Chechnya - A joint statement by human rights groups 48 Fleet Street, Dublin 2, Ireland. Both parties to the conflict in Chechnya continue to commit serious violations of human rights and breaches of international humanitarian law. Russian forces are responsible for the overwhelming majority of physical harm and material damage suffered by civilians. They have found that these practices have not lessened since the early months of the war, but rather have become a routine part of Russian operations. Chechen forces violate civilian immunity chiefly by killing, injuring, or threatening civilians working with the Russian-installed administration in Chechnya.
Russian forces manning checkpoints throughout Chechnya routinely extort civilians for bribes.
Civilians fear these acts just as much as they feared the indiscriminate bombing and shelling that took thousands of lives in the early months of the war. Bombing and shelling continues in several districts, and landmines have killed and maimed countless civilians. Nongovernmental organizations and independent journalists face significant obstacles to gaining access to Chechnya and to carrying out their work there. Most of the territory has been utterly devastated, most civilians, including more than 100,000 persons displaced within Chechnya, are left to fend for themselves with no assistance from the Russian government. Chechen fighters violate humanitarian law by failing to protect civilian immunity during attacks on Russian positions, by attacking civilians who work in the local administration in Chechnya, and by ill-treating and summarily executing Russian soldiers they have captured.