US Senate Condemns human rights violations in Chechnya

RESOLUTION BY THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

Condemning human rights violations in Chechnya and urging a political solution to the conflict

28 February 2002

Whereas the United States Department of State Country Reports on Human Rights for 2001 reports that the `indiscriminate use of force by [Russian] government troops in the Chechen conflict resulted in widespread civilian casualties and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of persons';

Whereas the United States Department of State Country Reports on Human Rights for 2001 reports that Russian forces continue to arbitrarily detain, torture, extrajudicially execute, extort, rape, and forcibly disappear people in Chechnya;

Whereas credible human rights groups within the Russian Federation and abroad report that Russian authorities have failed to launch thorough investigations into these abuses and have taken no significant steps toward ensuring that its high command has taken all necessary measures to prevent abuse;

Whereas there are credible reports of specific abuses by Russian soldiers in Chechnya, including in Alkhan-Yurt in 1999; Staropromysloviski and Aldi in 2000; Alkhan-Kala, Assinovskaia, and Sernovodsk in 2001; and Tsotsin-Yurt and Argun in 2002;

Whereas the Government of the Russian Federation has cracked down on independent media and threatened to revoke the license of RFE/RL, Incorporated, further limiting the ability to ascertain the extent of the crisis in Chechnya;

Whereas Chechen rebel forces are believed responsible for the assassinations of Chechen civil servants who cooperate with the Government of the Russian Federation, and the Chechen government of Aslan Maskhadov has failed unequivocally to condemn these and other human rights abuses or to distance itself from persons in Chechnya allegedly associated with such forces; and

Whereas the Department of State officially recognizes the grievous human rights abuses in Chechnya and the need to develop and implement a durable political solution: Now, therefore, be it

(1) the war on terrorism does not excuse, and is ultimately undermined by, abuses by Russian security forces against the civilian population in Chechnya;

(2) the Government of the Russian Federation and the elected leadership of the Chechen government, including President Aslan Maskhadov, should immediately seek a negotiated settlement to the conflict there;

(A) act immediately to end and to investigate human rights violations by Russian soldiers in Chechnya, and to initiate, where appropriate, prosecutions against those accused;

(B) provide secure and unimpeded access into and around Chechnya by international monitors and humanitarian organizations to report on the situation, investigate alleged atrocities, and distribute assistance; and

(C) ensure that refugees and displaced persons in the North Caucasus are registered in accordance with Russian and international law, receive adequate assistance, and are not forced against their will to return to Chechnya; and

(A) ensure that no security forces or intelligence units that are the recipients of United States assistance or participants in joint operations, exchanges, or training with United States or NATO forces, are implicated in abuses;

(B) seek specific information from the Government of the Russian Federation on investigations of reported human rights abuses in Chechnya and prosecutions against those individuals accused of those abuses;

(C) promote peace negotiations between the Government of the Russian Federation and the elected leadership of the Chechen government, including Aslan Maskhadov; and

(D) re-examine the status of Chechen refugees, especially widows and orphans, including consideration of the possible resettlement of such refugees in the United States.

[Russian] Federation Council to Address US Senate over Its 'Chechen' Resolution

During the next session, which is scheduled for late April, the Federation Council (the upper house of the Russian parliament) will discuss a draft address to the US Senate, which has just passed a resolution on violation of human rights in Chechnya.

The first vice speaker of the Federation Council Valery Goreglyad said on Wednesday that the US senators hade "divided the problem of the anti-terrorist struggle in two." One half is the anti-terrorist campaign in Afghanistan and on the territory of Palestine, while the other half is "Chechnya, where, as the US Senate believes, human rights are being grossly violated."

"The Federation Council is not going to ignore an outrageous invasion of the US Senate into the competence of Russian bodies of power," he said. "It is a violation of Russia's sovereignty."

In turn, Upper House's Chairman Sergei Mironov reported that the International Committee of the Federation Council was instructed to prepare a draft address to the US Senate. "We have no detailed information about this resolution. We need to know who was the author and how many senators voted in its favor, and we want the full text of this document," he noted, adding that he had been confused to learn of the resolution. "We shall study all the details and we'll discuss the problem at the next session of the Federation Council," said Mironov.