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http://www.chechenpress.com/news/10_2003/22_20_10.shtml
Chechen NGOs
appeal to world community to stop human rights abuses
20 October: Representatives
of Chechen non-government organizations who took part in a seminar and
training on UN mechanisms in the protection of human rights held in
the city of Nazran, Ingushetia, on 17-19 October, have adopted an appeal
to the international community.
"All the rights
declared in UN documents, namely the right to life, work, health, education,
defence of home and property, have been infringed in the Chechen Republic,"
the appeal says. "Genocide and military crimes are being committed in
the republic. At the same time, there is not a single representative
of international organizations working in Chechnya on a permanent basis."
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In order to resolve
the critical situation in Chechnya, representatives of Chechen NGOs
suggest that the international community take the following measures:
1. The UN and its
Security Council should consider creating a special mechanism for submitting
appeals and complaints by Chechens to international agencies.
2. A committee
(centre) for the protection of human rights in Chechnya should be set
up under the aegis of the UN on the basis of the (OMST).
3. To ask the OMST
on behalf of the Chechen NGOs to choose an independent legal organization
that would assess legal documents that define relationships between
the Chechen Republic and Russia, such as the resolution of the Supreme
Council of the USSR adopted in 1990 "On making equal the rights of union
and autonomous republics of the USSR" and others.
4. Assistance should
be given through the OMST in order to establish an international tribunal
to deal with violations of human rights in the Chechen Republic.
5. The OMST should
appeal on behalf of Chechen NGOs to the OSCE and the Council of Europe
in order to re-establish the OSCE mission and the institution of international
observers in Chechnya.
Representatives
of Chechen NGOs are confident that only such measures can stop genocide
in Chechnya and bring stability to the republic. Many Chechen human
rights activists believe that it is practically impossible to resolve
the continuing military conflict between Russia and Chechnya without
the involvement of a third party in the person of international organizations.
20.10.03
Georgia deports to
Russia 3 Chechens from Pankissi gorge
On Tuesday, Georgian
authorities deported three Chechens detained 10 days ago for illegally
crossing the Georgian State border. The head of police of the Kakheti
Region has told reporters that the Chechens were detained on October
11 near the village of Druisi in Pankisi gorge.
[21.10.2003
16:07] The Chechen Times
Rights Group Urges
U.S. To Investigate Civilian Deaths
Human Rights Watch
says the U.S. military has failed to conduct proper investigations into
the killings of Iraqi civilians by its soldiers in Baghdad. In a new
report, The New York-based rights group said it had confirmed the death
of 20 civilians at the hands of U.S. forces between 1 May, when Washington
declared major combat over, and the end of September. The group said
it had collected "credible reports" of 94 civilian deaths in Baghdad
which warranted investigation. The report says the military has concluded
only five high-level investigations into suspected unlawful deaths.
In four cases, soldiers were found to have been acting "within the rules
of engagement." According to the independent Iraq Body Count project,
between 7,000 and 9,000 Iraqi civilians have died as a result of "military
intervention" since the start of the war on 20 March. The U.S. military
says it keeps no record of civilian deaths.
[21.10.2003
12:21] RFE/RL
Securing refuge for displaced Chechens
Russian authorities
are stepping up pressure to compel 77,000 displaced Chechens in the
neighboring republic of Ingushetia to return to their war-torn homeland,
which they fled three years ago as Russian troops arrived to crush
a separatist insurgency.
Anna Neistat
and Sasha Petrov, the director and deputy director of Human Rights
Watch's Moscow office, released a report on September 22 charging
that Russian forces in Ingushetia are committing many of the same
abuses that Human Rights Watch has documented in Chechnya: arbitrary
arrest, detention, ill-treatment and looting.
Now the pressure
on the displaced Chechens is getting worse. In the run-up to the October
5 presidential election in Chechnya, Russian authorities began threatening
displaced Chechens in Ingushetia with arrest, striking their names
from lists for humanitarian aid and cutting off basic services such
as electricity, gas and water.
"The Russian
government wants to move the Chechnya problem back to Chechnya, no
matter what the human cost," said Rachel Denber, deputy director of
Human Rights Watch's Europe and Central Asia division.
Human Rights
Watch is trying to persuade the Russian government to keep camps open
for 11,000 Chechens who must not be forced to return to their dangerous
homeland. Read on to find out how you can help.
[21.10.2003
12:10] HRW
The Chechen
woman in Grozny needs an information about relevant European court to
complain
The Chechen woman
in Grozny needs an information about relevant European court to complain
of the next issue: her husband and daughter were killed by drunk Russian
soldiers. They drove armoured machine over the car in which those two
have been sitting. It's happened in 1996. In 2002 son of this woman
was shot down by Russian soldiers near by their own house.House of that
family also destroyed during bombardment. There are a number evidence
and documents. She was not able to complete the claim in Russian institutions
so she is seeking proper European organisation to lodge a complaint.
mail to: inforelforch@yahoo.co.uk
[21.10.2003
10:43] The Chechen Times
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