the first Russian Chechen war (1994-1996)- - international organizations that were involved in the decision
conflict Based on the text: The armed conflict in Chechnya, now in its fourth year, is the most serious human rights crisis of the new decade in Europe.
The international community has a moral and political obligation to protect fundamental rights of people in and around Chechnya.
It should be vigorously pressing for a credible accountability process for perpetrators of serious violations of international humanitarian law, and should think strategically about how to achieve this when the Russian court system fails to deliver justice.
The international community has instead chosen the path of self-deception, choosing to believe Russia`s claims that the situation in Chechnya is stabilizing, and so be spared of making tough decisions about what actions are necessary to stop flagrant abuses and secure the well-being of the people of the region.
The year 2003 saw no improvement in the international community`s disappointing response to the Chechen situation.
In late 2002 the Russian government closed the field office in Chechnya of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
And unlike in other armed conflicts in Europe, few foreign missions in Russia sought to gather first-hand information about continuing human rights abuses.
Events of the past decade have shown that however flawed their policies might be in many respects, concerned states and intergovernmental bodies can play a significant role in addressing human rights violations.
Even in the Balkans, where the international community failed to stop horrific abuses as they were occurring, concerned states eventually supported the creation of the International Criminal Tribunal on the former Yugoslavia, a significant and likely long-lasting contribution to security and human rights in the region.
Hundreds of OSCE monitors deployed to Kosovo in November 1998 were able to create official documentation of massacres and other human rights abuses.
Because it is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, Russia was able to shield Chechnya from serious U.
S. and European governments have broad political and economic agendas with Russia, ranging from strategic missile defense to energy security to Russian policy in the Middle East.
But none of these factors can justify or fully explain the international community`s reluctance to promote human rights protections in and around Chechnya, or why Russia never has had to face significant consequences for abuses by its troops.
International disengagement on Chechnya became more marked after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.
Russia, which had since 1999 called the conflict in Chechnya a “counter-terror operation,” soon began to argue that the war in Chechnya was its contribution to the U.
Western governments have emphasized the need for Russia to find a political solution to the conflict.
As abuses continue, and as there continues to be no credible accountability process, Chechens appear to be losing what faith or hope they may have had in the Russian government.
But it has proven incapable of ending the conflict; instead, in 2003 it began to spill into neighboring Ingushetia, with Russian forces perpetrating the same abuses there as they have in Chechnya.
In the long term, disengagement on Chechnya is a disservice to human rights in Russia.
Having faced no diplomatic or other consequences for its crimes in Chechnya, the Russian government has certainly learned an important lesson about the limits of the international community`s political will in pursuing human rights.
Unchecked patterns of abuse by Russia`s forces in Chechnya will eventually affect the rest of Russian society.
Tens of thousands of police and security forces have done tours of duty in Chechnya, after which they return to their home regions, bringing with them learned patterns of brutality and impunity.
Several Russian human rights groups have begun to note a “Chechen syndrome” among police who served in Chechnya—a particular pattern of physical abuse and other dehumanizing treatment of people in custody.
Russians already face serious risk of torture in police custody.
The Chechnya experience is thus undermining efforts to promote the rule of law in Russia`s criminal justice system.
Human Rights Abuses in the Chechnya Conflict Russia`s second armed conflict in Chechnya in the 1990s began in September 1999.
Russia claimed it was a counter-terror operation, aimed at eliminating the chaos that had reined in Chechnya since the end of the 1994-1996 Chechen war and at liquidating terrorist groups that had found haven there.
They began a pattern of classic “dirty war” tactics and human rights abuses that continue to mark the conflict to this day.