KavkazCenter - Human Rights Watch addresses EU to press Moscow to end impunity for abuses in Chechnya

Human Rights Watch addresses EU to press Moscow to end impunity for abuses in Chechnya

"The European Union should use its summit with Russia to press Moscow to end impunity for abuses in Chechnya and cease harassment of civil society in Russia." These demands are contained in the statement issued by Human Rights Watch June 25.

In 34 rulings to date, the European Court has repeatedly found Russia responsible for abuses in Chechnya, including torture, ‘disappearances,' and extrajudicial executions. Russia has generally paid out compensation to victims. But it has refused to carry out meaningful investigations or to implement measures to address the underlying causes of abuse, which the court has obliged Russia to do.

‘The EU has the chance to reset the tenor of its relationship with Russia,' said Allison Gill, Russia office director for Human Rights Watch. ‘It's time to say that because Russia is a key partner, because the EU is Russia's friend, human rights concerns are critical to the relationship.'

‘The EU shouldn't limit discussion of human rights to lower-level consultations because that sends the signal that human rights are a secondary concern,' said Gill. ‘As a strong partner to the EU, Russia is capable of hearing and responding to human rights concerns and should be treated as such.'

By the time of the Russia-EU summit last year Human Rights Watch had made a similar statement. HRW was asking the European Union to put pressure on Russia in the area of human rights. Moreover, just like this year, the human rights watchdog demanded that the crimes in Chechnya and Ingushetia are ended.

Russia, however, did not react to any of these demands, and the EU did not take any more or less serious steps to put pressure on Moscow.

This year's Russia-EU summit is held in Khanty Mansiisk. The negotiations on the new agreement have started, which is supposed to lay the groundwork for the Russian-EU relations for the near future. A possibility of visa-free travels was once again discussed at the summit as well.

The watchdog report also says that "fighting between Muslim insurgents and Russian troops threatens to engulf a neighboring region", Ingushetia.

Human Rights Watch points out in its report that Moscow has brought additional troops to Ingushetia, but it did not change the situation. The situation got more aggravated since the troops "fail to discriminate between legitimate insurgent targets and civilians when conducting operations".

Kavkaz Center