The deteriorating climate for human rights in Russia demands a strong European Union response at tomorrow’s EU-Russia summit, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch called on the European Union to press Moscow to repeal invasive restrictions imposed on nongovernmental organizations and end torture and forced disappearances in Chechnya.
“The EU must waste no more time in pressing Russia to reverse the decline in respect for human rights,” said Holly Cartner, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “For too long, the EU has put energy security above human rights in Russia, but it is not a zero-sum game. A strong EU human rights policy towards Russia will not make Moscow turn off the gas to Europe.”
President Vladmir Putin warned the EU in an article published on Wednesday that talks should not “deteriorate into an exchange of complaints.” In the Financial Times article, he implicitly referred to human rights as “artificial standards” that should not be forced on either party.
Requiring Russia to abide by fundamental human rights cannot be categorized as a “complaint,” Human Rights Watch said. The EU has an obligation to ensure that engagement with Russia takes place on the basis of the “common values” Putin cites in the article.
“Respect for human rights and the rule of law should be an integral part of the EU’s relationship with Russia and should not be held hostage to energy policy,” Cartner said.
For years, the EU has shown reluctance to pursue a robust human rights policy in Russia, despite the deteriorating situation. Since Putin came to office in 1999, the Kremlin has systematically silenced or restricted nearly every independent institution that provides a check on executive authority, including the media, parliament, local governments and judiciary. This year, a new law on nongovernmental organizations and changes to the law on “extremism” pose grave threats to Russia’s vibrant civil society.
“The EU’s silence over the Kremlin’s rollback on democracy and human rights has not even secured its energy supplies,” Cartner said. “In fact the EU’s passivity may have emboldened the Kremlin because its bullying tactics are met with silence from the EU.”
In recent years, the EU has held human rights “consultations” with Russia in advance of summits, but has avoided raising human rights at high-level meetings.
At Friday’s summit, EU leaders should make known their serious concern about the human rights climate in Russia and urge Russia to take immediate steps to remedy urgent problems, such as the crackdown on civil society and impunity for grave and systematic abuses in Chechnya.
Background
The law on nongovernmental organizations
The working environment for civil society, one of the last sources of independent voices in Russia, has worsened significantly in the past two years. Nongovernmental organizations, their staff and civil society activists have been subject to burdensome administrative proceedings, taxation, government interference, arbitrary criminal proceedings and, in some cases, threats and physical attacks.
In January, Putin signed a new law on nongovernmental organizations that grants state officials the power to exercise excessive interference in the work of such groups. The law allows state officials to conduct intrusive inspections of a nongovernmental organization and demand access to any documentation without any judicial or other independent oversight. It imposes further onerous reporting requirements for such organizations, especially relating to any foreign sources of funding, and requires them to grant access to government officials to all events.
The law required foreign nongovernmental organizations to re-register by mid-October. Hundreds of groups did not meet the deadline, often due to technical and bureaucratic obstacles put in the way by authorities, and were forced to suspend their activities for days or weeks. Further, it requires foreign groups to submit in advance detailed work plans for the coming year and gives the government the right to ban or prohibit any program or activity that registration officials feel conflicts with Russia’s national interests.
EU officials should voice strong concerns about the law itself, as well as its implementation. They should press the Russian government to take concrete steps to bring the law in line with Russia’s European and international commitments to protect civil society through assuring the rights to freedom of association and privacy.
Human Rights Watch has repeatedly called on the EU to urge Russia to annul the articles of the new law that allow for excessive interference with the work of nongovernmental organizations, such as those granting officials the right to order inspections, the right to be present at events and the requirement for international groups to notify the government of their plans in advance.
Chechnya
Serious human rights abuses continue in Chechnya. New research by Human Rights Watch (https://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2006/11/13/russia14557.htm) found that torture by forces under the command of Chechen Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov and the Ministry of Internal Affairs special investigative bureau is widespread and systematic. Those detained by Kadyrov’s forces are often held in secret detention places, a fact denied by Russian authorities. Enforced disappearances continue to be a hallmark abuse of the conflict, with human rights groups estimating that between 3,000 and 5,000 people “disappeared” since the conflict began in 1999, with Kadyrov’s forces overwhelmingly responsible for the enforced disappearances.
Russia has completely failed to ensure accountability for any of the abuses in Chechnya. Complete impunity for torture and disappearances reigns. The Kremlin has not only failed to limit Kadyrov or call him to account, but also has openly supported him and even awarded him the Hero of Russia award.
In the lead-up to last month’s EU-Russia human rights consultations, Human Rights Watch urged the EU to press Russia to implement a meaningful accountability process and take immediate steps to end the ongoing abuses. Specifically, EU officials should urge Russia to take all necessary steps to allow the UN special rapporteur on torture to visit Russia. The special rapporteur, whose visit was planned for October, cancelled his trip after the Russian government refused to agree to his mandate’s long-established standard terms of reference, including unannounced visits to detention facilities and confidential conversations with detainees.
In the past two years, the European Court of Human Rights has found Russia responsible for human rights violations in seven cases relating to disappearances, wrongful death, and disproportionate use of force in Chechnya. Hundreds more cases await decision. Under the decisions, the court requires Russia not only to pay out damages, but also to change the policies and practices that led to the violations. To date, the Russian government has paid compensation in a timely manner but failed to implement policy changes. EU officials should voice strong support for other European institutions, such as the court, and press Russia to implement fully the court’s decisions.
For background on the October 2006 closure of the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society, a strong critic of human rights abuses in Chechnya, please visit:
https://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2006/10/13/russia14391.htm
