LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Chechnya: Russian Federation
built 280 days ago
The head of Human Rights Watch on Wednesday accused the Council of Europe of yielding to pressure from Moscow and failing to respond to documented Russian civil liberties violations in Chechnya. Kenneth Roth, executive director of the New York-based rights group, said European institutions have been inefficient in defending civil liberties despite countless monitoring bodies set up solely for this purpose.
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A few days before Christmas, two members of the Polish Anarchist Federation (FA) were kidnapped in Chechnya, where they were with a convoy of humanitarian aid (food, medicines, clothes). These anarchists are Marek Kurzyniec - a veteran FA activist, and Krzysztof Galinski - one of the founders of the anarchist magazine Mac Pariadka ("Mother of Order"). With the two were 3 other persons, somehow related to the FA.
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Instability has spread beyond Chechnya to other parts of the North Caucasus. The risk of a full-blown war is heightened. Human rights abuses committed by both terrorists and representatives of the Russian government have increased extremism rather than contained it. Yet the international community has done little to address the situation. International attention is needed and this initiative seeks to advance research and practical steps for alleviating the crisis.
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Russian soldiers were bewildered when they were sent into Chechnya in December 1994. Women and children tried to block the Russian tanks, begging the troops to turn back. One Russian general halted his forces, saying it was not the role of the army to fight its own citizens.
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The Russian authorities have allowed a climate of impunity to emerge in Chechnya which protects and encourages human rights abusers. For far too long the authorities have ignored their obligation to bring those responsible for human rights abuses to justice and to provide the victims with an effective remedy. It is time that the Russian Federation took steps to turn its paper commitments to human rights and justice into a reality.
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Last week, the Kremlin announced that 3,220 Russian soldiers had been killed and nearly 9,000 injured in Chechnya since 1999. Human rights groups such as the Soldiers' Mothers' Committee in Moscow say the losses are at least twice as high.
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