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Recommendation 1733 (2006) Final version
Human rights violations in the Chechen Republic: the Committee of Ministers’ responsibility vis-à-vis the Assembly’s concerns
1. The Parliamentary Assembly stresses
that the protection of human rights is the core task of all Council of
Europe bodies and recalls Resolution
1479 (2006) and its previous Recommendations 1600 (2003) and 1679 (2004) on the
human rights situation in the Chechen Republic, regretting that
serious human rights violations still occur on a massive scale in
the Chechen Republic and, in some cases, in neighbouring regions of
the Northern Caucasus.
2. It urges the Committee of Ministers to confront its responsibilities
in the face of one of the most serious human rights issues in any
of the Council of Europe’s member states, as the lack of effective
reaction by the Council’s decision-making body has the capacity
to seriously threaten the credibility of the whole Organisation.
3. The Assembly urges the Committee of Ministers to discuss ways
and means to prevent new human rights violations and to overcome
the climate of impunity in the Chechen Republic, and to address
appropriate recommendations to the Government of the Russian Federation.
4. It commends the Committee of Ministers for its positive response
to the proposal on the desirability of a Council of Europe field
presence in the region. It is, however, dissatisfied with the Committee
of Ministers’ failure to obtain the full investigation of the bomb
explosion that effectively put to an end the continued presence of
the Council of Europe in the Chechen Republic.
5. In view of the seriousness of the situation, the Assembly:
5.1. recommends relaunching the Committee
of Ministers’ monitoring of the human rights situation in the Chechen
Republic;
5.2. invites the Committee of Ministers again to take “specific
action” by virtue of the 1994 Declaration on compliance with commitments
accepted by member states of the Council of Europe, after Recommendation 1600 (2003),
which was the first time that the Assembly had used this specific Committee
of Ministers monitoring mechanism;
5.3. reiterates its call to the Committee of Ministers to discuss
the necessary consequences of the public statements of the European
Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment
or Punishment (CPT) on insufficient co-operation of the Russian
Federation with this important body, and to urge the Russian authorities
to authorise, without delay, the publication of all reports of visits
to the region by the Council of Europe’s CPT;
5.4. calls on the Committee of Ministers to ensure that the
Council of Europe supports the authorities in the Russian Federation
in taking practical steps to address the issue of missing and disappeared persons
in Chechnya, particularly through introducing effective systems
for the identification and recording of bodies found, and improving
the forensic facilities in Chechnya;
5.5. continues to urge the Russian authorities to implement
the individual and general measures in relation to all European
Court of Human Rights judgments, in particular those relating to
violations committed in the course of the armed conflict in Chechnya.
6. In order to be able to take the required strong action, it
invites the Committee of Ministers to make use of all the possibilities
provided by the Statute of the Council of Europe to reach decisions,
including votes by a two-thirds majority.