IV

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. CON. RES. 206

Expressing grave concern regarding armed conflict in the North Caucasus

region of the Russian Federation which has resulted in civilian casualties

and internally displaced persons, and urging all sides to pursue dialog

for peaceful resolution of the conflict.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

OCTOBER 25, 1999

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey (for himself, Mr. WOLF, and Mr. FORBES) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the

Committee on International Relations

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

Expressing grave concern regarding armed conflict in the

North Caucasus region of the Russian Federation which

has resulted in civilian casualties and internally displaced

persons, and urging all sides to pursue dialog for peaceful resolution of the conflict.

Whereas during the Russo-Chechen War of 1994–1996, Russian Federation military forces used massive force

against civilians in Chechnya, causing immense human

casualties, gross human rights violations, large-scale displacement of individuals, and destruction of property;

Whereas Chechnya has been the site of internal lawlessness

and numerous kidnapings, including that of United
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States citizen Fred Cuny, whose exact fate is still unknown;

Whereas in recent months, extremist forces based in

Chechnya have mounted armed incursions into the adjacent Russian Federation Republic of Dagestan;

Whereas the United States recognizes the territorial integrity

of the Russian Federation;

Whereas Russian Federation armed forces have conducted

armed attacks against Chechnya and positioned forces

with the stated intention of sealing Chechnya’s borders

and creating a security zone in the region;

Whereas such attacks, including indiscriminate bombing and

strafing of civilians in Chechnya, have given rise to over

100,000 internally displaced persons, most of whom have

escaped into neighboring regions of Russia;

Whereas such indiscriminate attacks are a violation of paragraph 19 of the Code of Conduct on Politico-Military Aspects of Security, approved at the 1994 Summit of the

Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe,

held in Budapest, Hungary, which states that in the

event of armed conflict, participating States ‘‘will seek to

create conditions favorable to the political solution of the

conflict. They will cooperate in support of humanitarian

assistance to alleviate suffering among the civilian population, including facilitating the movement of personnel

and resources to such tasks’’, and paragraph 36, which

states, ‘‘If recourse to force cannot be avoided in performing internal security missions, each participating

State will ensure that its use must be commensurate with

the needs for enforcement. The armed forces will take

due care to avoid injury to civilians or their property.’’;
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Whereas the conflict in the North Caucasus may threaten

democratic development, the rule of law, and respect for

human rights throughout Russia;

Whereas almost 300 persons have died as a result of unsolved

terrorist bombings in Russia that coincided with the

armed incursions into Dagestan;

Whereas authorities in Moscow and other cities of the Russian Federation have used terrorist bombings as a pretext to intensify a campaign against individuals from the

North Caucasus region, including the detention and forcible expulsion of such individuals from these cities; and

Whereas in response to Russian attacks the elected Government of Chechnya has declared its solidarity with renegade Chechen forces in opposing Russian attacks: Now,

therefore, be it

1 Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate

2 concurring), That the Congress—

3 (1) urges the Government of the Russian Fed4 eration to cease the indiscriminate use of force

5 against the civilian population in Chechnya, in ac6 cordance with commitments of the Organization for

7 Security and Cooperation in Europe;

8 (2) urges the Government of the Russian Fed9 eration to enter into negotiations on the North

10 Caucasus conflict with legitimate political represent11 atives of the region, including President Maskhadov

12 and his Government, and to avail itself of the con13 flict prevention and crisis management capabilities
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1 of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in

2 Europe, which helped broker an end to the 1994–

3 1996 War;

4 (3) urges the Government of Chechnya to use

5 every appropriate means to deny extremist forces lo6 cated in its territory a base of operations for the

7 mounting of armed incursions that threaten peace

8 and stability in the North Caucasus region;

9 (4) cautions that forcible resettlement of inter10 nally displaced persons would evoke outrage from

11 the international community;

12 (5) urges that the Government of the Russian

13 Federation seek and accept international humani14 tarian assistance to alleviate the suffering of the in15 ternally displaced persons from Chechnya, so as to

16 reduce the risk of civilian casualties; and

17 (6) calls on the Government of the United

18 States to express to all parties the necessity of re19 solving the conflict peacefully, with full respect to

20 the human rights of all the citizens of the Russian

21 Federation, and to support the provision of appro22 priate international humanitarian assistance.

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