(Geneva, March 26, 2002) - The United Nations Commission on Human Rights should adopt a resolution condemning abuses in Chechnya and calling on Russia to investigate them, Human Rights Watch urged in a briefing paper released today.

The memorandum was addressed to members of the Commission, holding their annual meeting in Geneva, on the eve of their discussion of agenda "Item 9"-the debate about abuses in particular countries.

The Russian government has refused to implement resolutions adopted by the Commission during its 2000 and 2001 sessions. These resolutions called for the creation of a national commission of inquiry and access for U.N. human rights monitors, but the Russian authorities have taken neither step.

"For two years straight Russia flouted Commission resolutions," said Elizabeth Andersen, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch's Europe and Central Asia division. "Now Commission members have to make a choice to protect human rights in Russia, and to uphold the Commission's integrity."

The Human Rights Watch briefing paper is based on more than fifty interviews conducted by Human Rights Watch researchers in December 2001 and February 2002. The Human Rights Watch account contrasts sharply with Russian government assertions that the situation in Chechnya is returning to normal.

The Human Rights Watch briefing paper describes atrocities committed in Chechnya on an everyday basis. Despite repeated calls from the Commission and other international bodies, the Russian government has failed to hold those responsible accountable, the group said. "The Commission should not tolerate Russia's blatant defiance of its past recommendations," Andersen said. "The Commission's own credibility is on the line, not to mention justice for hundreds of victims who have been detained, tortured, 'disappeared,' and executed over the past two and a half years."

Since the last Commission meeting in April 2001, violations of human rights and international humanitarian law by Russian troops-arbitrary detentions, forced disappearances, summary executions, indiscriminate fire and large-scale looting-have continued apace. The Chechen rebel forces have also been responsible for serious violations of international humanitarian law, including the assassinations of dozens of Chechen civil servants working for the administration established by the Russian government.

"Chechnya is the only place in Europe where civilians are being killed on a near daily basis," Andersen said. "Our research contradicts Russian government assertions that Chechnya is returning to normal. What's happening there is certainly not normal."

Tracking the conduct of Russian forces in six military sweep operations between August and December 2001, the Human Rights Watch briefing paper documents nine forced disappearances and five cases of the indiscriminate use of force. It analyzes the Russian authorities limited efforts to investigate these crimes and describes the problems faced by internally displaced people in Chechnya's neighboring regions. The briefing paper also describes assassinations and threats against officials and ordinary civilians by Chechen forces.

Among the victims whose cases are detailed in the briefing paper are:

· Madina Mezhieva and Amkhad Gekhaev who were machine-gunned from a military helicopter on October 27, 2001, while driving home from a turnip field in Komsomolskoe. The soldiers took these two away alive, and several days later, family members obtained their bodies, both missing limbs, from the military commander's office in Gudermes.

· Malika Lalaeva and Raisa Taramova, two children killed during a shelling of Goity on October 28, 2001, when three of the nine shells lobbed into the village hit Lalaev's family house.

· Musa Yunusov and Lom-Ali Yunusov, both detained at night on December 9, 2001 by Russian soldiers, who also torched their houses. Five days later, the relatives identified their mutilated bodies among seven corpses dumped in a forest near a Grozny suburb.

· Magomed-Emi Alsultanov, Khasmagomed Esuev, Mukhadi Khamzatov, Saidmagomed Mutsukaev, Anzor Ismailov and others, detained by Russian forces and subsequently "disappeared." For months, relatives were trying to get information about their fate from Russian authorities, but never succeeded.

In none of these cases have the authorities taken adequate steps to investigate the abuses. Since the last commission meeting, the government has claimed to be carrying out criminal investigations into abuses in Chechnya. Human Rights Watch has analyzed several key investigations, including those into the Sernovodsk sweep "disappearances," the mass grave in Dachny village, and the massacres in Alkhan-Yurt, Staropromyslovskii, and Aldi. The group found that investigators have consistently failed to take basic investigatory steps that could lead to the identification of perpetrators. The volatile security situation in Chechnya continues to prevent more than 200,000 internally displaced persons from returning to their homes. The Russian authorities pressure them to return to Chechnya, but the majority remains in Ingushetia, in conditions of squalor, insecurity, and uncertainty.

Human Rights Watch urged the Commission to adopt a resolution:

· Deploring the continued serious violations of international humanitarian law;

· Noting Russia's failure to establish a national commission of inquiry or other accountability mechanism;

· Noting the absence of any official national or international record of violations committed in the context of the conflict in Chechnya;

· Calling on Russia to issue invitations to the relevant U.N. human rights monitors; and

· Calling on Russia to invigorate the domestic accountability process.

The briefing paper is available at http://hrw.org/un/unchr-chechnya.htm

For further information, please contact:
In Geneva, Joanna Weschler: +4179-387-4868
In Moscow, Diederik Lohman: +7095-764-5938
In New York, Rachel Denber: +1-212-216-1266