Parliamentary Assembly
Assemblée parlementaire

Doc. 10877
7 April 2006

Human rights violations in the Chechen Republic

Written question No 485 to the Committee of Ministers
Reply from the Committee of Ministers
adopted at the 961st meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies (5 April 2006)

I. Written Question No. 485 by Mr Jurgens (Doc. 10842)

      Considering that human rights violations in the Chechen Republic, were again debated at the January 2006 session (Resolution 1479 (2006), Recommendation 1733 (2006)), highlighting the responsibility of the Committee of Ministers and condemning its repeated failure to act, and that in view of the very serious situation facing the Russian Federation in Chechnya, it is quite incomprehensible and inadmissible that the Committee of Ministers should not take a more active stand and should, on the contrary, choose not to monitor the situation regularly,

      Mr. Jurgen asks the Committee of Ministers,

      Firstly, whether the Committee of Ministers can take steps to ensure that Assembly Recommendation 1710 (2005) on the “Honouring of obligations and commitments by the Russian Federation”, in which the Assembly asks the Committee of Ministers to “ensure that the discussion of the human rights crisis in and around Chechnya remains a regular item on the agenda (of the Committee of Ministers and Ministers’ Deputies), and, in particular, ensure that monitoring of the human rights situation (…) continues, inter alia, under the auspices of the Secretary General, and that the results of such monitoring are published”, at long last receives a reply from the Committee of Ministers, and

      secondly, what measures does the Committee of Ministers intend to take to ensure that Assembly recommendations are acted on by the executive body.

II. Reply by the Committee of Ministers

1.       The Committee of Ministers recalls that it adopted a reply to Recommendation 1710 (2005) of the Parliamentary Assembly at its 950th meeting (7 December 2005). The reply was forwarded to the Assembly during the first part of its session in January 2006.

2.       The measures which the Committee intends to take to ensure that Assembly recommendations are acted on will be set out in the reply currently under preparation to Assembly Recommendation 1733 (2006). That said, without anticipating the content of this reply, the Committee wishes to assure the Honourable Parliamentarian that it pays particular attention to the human rights situation in the Chechen Republic (Russian Federation) and the Council of Europe programme of co-operation activities in this Republic. The information document on the implementation of this programme will be updated regularly and is available on the Council of Europe website.