Open Letter To The Foreign Ministers Of
The Council Of Europe From Russian NGOs

Memorial Human Rights Center
Civic Action
Moscow Helsinki Group
Union of Committees of Soldiers' Mothers

On behalf of a coalition of NGOs, we appeal today to the ministers of foreign affairs of all the countries that are members of the Council Europe. We wish to draw your attention to the serious violations permitted by Russian forces in the course of the current armed conflict in Chechnya. We urgently call on you to take an active role in efforts to stop these violations.

We highly appreciate the recent efforts to use economic and political levers of influence on the situation in Chechnya. We consider it the duty of all members of the Council of Europe to launch procedures in the European Court of Human Rights regarding Russia.

In 1996, when Russia was accepted in the Council of Europe (despite the first Chechen war which was still underway at that time), advocates of accession said that membership in the Council would provide additional opportunities for influencing Russian policy through various effective mechanisms which this organization has at its disposal regarding member states. Given the massive nature of the violations in this Chechen war, we are convinced that the time has come to invoke what could be potentially be a most effective instrument--the interstate complaint to the European Court of Human Rights. Therefore, we call on all the members of the Council of Europe to use their right, collectively or individually, to appeal to the ECHR with an interstate complaint against Russia related to the current armed conflict in Chechnya.

From the onset of the war, several of our organizations have been monitoring the operations of Russian armed forces in Chechnya. Through our joint efforts, we have obtained the testimony of hundreds of forcibly internally displaced Chechens who have fled to Ingushetia, Moscow, and Georgia. We have currently compiled irrefutable proof of the serious violations of Russian armed forces of the European Convention on Human Rights and international humanitarian law. We have recorded numerous instances of disproportionate and indiscriminate strikes against civilian targets, including apparently deliberate air attacks on columns of refugees fleeing Chechnya.

Russian soldiers at the border checkpoints have acquired a vicious reputation for extracting bribes from people who are trying to save themselves from the war, or those who are trying to return home. After crossing through villages under control of Russian forces, apparently soldiers are obtaining free license to loot and pick everything clean, hauling away household goods and valuables. When some residents return home for brief periods, they discover that the walls of their homes are bare.

In Alkhan-Yurt and the Staropromyslovsky District of Grozny, at least 14 and 41 residents, respectively, were killed, the victims of vengeful atrocities committed by enraged soldiers. Moreover, the Russian authorities openly neglect the needs of forcibly displaced persons in Ingushetia, and since December, have been squeezing them back into Chechnya by cutting their food rations. Russian officials are also failing to respect the rights of journalists by essentially refusing them access to Chechnya, and by their outrageous treatment of Radio Liberty reporter Andrei Babitsky, who is under pledge not to leave Moscow while still under investigation.

As a member of the Council of Europe and as a state party to the European Convention on Human Rights, Russia is obliged to respect human rights and fundamental freedoms guaranteed by the Charter of the Council and the Convention. As the results of our investigation indicate, the actions of Russia in Chechnya and neighboring Ingushetia egregiously violate numerous statutes of the Convention. We should note that all the articles of the Convention apply in full to the Russian military operation, because Russia failed to invoke Article 15, which provides for the right to derogation, which would permit partial limitation of rights during war or a state of emergency.

We believe that under the circumstances, when there are such grave violations, members of the Council of Europe must display resolve, as the collective guarantors of the principles of the Charter of the Council and the European Convention. We also are convinced that launching an interstate complaint on Russia in the European Court of Human Rights, with a request to the court to review and comment on the unlawful nature of the Russian military operation in Chechnya, is one of the most effective means of implementing this obligation.

Serving an interstate complaint on Russia would constitutute a serious warning to the Russian government that the countries of Europe do not intend to go on resigning themselves to the violations committed. Such a warning would be in keeping with the various statements condemning Russian actions in Chechnya by the European Union, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the OSCE. and other international organizations and the governments of individual countries. It would be a logical continuation of the efforts to increase pressure on Russia in the interests of changing its policy on Chechnya.

We also believe that a ruling concerning the violations in Chechnya by the ECHR would be an important step in breaking through the atmosphere of impunity for war crimes being committed now in Russia.

As you well know, in 1996, when Russia joined the Council of Europe, Russia promised to "bring to accountability those who will be found guilty of human rights violations, including in relationship to the events in Chechnya" (Opinion no. 93 (1996), "On the Statement of Russia On Acceptance into the Council of Europe").

However, the Russian Federation ignored this obligation. Not a single soldier or officer was found guilty for the most serious war crimes committed in the period of the conflict from 1994-1996. Not a single member of the Council of Europe reminded Russia of its obligation, silently accepting the fact the Russia had not begun judicial procedures against its war criminals.

There is no doubt that the lack of accountability for the violations of human rights during the last Chechen war has reinforced the sense of impunity among Russian forces, who have resorted to unlawful actions in Chechnya in this war.

Copies of the reports of our various organizations on violations by Russian forces in Chechnya are available upon request.

Oleg Orlov
Chair
Memorial Human Rights Center

Svetlana Gannushkina
Co-Chair
Civic Action

Ludmila Alexeyeva
Chair
Moscow Helsinki Group

Ida Kuklina
Member, Coordinating Council
Union of Committees of Soldiers' Mothers of Russia

Last updated:    April 2000

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