RESOLUTION OF THE ALL-RUSSIAN EXTRAORDINARY HUMAN RIGHTS æONGRESS (THE SO-CALLED "RESOLUTION ON CHECHNYA")

Moscow, January 21, 2001

In Chechen Republic the war is continuing. A cruel and lawless one. First and foremost peaceful civilians suffer from armed hostilities. The war has assumed a character of a punitive expedition.

Gross violations of human rights and norms of international law are being committed by both parties of the conflict. Nevertheless, the scales of victims among civilians and of material damage caused by actions of federal troops are incommensurably greater. Besides that, actions of federal forces are actions of the military and the police which are under command of the internationally recognized authorities of the Russian Federation, the state that having signed a series of international law documents, undertook to observe human rights. Therefore human rights violations committed by Russian federal forces are particularly grave and particularly cynical.

The federal forces execute the terror against peaceful civilians rather than wage a war against armed formations withstanding Russian federal power.

Murders, illegal detentions, tortures and cruel attitude towards detained and arrested people, plunders committed by the military and officers of the Ministry for Interior of the RF - all this is daily happening in the cities and villages of the Chechen Republic. The facts of disappearance of persons detained by representatives of federal forces have assumed a mass character.

The bodies of Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation, first of all of the Military Prosecutor's Office, sabotage the investigation of numerous grave crimes against peaceful civilians committed during current military campaign in Chechnya by the military and the officers of the Ministry for Interior of the Russian Federation.

All happening in Chechnya adversely affects all the aspects of life in our country, endangers the movement of Russia towards the state of rule of law. By displaying law nihilism in Chechnya the power accustoms itself and schools the society that it can go on violating Russian Constitution and law, justifying it by "highest state interests".

Officers of law-enforcement bodies sent to the Chechen Republic from many regions of Russia, commit there numerous crimes including grave crimes against personality. These people who gained in Chechnya experience of uncontrolled violence against peaceful civilians, coming back to the service in law-enforcement bodies in the cities and villages of Russia, represent a serious danger for the safety of citizens living there.

Tens of thousands of young people who performed the military service in Chechnya return to the peace life morally and psychologically mutilated. The rights of members of families of the perished soldiers are violated.

All this brings us to the conclusion that the continuing Chechen war has assumed a character not only of a genocide against the Chechen people but also of the all-national Russian disaster.

We, the participants of the All-Russian extraordinary human rights Congress, demand that the President of Russia V.V.Putin begin the negotiations without pre-conditions with the President of the Chechen Republic Ichkeria A.Maskhadov whose legitimacy was recognized by the international community and by Russian government itself. The object of these negotiations must become cease-fire and solution of a number of humanitarian problems (supply of the population, wounded, refugees, cease of tortures, violence, murders). Moreover, it is necessary that arising conflict situations be solved without the use of force.

The Congress considers necessary that the representatives of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) take part in these negotiations as mediators. Therefore the mandat of the group for assistance to the OSCE in the Chechen Republic should be correspondingly extended.

Fundamental differences of opinions concerning the status of Chechnya can be resolved only through referendum with the participation of all the citizens of the Chechen Republic including those who leaved its territory after 1991, and under observation of international organizations. Moreover, the rights of both adherents of the independence of Chechnya and supporters of the Chechen Republic remaining in the Russian Federation, to hold their opinions and propagandize them without using violence or calling to violence, should be fully observed. The unreserved priority of basic human rights and freedoms must become the condition of the legitimacy of the future Chechen power regardless of future status of Chechnya.

While the hostilities continue, we demand that the authorities of the Russian Federation and the Chechen Republic Ichkeria undertake necessary measures in order that the belligerent parties strictly observe the norms of humanitarian law. The authorities of the Russian Federation and the Chechen Republic Ichkeria must ensure an immediate investigation of war crimes committed in the zone of conflict and bring the culprits to justice.

We demand that the Russian government compensate material and moral damage to the victims of the Chechen war and give the status of forced migrant to the persons who leaved the Chechen Republic in the result of armed hostilities.

The Congress addresses to the Government of Russia demanding to ratify the Statute of the International Criminal Court.

We address to the deputies to the State Duma of the Russian Federation with the request to conduct an open sitting concerning the facts of disappearance of persons detained and arrested at the territory of the Chechen Republic by the representatives of the federal forces since 1991, including the chairman of the Parliament of the Chechen Republic Ichkeria Ruslan Alikhadzhiyev. We request also to examine at this hearing the question about the destiny of prisoners of war, disappeared and detained by force Russian and foreign citizens.

We demand to recognize invalid all the elections carried out in the Chechen Republic since autumn of 1999, the moment of the beginning of the second Chechen war.

We announce the launch of All-Russian campaign of the non-governmental organizations to achieve the satisfaction of the above-stated demands. The action should begin with the wide explanatory and elucidative work to inform various strata of society of our country about what is really happening today in Chechnya, about disastrous consequences of this war for the future of Russia.

We call all the structures of Russian civil society to join our campaign.

The Congress supports the initiative of a number of participants of the Congress to establish an anti-war human rights center to coordinate the activities of the civil society structures within the framework of the all-Russian anti-war movement. The Congress considers that it is important and very timely to conduct an anti-war conference of human rights, public, social and political organizations in the Northern Caucasus.

The Congress condemns the position of the Government of the Russian Federation in respect of the Resolution of the UN Commission on Human Rights of April 12, 2000 which Russian authorities didn't recognize and refused to implement.

The Congress asks the High UN Commissioner for Human Rights Ms. Mary Robinson to initiate the establishment of international independent Commission for investigation of violations of human rights and norms of humanitarian law in the Chechen Republic.