| U.N. report urges end to exaggerated
terrorism campaigns 05 Aug 2004 17:14:27 GMT GENEVA, Aug 5 (Reuters) - A United Nations investigator called on governments on Thursday to stop whipping up exaggerated fears of terrorism among their populations, in an apparent reference to the United States and Britain. And in implicit criticism of Russia and China, Greek Lawyer Kalliopi K. Koufa said in a report that the world community should be more alert to a growing trend to label as terrorists groups seeking to exercise the right of self-determination. Fear of terrorism "out of proportion to its actual risk and generated by states themselves or other actors" can be exploited to make people accept "counter-terrorism measures that unduly curtail human rights and humanitarian law," the report declared. "Undue fear can foster religious or ethnic intolerance," said the document, presented to a session of the U.N. Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights. Koufa's 25-page report, the result of several years of study of the terrorism problem, was completed in April before the latest declaration of a state of alert in the United States and fresh warnings of potential attacks in Britain. But U.N. diplomats said it was clearly intended to cover such developments -- and could also be linked to the heavy security being enforced in Athens, under pressure from major powers, for this months's Olympic Games. Although Koufa did not identify any offending governments, it was clear the major powers were the main target of her strictures, according to the diplomats who spoke on condition of anonymity. She said a number of states had instituted counter-terrorism measures "that unduly -- and on occasion severely -- violate human rights and humanitarian law" and were being used against people accused of criminal offences unrelated to terrorism. "Fear of terrorism is heightened by repeated and often exaggerated, if not unlikely, references to weapons of mass destruction potentially in the hands of terrorist groups or certain states, even though nearly all terrorist acts have been carried out by traditional methods," she wrote. In responding to the problem, governments should ensure that they were accurately reflecting "real risk....and (should) refrain from generating undue fear of terrorism," Koufa's report declared. The U.N. investigator said the international community should be more attentive to the distinction between armed conflict and terrorism "with particular attention to conflicts to realise the right to self-determination and civil wars." There had been an increase in "the rhetorical use of the _expression 'war on terrorism', in labelling wars as terrorism, and combatants in wars as terrorists" which itself led to breaches of humanitarian law in such conflicts. U.N. diplomats said her phrasing left little doubt she was thinking of Russia and its war against separatist forces in the rebel region of Chechnya, as well as China which has labelled as "terrorists" its own Moslem rebels in the north-west. http://lenta.ru/most/2004/08/02/permit/ (quick tr. by N.S.) Journalists can go to Chechnya only with MVD authorization [permit] Since Sunday all journalists, to get a permission to work in Chechnya, must apply not in the assistant to the President RF Sergei Yastrzhembsky' office as before, but in the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, reports Kommersant newspaper on its website. Representative of the MVD Vera Falyakhova has announced at a press conference, that with this new rule, the work of reporters in Chechnya is going to be considerably simpler when all the documents will obtained in the MVD. In particular, it will become simpler to pass through the checkpoints. However, Falyakhova had reminded that journalists must not break the established rules. In connection with this Kommersant voices its fear that to determine the fact of breaking of these rules now, there will be conflict if interests because the MVD, which is responsible for conducting of the counter-terrorist operation, will have a vested right to remove those journalists from Chechnya, whose position does not coincide with the official one. Kommersant reminds that for six months this system of accreditations in Yastrzhembsky's office practically hadn't work - journalists in many instances have managed without them. Article also indicates the weirdness of this situation, when reporters cannot go to Chechnya, which is the subject of the Russian Federation as ordinary citizens, without additional documents. Chechenpress Saakashvili seeks serious troubles? The Chechen refugees living in Pankisi consider the events that took place at dawn of 3 August in the gorge a purposeful provocation of the Georgian force structures jointly with the Russian special services. Press service of the Ministry of State Security in a few words commented on the mentioned event: “The employees of the Ministry of State Security carried out today in Pankisi Gorge (Eastern Georgia) a preventive operation aimed at revealing the persons illegally living in the territory of Georgia. According to the information received from the press centre, 11 persons have been detained in the course of the operation, including the Chechen-Kists, ethnical Chechens residing in the territory of Georgia. Later, four of them were released, as they presented appropriate documents”. It is not clear what made the Georgian special services carry out the operation under cover of night, convoyed by armored troop carriers. The masked servicemen without producing any certificates or sanctions broke into the refugees’ houses, beating the women, children, and detaining the men. They arrived in 18 jeeps and 10 microbuses to conduct a night raid. 11 people have been arrested. All of them have been released. After the women blocked the road and tried to prevent the movement of the column, 10 to 12 of them were beaten, including a pregnant woman who was taken to hospital. General Representative of CRI in Georgia Khizri Aldamov tells the Georgian special services carried out a planned operation in Pankisi Gorge, similar to those special operations the chief aim of which is struggle against illegal keeping of arms and traffic in illicit drugs. Khizri Aldamov told in his interview to our agency that all the detainees were released. As to the fact of beating the women in the course of the operation, Aldamov told that the Chechen side would require investigation of the facts of infringement of human rights. “We will not allow anyone to beat and insult us unceremoniously”, - said Aldamov. However, according to the Chairman of Human Rights Committee Aslanbek Abdurzakov, this is the most scandalous fact of violation of human rights in Pankisi for the last 5 years. An ambulance car was called for hospitalization of the pregnant woman. “At the given moment, we are examining the victims. We are going to present the materials to the corresponding instances of Georgia. If they take no notice of the given fact, we will apply to the international human rights groups. We have prepared a special statement concerning the events taking place today. It is important for us to know whether it is the state policy or the initiative of the local authorities. Georgia’s new leaders have many enemies, and it is not excluded that all this happened without knowledge of official Tbilisi to discredit the Georgian authorities”, - said Abdurzakov. There is one more version connected with the beating the women. One officer, who refused to identify himself, told that the action was provoked by a woman who began insulting the servicemen, using foul language. Later, it turned out that the so-called woman-provoker “showed them the way” after the soldiers had told each other in Georgian: “We must exterminate their men. They have beautiful women, and if they are left without their women, we can have a good time”. Therefore, these words were provocative and not hysterics of the women”. When all the “North Caucasian” peoples hurried on to help the “oppressed “ Ossetian people, only the Chechens declared that they would not take part in these political games, that signified indirect support offered to the official Tbilisi. Perhaps, somebody does not like it. G. Bakhtadze, Chechenpress, August 4, 2004 |