European Parliament resolution on violations of human rights and humanitarian law in Chechnya
Date: 2000-03-16
Institutions: European Parliament
Subjects: Russia, freedom of the press, government violence, international human rights law, settlement of disputes, torture, war crime, war of independence

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Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

29.12.2000

Thursday 16 March 2000

Calls on the Peruvian authorities to take the appropriate measures to guarantee an open, fair and

2.
transparent electoral process;

3.
Urges the Peruvian authorities to guarantee maximum freedom of expression for all democratic pol-
itical forces, so that they may contest these elections under the same conditions and make use of free and
proportional slots in all areas of the media;

Regrets that Peru has recently withdrawn from the jurisdiction of the Inter-American Court for

4.
Human Rights and calls on the government to review that decision;

Stresses the absolute need for a clear separation between the judicial, executive and legislative func-

5.
tions, and urges the Government of Peru to refrain from any interference in the judicial system;

Calls on the authorities to ensure that the Self-Defence Committees refrain from interfering in rural

6.
areas throughout the electoral process;

7.
Calls on the government, political parties, organisations from civil society, the media, above all tele-
vision, and the Ombudsman to conduct a campaign explaining that voting takes place in secret and to take
all measures necessary to guarantee that secrecy;

Calls on the political parties to ensure, where possible, that their representatives and observers are

8.
present at all polling stations;

9.
Calls on the Commission to monitor the electoral process under the existing institutional framework,
with a view to ascertaining whether the elections abide by the basic aspects underpinning the Agreement
between the European Union and the Andean Pact in force since May 1998, to which Peru is a party;

10.
Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the President and
Government of the Republic of Peru, the Organisation of American States, the Andean Pact and the Latin
American Parliament.

12. Human rights: war crimes in Chechnya

B5-0245, 0256, 0261, 0265 and 0271/2000

European Parliament resolution on violations of human rights and humanitarian law in Chechnya

The European Parliament,

5 recalling its resolutions of 7 October 1999 on the war in Chechnya (1), 18 November 1999 on Che-
chyna (2), 20 January 2000 on the situation in Chechnya (3) and 17 February 2000 on the case of
Andrei Babitsky, freedom of the media and violations of human rights in Chechnya (4),

5 having regard to Recommendation 1444 (2000) of the Council of Europe on restoration of the rule of

law, respect for human rights and democracy in Chechnya,

5 recalling the results of the European Union’s Troika meeting with Foreign Affairs Minister Ivanov of

the Russian Federation on 4 March 2000,

A. deeply concerned about the continued armed conflict in Chechnya, resulting in an ever growing num-
ber of refugees and displaced persons, with Chechnya and the neighbouring regions totally lacking the
infrastructure necessary to receive them,

(1) Texts Adopted of that Sitting, Item 1.
(2) Texts Adopted of that Sitting, Item 15.
(3) Texts Adopted of that Sitting, Item 6.
(4) Texts Adopted of that Sitting, Item 16.

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B. worried about the increasing probability of a spill-over effect of the Chechen crisis to neighbouring
in particular to Georgia, as fighting between Russian and Chechen troops is

Caucasian countries,
approaching Georgian borders,

C.

alarmed by allegations, on the basis of testimonies taken by international non- governmental organisa-
tions, concerning serious violations of the European Convention on Human Rights and international
humanitarian law, such as arbitrary detention of civilians, torture, summary executions and looting,

D. deeply concerned about the inadequate efforts made by the Russian authorities to investigate continu-
ing reports of widespread violations of human rights and humanitarian law committed by Russian
forces in Chechnya and to prevent similar acts from being committed in the future,

E.

considering the recent declaration of the observer delegation of the Council of Europe after their visit
to Russia and Chechnya on the serious violations of human rights and war crimes committed by all
combatants,

F. worried by the fact that international monitors are currently denied permision to enter the region and
to investigate alleged human rights abuses, especially in so-called ‘filtration camps’, where there are
reports of torture and other forms of ill-treatment, in particular during interrogation,

G. deploring the fact that international humanitarian organisations are still unable to provide urgently

needed assistance, as they are denied full and unhindered access to the region,

H.

taking into account the denial of full and unhindered access to the region for journalists; concerned
about the charges brought against Radio Liberty reporter Andrei Babitsky, alleged to have been
involved with armed groups and facing a prison sentence of up to five years if found guilty,

I. welcoming acting President Putin’s commitment on 11 March 2000 to take steps to increase access to
the war zone for international organisations and Russia’s commitment during the visit of the Council
of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights to accept the deployment of a permanent international
monitoring mission in the region, although regretting that acting President Putin, did not, however,
give any ground on the issue of holding peace talks with the Chechen side,

1.

Reiterates its call for a rapid end to the war by political means;

Calls on the Russian authorities to carry out full investigations of allegations of executions, arbitrary
2.
detentions and torture in Chechnya by Russian troops, to make sure that those who are responsible for
ordering and carrying out human rights violations are brought to justice and to ensure that the right to life
and the right to physical and mental integrity of the Chechen people are protected; in this respect the
Russian authorities are urged to cooperate with the Council of Europe and the OSCE;

3.
Calls on the Council and the Member States to monitor closely the implementation of the agreement
reached between the Russian Federation and the Council of Europe and, if it is not complied with, calls on
the Council of Europe to consider further legal action;

4.
Calls on the Russian and Chechen authorities to take into account the report presented by Lord Judd,
head of a Council of Europe delegation, following his recent visit to Chechnya, and to allow the establish-
ment in Chechnya of a permanent presence of international human right monitors from the Council of
Europe and the OSCE who should be allowed to move freely, and welcomes as a first step in this direction
the agreement reached between Vladimir Kalamanov, Russia’s newly appointed human rights commis-
sioner on Chechnya, and Álvaro Gil-Robles, the Council of Europe’s human rights commissioner, on open-
ing a human rights office in Chechnya, staffed by 20 workers, including two envoys from the Council of
Europe;

5.
Urges that full access and appropriate conditions be ensured to enable international humanitarian
assistance to be delivered and that access to detainees and internally displaced persons be granted; consid-
ers as a positive sign the arrival in Grozny of a first ‘trial-run’ convoy of 10 trucks with food supplies from
the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR);

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6.
Calls upon the Russian authorities to grant the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights, the UN
Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions, and the UN Special Rapporteur on Children in Armed
Conflict permission to visit Chechnya and neighbouring provinces and to report to the next session of
the UN Commission on Human Rights;

7.
Calls on the Commission to undertake all preparations necessary for a prompt and efficient deploy-
ment of humanitarian aid in the region as soon as full access to humanitarian organisations is granted and
to keep the Parliament duly informed;

8.
Decides to create an ad hoc delegation of five members to visit the North Caucasus region, to discuss
with the Russian authorities and Chechen representatives all issues related to the current conflict as con-
tained in this and previous resolutions;

9. Welcomes the recent visit by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe to Chechnya and
invites the Parliamentary Assemblies of the Council of Europe and the OSCE to undertake, together with
the European Parliament, a troika initiative along the lines of the Belarus troika, in order to

(i)

contribute to the alleviation of the humanitarian crisis linked to the Chechen crisis;

(ii) make clear that our humanitarian standards are shared ones, to be respected by members of any of the

three organisations;

(iii) contribute to the clarification of allegations over war crimes committed in Chechnya;

10.
Recalls that only a political solution to the conflict and the urgent reconstruction of the destroyed
region, for which Russia is primarily responsible, can avoid a further escalation of the brutalities and con-
frontations;

11.
Calls on the Chechen authorities to take all measures in their power to locate and release all civilian
hostages kidnapped before and during the current conflict in Chechnya and to launch a special investiga-
tion into the case of Russian news agency ITAR-TASS photo journalist Vladimir Yatsina, kidnapped in
Ingushetia by a Chechen group on 19 July 1999 and missing since then;

12.
Urges the Russian authorities to ensure that Russian and international journalists in the region can
work without constraint, as well as to provide a full account of what happened to Russian journalist
Andrei Babitsky and why he has been forbidden to leave Russia and to attend a working group meeting
of the PPE-DE Group during the European Parliament’s March part-session in Strasbourg;

13.
Invites Mr Kalamanov, as Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation in charge
of Human Rights in Chechnya, and the respective representative of the Duma to report to Parliament’s
Committee on Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, Common Security and Defence Policy;

14.
Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the parliaments of
the Member States, the Council of Europe, the OSCE, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the
Russian State Duma and Federal Council, the Government of the Russian Federation and the Chechen
authorities.

13. Human rights: Freedom of the press in Serbia

B5-0257, 0266, 0273 and 0281/2000

European Parliament resolution on freedom of the press in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

The European Parliament,

5 having regard to its previous resolutions on the situation in Serbia, especially on restrictions to the

freedom of press,

5 having regard to the declaration of 3 March 2000 by the Council Presidency on the continued viola-

tion of the right to freedom of speech in Serbia and the recent case of Dušan Mihajlovic,