Collection of written amendments (Final version)
- Doc. 14083
- Human rights in the North Caucasus: what follow-up to Resolution 1738 (2010)?
Compendium index
Amendment 8Amendment 9Amendment 10Amendment 11Amendment 12Amendment 13Amendment 14Amendment 15Amendment 16Amendment 1Amendment 33Amendment 17Amendment 18Amendment 19Amendment 20Amendment 22Amendment 21Amendment 23Amendment 2Amendment 24Amendment 5Amendment 3Amendment 4Amendment 6Amendment 25Amendment 27Amendment 26Amendment 28Amendment 29Amendment 7Amendment 30Amendment 31Amendment 32
- Legende:
- In favor
- Against
- No votes
- Withdrawn
Draft resolution
1The Parliamentary Assembly recalls its Resolution 1738 (2010) on legal remedies for human rights violations in the North Caucasus region and its Resolution 1479 (2006) “Human rights violations in the Chechen Republic: the Committee of Ministers’ responsibility vis-à-vis the Assembly’s concern”, in which it deplored systematic human rights violations and the climate of impunity prevailing in the region.
2The Assembly reiterates its firm condemnation of all acts of terrorism and expresses its compassion and solidarity for the families of all victims of violence in this troubled region.
3The Assembly notes with regret that the specific recommendations addressed to the competent Russian authorities in Resolution 1738 (2010), which was adopted unanimously with the full support of the Russian delegation, have remained largely unimplemented. In particular:
3.1non-violent, dialogue-based methods of conflict resolution such as the work of the “rehabilitation commissions” have been largely abandoned (as in Dagestan) or never seriously attempted (as in the Chechen Republic); by contrast, the Ingushetian authorities deserve praise for continuing their attempts at rehabilitating militants who wish to return to civilian life. Dialogue with Muslim groups such as the Salafi community has been replaced by harassment and intimidation, in particular in the Chechen Republic and Dagestan;
3.2co-operation with civil society and with lawyers has remained very limited. In the Chechen Republic, but also in Dagestan, human rights groups, such as the Assembly’s 2011 Human Rights Prize laureate “Nizhniy Novgorod Committee against Torture”, the Human Rights Centre “Memorial” and “MASHR” and their leaders and staff members have been subjected to mob violence, arson, physical attacks and intimidation. Lawyers defending victims of human rights violations have themselves become targets of aggression, intimidation and trumped-up criminal charges in reprisal for their work;
3.3members of the security forces and law-enforcement bodies still resort to illegal means such as abductions and secret detentions, extrajudicial killings and torture, and they continue to enjoy almost complete impunity. Almost all the crimes against the persons to whom the Assembly paid tribute in Resolution 1738 (2010) are still unpunished;
3.4the implementation of the 225 judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (“the Court”) in the cases belonging to the “Khashiyev group”, involving the most serious human rights violations by members of the security forces and the failure of the competent authorities to investigate such cases, remains highly unsatisfactory, despite the application by the Committee of Ministers of the enhanced supervision procedure. In particular:
3.4.1the “special investigative units” created especially to examine those cases in which the Court found failures to investigate have produced few results;
3.4.2a “single and high-level body” mandated to search for missing persons as well as ensure the allocation of the necessary resources required for large-scale forensic and scientific work within a centralised and independent mechanism, as recommended by the Court itself, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the Parliamentary Assembly and the Committee of Ministers has still not yet been set up, nor has the Chechen Republic been equipped with a forensic laboratory capable of carrying out DNA testing;
3.4.3the authorities are increasingly relying on limitation periods and amnesties to guarantee impunity to even the small number of perpetrators of human rights violations who have been identified, despite the Assembly’s and the Committee of Ministers’ exhortations to the contrary;
3.5in the Chechen Republic, the authorities continue to nurture a climate of pervading fear in an atmosphere of personalisation of power. The Head of the Republic has made public threats against political opponents, human rights activists and their families, even in other parts of the Russian Federation and beyond;
3.6the deterioration of the situation of women and girls in the Chechen Republic through the rigid enforcement of religious norms has continued. The Head of the Chechen Republic actively promotes the application of rules based on Chechen customary laws, adats, and interpretations of Sharia that discriminate against women and girls in family law matters, in violation of Russian law. Domestic violence and purportedly “traditional” practices harmful to women and girls, such as arranged and early marriages, and even so-called honour killings, are widespread and tolerated by the regional authorities.
4The Assembly thus observes that the situation in the North Caucasus region with regard to safeguarding human rights and upholding the rule of law still remains one of the most serious in the entire geographical area covered by the Council of Europe.
5The Assembly considers that systematic human rights violations and the impunity of their perpetrators are bound to foster the further rise of extremist movements. Endemic brutality of the security forces and a lack of justice provide fertile ground for radicalisation and weaken support for the authorities among the population at large and the readiness among militants for co-operation with the justice system in dismantling terrorist networks.
6The Assembly welcomes the creation, by a consortium of highly respected human rights organisations led by the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, of the Natalya Estemirova Documentation Centre in Oslo, as a positive response by civil society to the Assembly’s call in Recommendation 1922 (2010) on legal remedies for human rights violations in the North Caucasus region for the creation of a record-keeping system for witness statements, documents and evidence substantiating human rights violations committed in the region.
7The Assembly therefore reiterates its call on the Russian authorities to:
7.1combat terrorism with the instruments at the disposal of a State based on the rule of law, by investigating and prosecuting terrorist crimes whilst also identifying and remedying the causes underlying the ongoing radicalisation and growing religious extremism, through intercultural and interreligious dialogue;
7.2end the climate of impunity by identifying and holding to account, in accordance with the law, all perpetrators of human rights violations, including members of the security forces;
7.3follow the example of, and seek co-operation with, other countries which have to contend with terrorism, especially with regard to the implementation of strategies to promote the co-operation of suspects with the justice system in dismantling terrorist organisations, but also criminal networks within the security forces;
7.4co-operate closely with civil society, and in particular with human rights defenders, and protect the staff of these non-governmental organisations effectively against reprisals;
7.5intensify co-operation with the Committee of Ministers in the implementation of the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights, in particular the implementation of:
7.5.1individual measures aimed at clearing up those cases of abduction, murder and torture in which the Court had found a lack of proper investigations, including measures to prevent limitation periods and amnesties from providing impunity for the perpetrators of such crimes;
7.5.2general measures aimed at creating the conditions for adequate investigations, such as the creation of a “single and high-level body” mandated with and equipped for the search for missing persons (paragraph 3.4.2 above);
7.6request systematically, and as early as possible, the publication of the reports of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) concerning the North Caucasus region and intensify its co-operation with the CPT, with a view to eradicating the use of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment in this region.
8The Assembly reiterates its call on all other Council of Europe member and observer States to:
8.1co-operate with the Russian authorities in the fight against terrorism, whilst insisting on full compliance with the European Convention on Human Rights (ETS No. 5) as interpreted by the Court;
8.2provide adequate protection to refugees from the North Caucasus region and deal with any requests concerning their extradition with special care and caution.
9The Assembly invites its Committee on the Honouring of Obligations and Commitments by Member States of the Council of Europe (Monitoring Committee) to continue paying particular attention to the human rights situation in the North Caucasus region, especially in the Chechen Republic. It pays tribute to the CPT for its action in the region and invites the CPT and the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights to maintain and intensify their commitment.
Draft recommendation
1The Parliamentary Assembly refers to its Resolution ... (2016) “Human rights in the North Caucasus: what follow-up to Resolution 1738 (2010)?” and stresses that it still considers the situation in the North Caucasus region with regard to safeguarding human rights and upholding the rule of law as one of the most serious and most delicate in the geographical area covered by the Council of Europe.
2The Assembly therefore urges the Committee of Ministers to continue paying the utmost attention to the development of the human rights situation in the North Caucasus region, in particular in the Chechen Republic, including by availing itself of the possibility to monitor the state of democracy, human rights and the rule of law in the North Caucasus under the Declaration of the Committee of Ministers of 10 November 1994 on compliance with commitments accepted by member States of the Council of Europe.
3Regarding the implementation of the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights concerning the North Caucasus region, the Assembly commends the Committee of Ministers for placing these cases under enhanced supervision and encourages it to continue insisting on individual and general measures to end the climate of impunity, and in particular to continue resisting the Russian authorities’ attempts to make use of statutes of limitation and amnesty laws to cement the impunity of the perpetrators of even the most egregious human rights violations.