Human Rights in the North Caucasus: what follow-up to Resolution 1738 (2010)?

Reply to Recommendation | Doc. 14664 | 15 November 2018

Author(s):

Committee of Ministers

Origin

Adopted at the 1329th meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies (14 November 2018). 2019 - First part-session

Reply to Recommendation

: Recommendation 2099 (2017)

1. The Committee of Ministers informs the Parliamentary Assembly that the following reply was adopted by a majority as provided by Article 20 (d) of the Statute.

2. The Committee of Ministers has carefully considered Parliamentary Assembly Recommendation 2099 (2017) on “Human Rights in the North Caucasus: what follow-up to Resolution 1738 (2010)?”. It continues to pay particular attention to the respect of the Council of Europe standards of democracy, human rights and the rule of law in the North Caucasus, including in the Chechen Republic and Dagestan and it is open to consider any request for assistance to the North Caucasus that the Russian authorities might wish to make.

3. The Committee of Ministers recalls that it has encouraged the Russian authorities to continue their co-operation with the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and to authorise the publication of all the CPT’s reports. The Committee of Ministers has followed with concern the reports of abductions, extra-judicial killings, torture and ill-treatment of LGBTI individuals in Chechnya as well as the denial, trivilisation and condoning by the Chechen authorities of the attacks. This was discussed at the Ministerial Session in Nicosia in May 2017 and on other occasions. The Government of the Russian Federation has provided the Committee with information about the domestic investigation into these allegations. The Committee underlines the importance of prompt, effective and thorough investigations, so that anyone found guilty of or complicit in such crimes is brought to justice, and continues to follow the situation.

4. The Committee is currently supervising under the enhanced procedure the execution of a group of 255 cases in which the European Court of Human Rights found violations of the European Convention on Human Rights, mostly relating to the actions of Russian security forces during anti-terrorist operations, in Chechnya between 1999 and 2006, although some cases relate to abductions of individuals by the security forces after 2006 (Khashiyev and Akayeva group of cases). In response to the violations, the Russian authorities have provided information on awareness-raising and training measures for the military and security forces and on certain regulatory changes regarding their actions. The examination has since 2011 concentrated on the effectiveness of the search for missing persons and of the criminal investigations into the events (in particular to prevent impunity as a result of rules of prescription and/or amnesty legislation). Since 2016, developments in law and practice in these regards have been regularly examined by the Committee of Ministers at its human rights (DH) meetings, according to predefined time-tables, most recently in September 2018.