Anatomy of ambivalence the international community and human rights abuse in the north caucasus

Problems of Post-Communism

Volumn 53, Issue 6, 2006, Pages 3-15

  Mendelson, Sarah E ^a  

^a CENTER FOR STRATEGIC AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 33846299648     PISSN: 10758216     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2753/PPC1075-8216530601     Document Type: Review

References (68)

1. Sarah E. Mendelson, "Russians' Rights Imperiled: Has Anybody Noticed?" International Security 26, no. 4 (spring 2002), 39-69 (http://bcsia.ksg.harvard.edu/BCSIA_content/documents/mendelson_spring_2002.pdf) ; Theodore P. Gerber and Sarah E. Mendelson, "Les droits de l'homme et la guerre en Tchétchénie" (Human Rights and the War in Chechnya), Pouvoirs, Paris, no. 112 (2005): 79-92.
2. See, for example, Theodore P. Gerber and Sarah E. Mendelson, "Divided and Confused: Public Opinion on the War in Chechnya 2001 -2004," March 2005 (available from the authors on request to smendelson@csis.org).
3. Margaret E. Keck and Kathryn Sikkink, Activists Beyond Borders: Advocacy Networks in International Politics (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1998);
4. Thomas Risse, Stephen C. Ropp, and Kathryn Sikkink, ed., The Power of Human Rights: International Norms and Domestic Change (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999).
5. For another case study exploring the tendency to overlook the security implications of human rights abuse, see Sarah E. Mendelson, Barracks and Brothels: Peacekeepers and Human Trafficking in the Balkans (Washington, DC: Center for Strategic and International Studies, 2005).
6. For a discussion on violations of international law in Chechnya, see Matthew Evangelista, The Chechen Wars (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2002).
7. "Asylum Levels and Trends in Industrialized Countries, 2004," United Nations Commission on Human Rights, March 1, 2005. p. 6 (www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/statistics/opendoc.pdf?tbl=STATISTICS&id= 422439144/). In 2005, it was the second-largest group; see the year's report at www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/events/opendoc.pdf?tbl=STATISTICS&id= 44153f592/.
8. On file with the author and available at www.memo.ru.
9. E-mail correspondence with Memorial office, Nazran, June 23 and June 24, 2004.
10. Human Rights Watch, "Worse Than a War: 'Disappearances' in Chechnya-A Crime Against Humanity," March 2005 (http://hrw.org/ backgrounder/eca/chechnya0305/chechnya0305.pdf). For numerous other HRW reports on Chechnya, see www.hrw.org/campaigns/russia/.
11. C.J. Chivers, "In Chechen's Humiliation, Questions on Rule of Law," New York Times (August 30, 2006) (www.nytimes.com/2006/08/30/ world/europe/30chechnya.html?ei=5088&en=a381ae015710fb2d&ex= 1314590400&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&pagewanted=all/).
12. On activists being targeted, see press releases at www.friendly.narod.ru/ 2001/index.htm for descriptions of killings by federal forces in December 2001 of several grantees of the (U.S.) National Endowment for Democracy. See also Steven Lee Myers, "Russia Hounds Human Rights Group That Gets U.S. Help," New York Times (September 18, 2005).
13. The event took place in fall 1999 (author telephone interview with Halo Trust employee, May 31, 2000).
14. Stephen Eke, "Official Confirms Chechen Horror," BBC News (June 16, 2005) (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4101168.stm).
15. For a detailed chart compiled by CSIS staff that includes dates, places, numbers killed and wounded, citations, and which organizations were responsible, contact the author. Events captured in the chart include exploded or unexploded bombs, attacks on convoys, shootings at police, and hostage taking. For a detailed analysis of counterinsurgency tactics and terrorist attacks, see Mark Kramer, "The Perils of Counterinsurgency: Russia's War in Chechnya," International Security 29, no. 3 (winter 2004/2005): 5-63 (http://bcsia.ksg.harvard.edu/BCSIA_content/documents/Kramer.pdf).
16. Nurdi Nukhazhiyev, quoted in Eke, "Official Confirms Chechen Horror."
17. Author interview, Human Rights Activist A, Washington, DC, July 19, 2005.
18. "Russian President Putin's Phone-in Highlights," RTR Russia TV, Moscow, in Russian, 0800 GMT, 27 September 2005, translated in BBC Monitoring; Introductory Remarks at Meeting with the Leaders of the Regions in the Southern Federal District, September 23, 2005. An article on the leaked report appeared June 16, 2005, in Moskovsky Komsomolets (www.mk.ru/newshop/bask.asp? artid=110036/).
19. Human Rights Activist A interview.
20. Author interview, senior U.S. diplomat, Washington, DC, September 8, 2005.
21. Author telephone interview, European Commission official, June 29, 2005.
22. Author telephone interview, Human Rights Researcher A, September 14, 2005.
23. Author telephone interview, Human Rights Researcher B, September 15, 2005.
24. Author interview, former State Department official, Washington, DC, July 13, 2005.
25. Ibid.
26. Ibid.
27. Senior U.S. diplomat interview.
28. Ibid.
29. Author telephone interview, senior European official A, June 28, 2005.
30. Senior U.S. diplomat interview. Ramzan Kadyrov was awarded the Hero of Russia medal by Putin on December 30, 2004. See www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/ 2004/12/30/015.html.
31. Quotation from Human Rights Researcher A interview. This view was also expressed in author interview, Human Rights Activist A, Washington, DC, July 19, 2005; author telephone interview, Human Rights Researcher B, September 15, 2005.
32. Human Rights Researcher B interview.
33. Author telephone interview, British government official, July 12, 2005.
34. Human Rights Researcher B interview.
35. Ibid.
36. Author telephone interview, Ambassador to OSCE Tim Guldimann, former head of the OSCE assistance group to Chechnya, June 29, 2005.
37. Human Rights Researcher A interview.
38. Human Rights Activist B interview.
39. Ibid.
40. http://hrw.org/wr2k2/europe16.html.
41. Author telephone interview, Lord Frank Judd, September 7, 2005. See also Frank Judd, "Afterword," in Chechnya: From Past to Future, ed. Richard Sakwa (London: Anthem Press, 2005), pp. 289-93.
42. "Report by Mr. Alvaro Gil-Robles, Commissioner for Human Rights, On His Visit to the Russian Federation, 15-30 July 2004 and 19-29 September 2004," Strasbourg, April 20, 2005 (www.coe.int/T/E/Commissioner_H.R/ Communication_Unit/Documents/pdf.CommDH%282005%/).
43. Author telephone interview, adviser to the COE Human Rights commissioner, July 13, 2005.
44. Author telephone interview, European diplomat, June 29, 2005.
45. Adviser to the CoE Human Rights commissioner interview.
46. Author interviews in Moscow with Memorial and HRW, February 2002. On Order 80, see http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGEUR460482003?open&of= ENG-384/.
47. Human Rights Researcher A interview.
48. See "Report by Mr. Alvaro Gil-Robles," p. 70; adviser to the COE Human Rights commissioner interview.
49. Human Rights Researcher A telephone interview.
50. Ibid.
51. Adviser to the CoE Human Rights commissioner interview.
52. There is quite a bit of independent information on the region available on the Internet. See, for example, Caucasian Knot (http://kavkaz.memo.ru) and reports by the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (www.iwpr.nety?p= crs&s=p&o=-&apc_state=henh/).
53. European Commission official interview.
54. Author's interview by telephone, British Government Official, July 12, 2005.
55. Human Rights Watch, "Worse Than a War," p. 2.
56. Author interview, former State Department official, Washington DC, July 13, 2005.
57. Author interview, senior U.S. diplomat, September 8, 2005, Washington, DC.
58. Author telephone interview, British government official, July 12, 2005.
59. Author telephone interview, European Commission official, June 29, 2005.
60. Author telephone interview, senior European official A, June 28, 2005.
61. Author telephone interview, adviser to the CoE Human Rights commissioner, July 13, 2005.
62. See also William D. Jackson, "Russia and the Council of Europe: The Perils of Premature Admission," Problems of Post-Communism 51, no. 5 (September/October 2004): 30, on the feasibility but failure of COE member states to lodge an interstate complaint with the ECHR regarding Russia's conduct in Chechnya.
63. British government official interview.
64. European diplomat interview.
65. Author telephone interview, senior European official A, June 28, 2005.
66. Lord Judd interview.
67. Ambassador Guldimann interview.
68. Some of the recommendations listed here overlap with those produced at the meeting, but others do not. The views expressed here are, needless to say, the author's alone. A full list of the recommendations from the Berlin 2005 and 2006 meetings is available upon request.