Letter to Russian President Vladimir PutinNovember 14, 2002
President Vladimir V. Putin
The Kremlin
Moscow
Russia
Dear President Putin,
We are writing to ask for your guarantee that people displaced from the Chechnya conflict living in Ingushetia will enjoy their rights under international law to satisfactory humanitarian conditions, to choose their own residence, and to be protected from forced return to serious human rights violations. In particular, we hope to gain your assurances that internally displaced persons living in the Aki-Yurt camp, in northern Ingushetia, will not be forced leave the camp imminently as announced by local authorities.
Our concerns have gained urgency in the aftermath of the October 23-26 hostage crisis in Moscow. We hope that the imperative to find suspects connected to that crime or other crimes does not undermine protections for internally displaced persons.
In May, federal authorities published a detailed plan to close tent camps in Ingushetia and to return internally displaced people living in them to Chechnya. Government statements in the early summer that all tent camps would be removed by winter spread fear among internally displaced persons that they would be forcibly returned to Chechnya.
On July 24, Ingush Migration Service officials, working in cooperation with the Federal Migration Service, told Human Rights Watch in Nazran that all returns to Chechnya would take place on a strictly voluntary basis, and that those who did not want to return would be offered alternative housing financed by the migration services.
While we welcome these assurances, they stand in contrast to the combination of incentives and threats that migration authorities have used to pressure displaced persons to return to Chechnya. Moreover, migration officials did not acknowledge the risk of serious human rights abuse people face in Chechnya. Migration officials who spoke to Human Rights Watch dismissed the real threats of arbitrary detention, forced disappearance, torture, and extrajudicial execution that persist in Chechnya and that returnees would face should they go back to their homes. Neither the Ingush Migration Service nor the Chechen government agency responsible for internally displaced persons gathers information on human rights violations from sources other than the law enforcement agencies. Nor do migration authorities focus specifically on human rights abuses as part of their assessment of the overall security situation for returnees. Such abuses-extensively documented by the Memorial Human Rights Center, our own organization, and other domestic and international human rights groups and acknowledged by such official agencies as the Council of Europe-have shown no sign of relenting.
Equally troubling, migration officials considered that the steadily declining security situation in Chechnya was to be expected in armed conflict yet was at a level tolerable for the civilian population. The Russian government's decision to postpone the long-overdue visits to the region by the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women and the Special Representative of the Secretary General on Internal Displacement for security reasons underscores the dangers involved in returning displaced civilians to Chechnya.
Migration officials have stressed the voluntary nature of return. Yet we are concerned that a combination
of threats, incentives, and perceived imminent deadlines cause internally displaced persons to believe that harm could befall them should they choose not to return to Chechnya. These include promises of financial and material compensation that in some cases are not realized; an end to gas deliveries to tent camps, as well as other deprivations; and subtle threats, particularly by Chechen Republic migration officials, that while return currently may be voluntary, it may not always be so. Migration officials claimed there was no practice of arbitrarily deregistering from tent camps individuals who had been temporarily absent during attendance checks. Yet several individuals told Human Rights Watch about this practice, and reports by other human rights and humanitarian organizations appear to confirm that it does in fact occur.
Moreover, many internally displaced persons remain unregistered in Ingushetia, due in large part to a categorical refusal on the part of the Ingush Migration Service to register new individuals after April 2001. Thus, those who returned to Chechnya, found security conditions untenable, and then went to Ingushetia are now denied protection in Ingushetia, as are those who sought refuge in Ingushetia after April 2001 for the first time.
To underscore the voluntary nature of return, migration officials stressed that families choosing not to return to Chechnya would be offered alternative shelter in Ingushetia, paid for by the migration services. While in July the Ingush Migration Service had not yet begun renting such facilities, it evidently has now done so. We are deeply concerned those facilities may not be habitable, and that compelling displaced persons to live in them-even if through threats and incentives-would violate Russia's duty under the United Nations Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement. Principle 18 states:
At the minimum, regardless of the circumstances, without discrimination, competent authorities shall provide internally displaced persons with and ensure safe access to:
(a) essential food and potable water;
(b) basic shelter and housing;
(c) appropriate clothing; and
(d) essential medical services and sanitation.
This concern has become particularly urgent with regard to the Ingush Migration Service's announced plan to close the tent camp at Aki-Yurt. The future of displaced persons living in this camp remains uncertain, as the camp was to have been closed by October 31.
The migration services have given the 2,700 internally displaced people living in Aki-Yurt the choice of either returning to Chechnya, which many fear, renting private space, which most cannot afford, or moving into facilities made available by the migration service that are reported to be uninhabitable. About ten buildings have apparently been made available, including an abandoned bottling factory, a dairy farm in disuse, and a pelt-processing workshop. As of early October, for example, the bottling factory was apparently uninhabitable, lacking heating equipment and ventilation, has no separate rooms for separate families, and a cold, damp concrete floor.
While since August at least nineteen families have left Aki-Yurt either for Chechnya or for other shelter in Ingushetia, many others do not want to leave for the reasons cited above. For weeks, they have faced the same combination of incentives and threats by migration and other authorities that are described above, made more urgent by the announcement of imminent deadlines. As a result, many are reportedly in a state of panic. Those inhabitants whose tents have fallen into disrepair have been denied permission to replace them, compelling them to choose to move either to uninhabitable accommodation or back to Chechnya. We urge you to ensure that the tent camp at Aki-Yurt and other locations are not closed; that police, migration, and other authorities do not pressure or coerce internally displaced persons into returning to Chechnya against their will; and that internally displaced persons enjoy their basic rights to choose their residences and to enjoy humanitarian assistance.
Thank you for attention to the concerns raised in this letter.
Sincerely,
Elizabeth Andersen
Executive Director
Europe and Central Asia division
Source: Human Rights Watch (T) |
