European Parliament resolution on Chechnya after the elections and civil society in Russia
Date: 2006-01-19
Institutions: European Parliament
Subjects: Russia, human rights, non-governmental organisation, parliamentary election, peacekeeping, terrorism

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P6_TA(2006)0026

Chechnya after the elections and civil society in Russia

European Parliament resolution on Chechnya after the elections and civil society in Russia

The European Parliament,

— having regard to the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (1) between the European Communities
and their Member States, of the one part, and the Russian Federation, of the other part, which entered
into force on 1 December 1997,

— having regard to the objective of the EU and Russia to implement the four ‘common spaces’ agreed at

the EU-Russia Summit on 10 May 2005,

— having regard to its resolution of 26 May 2005 on EU-Russia relations (2),

— having regard to its resolution of 15 December 2005 on human rights in Russia and the new NGO

legislation (3),

— having regard to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Free-

doms and its five Protocols,

— having regard to the many credible reports by Russian and international NGOs on the continuing grave
violations of human rights in Chechnya and the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights in
cases relating to Chechnya,

— having regard to Rule 103(4) of its Rules of Procedure,

A. whereas, on 29 November 2005, the UK Presidency ‘welcomed’ the parliamentary elections which took
place in the Russian republic of Chechnya on 27 November 2005, considering these elections ‘an
important step towards broader representation of a range of views in Chechen society’,

B. whereas the Commission called it ‘encouraging’ that these parliamentary elections — the first in
Chechnya for eight years — ‘took place without any major violence’, but declined to comment on the
fairness of the vote,

C. whereas human rights activists, in an open letter to the European Union signed by the Russian human
rights group Memorial, the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights, the Russian-Chechen
Friendship Society and others, including the Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights,
accused the EU of whitewashing reality by giving an optimistic assessment of the election, underlining
that ‘this statement not only contradicts the evidence assembled by the Russian and international
human rights community … but also calls the EU's commitment to human rights, democracy and the
rule of law into question’,

(1) OJ L 327, 28.11.1997, p. 3.
(2) Texts Adopted, P6_TA(2005)0207.
(3) Texts Adopted, P6_TA(2005)0534.

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D. pointing out that the official figure of a 57 % turnout at the election has been questioned by Memorial,
which claims that participation was much lower and that the voting was marred by widespread fraud
and acts of intimidation,

Thursday, 19 January 2006

E. whereas serious human rights violations in the form of murder, enforced disappearance, torture,
hostage-taking and arbitrary detention, are still occurring in the Chechen Republic and, in some cases,
in neighbouring regions of the Northern Caucasus,

F. whereas the Russian Government has transferred many of its responsibilities for counter-terrorist
operations from federal Russian authorities to the local authorities, trying to turn a decade-long conflict
between Russia and Chechnya into an internal Chechen one which, according to a recent joint report
by the Helsinki Federation, the International Federation for Human Rights, the Norwegian Helsinki
Committee and Memorial, has ‘resulted in the brutalisation of the warring sides and pervasive fear and
insecurity for the civilians’,

G. whereas a growing number of the kidnappings, instances of torture and arbitrary killings in Chechnya

in the past two years are being attributed to Chechen paramilitary forces,

H. whereas many of the abuses and human rights violations in Chechnya remain largely unpunished,
creating a climate of impunity which is spreading beyond the Chechen and Ingush republics into other
regions of the Northern Caucasus, including North Ossetia and, more recently, Kabardino-Balkaria,

I. whereas in recent years democracy has been continuing to deteriorate substantially in Russia, in par-
ticular owing to increasing government control over major TV and radio stations, the spread of self-
censorship among the print media, the closure of independent media, restrictions on the right to orga-
nise public demonstrations, a worsening climate for NGOs, involving cases of harassment of human
rights activists, and increased political control of the judiciary,

J. stressing that so far the EU-Russia human rights consultation has not brought about any substantial

progress in this field, which should be a priority in EU-Russia relations,

K. whereas on 20 December 2005 the European Court of Human Rights ruled that a complaint about the
disappearance of Ruslan Alikhajiyev, a former parliamentary speaker of the fairly elected parliament of
the self-proclaimed Chechen republic of Ichkeria, was admissible; whereas an investigation instigated
by the Chechen prosecutor's office has yielded no results; and whereas the Russian Government
declined to pass on the criminal case materials to the European Court of Human Rights,

L. whereas on 13 December 2005 the Commission allocated 6 000 000 Euro in aid for the victims of the
ongoing crisis in the Northern Caucasus, a decision which will bring the EU's total assistance to the
region for 2005 to 26 300 000 Euro, making this programme the EU's fifth biggest humanitarian
operation worldwide and the EU the largest donor in the region,

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M. whereas on 23 and 27 December 2005 the slightly revised bill restricting the activities of NGOs in
Russia was approved by both chambers of parliament and now needs only the signature of President
Putin to become law,

N. whereas in a letter sent to the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, on 28 December 2005 NGOs,
including Memorial, the Moscow Helsinki Group and For Civil Rights, stressed that a whole range of
aspects of the bill continues to contradict international law, the Russian Constitution, the Russian Civil
Code and a series of Russian laws,

O. whereas freedom of association is a fundamental human right and of great importance in a democratic

society,

P. deeply worried by the increase in racially motivated violence in Russia,

Q. whereas the trial of Stanislav Dmitriyevsky, who has been accused of having published in his news-
paper Aslan Mashkadov's appeal for peace in Chechnya and consequently faces five years' imprison-
ment, resumed on 18 January 2006,

1. Reiterates its strong condemnation of all acts of terrorism throughout the Russian Federation, for
which there can be no justification;

2. Remains deeply concerned that the Council and Commission have failed to address the ongoing
serious human rights violations in the Chechen Republic despite the fact that those violations are still
occurring on a large scale on both sides of the conflict and in a climate of almost complete impunity;

3. Urges the Council and Commission to confront their responsibilities in the face of the most serious
human rights issues in the immediate neighbourhood of the European Union;

4. Urges the Council and Commission to take an active role in preventing further human rights viola-
tions and in overcoming the climate of impunity in the Chechen Republic and to insist vis-à-vis the
Russian authorities that the necessary measures are taken to ensure that the rights guaranteed by the Euro-
pean Convention on Human Rights, to which Russia is a signatory, are fully respected in the Chechen
Republic and that all those who violate those rights are brought to justice without further delay and regard-
less of their position or nationality;

5. Regrets the fact that during the preparation and conduct of the parliamentary elections in Chechnya
an opportunity for a truly political and democratic process involving all sections of Chechen society was
missed;

6. Reaffirms its full support for the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation, but points out that
there cannot be a military solution to the conflict in Chechnya and calls for the start of a real peace
process geared to bringing about a negotiated political settlement which is based on dialogue between all
the democratic components of Chechen society;

7. Calls on the Russian authorities to put an end to the present state of impunity by disbanding paramili-
tary groups, reining in the activities of the security forces and bringing the army under full civilian control;

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8. Calls on the Council and the Member States to consistently raise the issue of Chechnya at their poli-
tical meetings, in the human rights dialogue and at other meetings with the Russian Federation in order to
ensure that this area does not escape international attention and concern;

Thursday, 19 January 2006

9. Calls for the stepping-up of the EU-Russia human rights consultation so as to make it more effective,
open to NGOs, when appropriate, and result-oriented with a view to strengthening this element in the new
Partnership and Cooperation Agreement due to be negotiated in the near future;

10. Calls on the Council and the Presidency-in-Office to make further efforts to assist Russia in finding a
peaceful solution to the conflict — including an offer of EU mediation; stresses that the EU must speak
with one voice and stick to agreed CFSP positions on Russia;

11. Calls on the Russian State Duma to set up a committee of inquiry to investigate the failure of law
enforcement agencies in the Chechen Republic to bring to account the perpetrators of serious human
rights violations as documented by many human rights groups; recalls that so far only a few cases have
been brought to trial and that most have been suspended, transferred or dismissed;

Stresses that special emphasis must be placed on investigations into crimes against human rights acti-
12.
vists, lawyers, prosecutors, judges and applicants to the European Court of Human Rights and their family
members;

13. Calls in this context on the Russian authorities to reopen the investigations into and criminal cases
against Major-General Vladimir Shamanov and Major-General Yakov Nedobitko, who should both be
prosecuted and suspended from their duties during the investigation, since they were held responsible by
the Strasbourg Court for the indiscriminate bombing of Chechen civilians in Katyr-Jurt in February 2000;

14. Calls on the Member States to promote, in conformity with international law and on the basis of
existing precedents, and with Russian consent, the setting-up of a mixed ad hoc international tribunal for
Chechnya to try perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the Chechen
Republic if the climate of impunity continues to prevail;

15. Calls on the Russian authorities to revise the 1998 Law on Terrorism in order to comply with
Council of Europe standards, particularly in respect of the powers and responsibilities of persons who
conduct counter-terrorist measures;

16. Urges the Commission to investigate whether the humanitarian aid it has provided for the Northern
Caucasus region has in fact reached the people in need and to assess the effectiveness of this aid;

17.
Is concerned about reports of administrative and judicial harassment of some NGOs active in
Chechnya, which seems to be part of a more general process threatening freedom of expression and of
association in the Russian Federation, and urges the Russian authorities to put an end to this harassment;

Stresses that both the democratic process and the fight against impunity in the Chechen Republic
18.
will benefit from the work of strong and independent human rights organisations, and calls on Russia to
grant independent media, international and domestic humanitarian organisations and human rights moni-
tors full access to Chechnya and to assist as far as possible in securing them safe working conditions;

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19. Calls for the dropping of all charges against Stanislav Dmitriyevsky and calls on the Russian authori-
ties to respect the freedom of the media and journalists;

20. Regrets that the bill strengthening government control over NGOs in Russia was passed easily in
both houses of parliament and failed to take fully into account the recommendations made by the Council
of Europe in its provisional opinion on the matter; hopes that President Putin, before signing the bill into
law, can still ensure that it is fully in line with the Council of Europe's recommendations and clearly
designed to prevent harassment of NGO activists in Russia;

21. Calls, in this regard, on the Council and Commission to make every effort to support the develop-
ment and consolidation of a strong, lively, independent and genuine civil society in Russia as a funda-
mental and indispensable element of a functioning democracy;

22.
Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the governments
and parliaments of the Member States, the Government and Parliament of the Russian Federation and the
Council of Europe.

P6_TA(2006)0027

Structure, subjects and context for an assessment of the debate on the European
Union

European Parliament resolution on the period of reflection: the structure, subjects and context for
an assessment of the debate on the European Union (2005/2146(INI))

The European Parliament,

— having regard to the Treaty of Nice,

— having regard to the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe,

— having regard to its resolution of 12 January 2005 on the Treaty establishing a Constitution for

Europe (1),

— having regard to the Declaration of 18 June 2005 by the Heads of State or Government on the ratifica-
tion of the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe, at the conclusion of the European Council of
16 and 17 June 2005,

— having regard to the Treaty concerning the Accession of the Republic of Bulgaria and Romania to the

European Union,

— having regard to the opinions on the period of reflection delivered by the Committee of the Regions on
13 October 2005 (2) and the European Economic and Social Committee on 26 October 2005 (3) at the
request of the Parliament (4),

— having regard to the conclusions of the European Council of 15 and 16 December 2005,

(1) OJ C 247E, 6.10.2005, p. 88.
(2) CdR 250/2005 fin, not yet published in the Official Journal.
(3) CESE 1249/2005, not yet published in the Official Journal.
(4) Items 9.1 and 9.2, P6_PV(2005)09-06.