rights in Chechnya, Human Rights Watch said today. An intersessional meeting of the Commission is scheduled for September 15, and the High Commissioner for Human Rights will address the body.

In letters to Commission members and to the High Commissioner, the international monitoring group said that in spite of U.N. requirements, the Russian government has failed to launch a credible and transparent justice process for human rights violations in Chechnya. Five months after the adoption of a U.N. resolution on Chechnya that called for the establishment of a national commission of inquiry, Russia has made no meaningful progress toward accountability for abuse and has actively blocked U.N. rapporteurs' access to the region.

"This resolution was the first time the Commission ever singled out a permanent member of the Security Council quite this way," said Joanna Weschler, Human Rights Watch's U.N. representative. "The international community, especially the E.U., argued that it was the best chance for justice for abuse. The Commission can't drop the ball on this one."

Human Rights Watch detailed Russia's failure to implement the resolution in a separate memorandum to the Commission.

The letter to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights can be found at: http://www.hrw.org/press/2000/09/chech0914-prs.htm

The letter to members of the UN Commission on Human Rights can be found at: http://www.hrw.org/press/2000/09/chech0914-prs.htm

The memorandum on accountability can be found at: http://www.hrw.org/press/2000/09/chech0913-memo.htm

For more information on Chechnya, please see: http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/russia/chechnya/

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