III
106TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. CON. RES. 206
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
NOVEMBER 17, 1999
Received
NOVEMBER 19, 1999
Referred to the Committeeon Foreign 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 peace-
ful resolution of the conflict.
Whereas during the Russo-Chechen War of 1994–1996, Rus-
sian Federation military forces used massive force
against civilians in Chechnya, causing immense human
casualties, gross human rights violations, large-scale dis-
placement 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 un-
known;
Whereas in recent months, extremist forces based in
Chechnya have mounted armed incursions into the adja-
cent Russian Federation Republic of Dagestan and at-
tempted to establish a political entity therein against the
wishes of the majority of the population of Dagestan;
Whereas almost 300 persons have died as a result of unsolved
terrorist bombings in Russia that coincided with the
armed incursions into Dagestan and Russian authorities
have attributed the terrorist bombings to Chechen insur-
gents;
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 and indiscriminate and dispropor-
tionate use of force have harmed innocent civilians and
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 para-
graph 19 of the Code of Conduct on Politico-Military As-
pects 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
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assistance to alleviate suffering among the civilian popu-
lation, including facilitating the movement of personnel
and resources to such tasks’’, and paragraph 36, which
states, ‘‘If recourse to force cannot be avoided in per-
forming 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.’’;
Whereas the conflict in the North Caucasus may threaten
democratic development, the rule of law, and respect for
human rights throughout Russia;
Whereas authorities in Moscow and other cities of the Rus-
sian Federation have used terrorist bombings as a pre-
text to intensify a campaign against individuals from the
North Caucasus region, including the detention and forc-
ible expulsion of such individuals from these cities; and
Whereas in response to Russian attacks the elected Govern-
ment of Chechnya has declared its solidarity with rene-
gade Chechen forces in opposing Russian attacks: Now,
therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate
concurring), That the Congress—
(1) urges the Government of the Russian Fed-
eration and all parties to cease the indiscriminate
use of force against the civilian population in
Chechnya, in accordance with commitments of the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Eu-
rope;
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(2) urges all parties, including the Government
of the Russian Federation, to enter into negotiations
on the North Caucasus conflict with legitimate polit-
ical representatives of the region, including Presi-
dent Maskhadov and his Government, and to avail
itself of the conflict prevention and crisis manage-
ment capabilities of the Organization for Security
and Cooperation in Europe, which helped broker an
end to the 1994–1996 War;
(3) urges the Chechen authorities to use every
appropriate means to deny extremist forces located
in its territory a base of operations for the mounting
of armed incursions that threaten peace and stability
in the North Caucasus region;
(4) urges the Chechen authorities to create a
rule of law environment with legal norms based upon
internationally accepted standards;
(5) cautions that forcible resettlement of inter-
nally displaced persons would evoke outrage from
the international community;
(6) urges that the Government of the Russian
Federation seek and accept international humani-
tarian assistance to alleviate the suffering of the in-
ternally displaced persons from Chechnya, so as to
reduce the risk of civilian casualties; and
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(7) calls on the Government of the United
States to express to all parties the necessity of re-
solving the conflict peacefully, with full respect to
the human rights of all the citizens of the Russian
Federation, and to support the provision of appro-
priate international humanitarian assistance.
Passed the House of Representatives November 16,
1999.
Attest:
JEFF TRANDAHL,
Clerk.