U.N. human rights chief heads to Moscow after Chechnya trip

Robinson, center, tours Grozny with Russian officials on Sunday

April 3, 2000
Web posted at: 4:03 a.m. EDT (0803 GMT)

In this story: Rights group disappointed by refusal Council of Europe ponders action RELATED STORIES, SITES

MOSCOW (CNN) -- The U.N.'s human rights chief was headed for Moscow on Monday to discuss the conduct of Russia's war in Chechnya after a weekend visit to the ravaged North Caucasus.

Mary Robinson, the world body's high commissioner for human rights, planned to discuss reports of human rights abuses in Chechnya with Russian officials after her attempt to visit prisons in the territory was rebuffed.

"It is true that I would have liked to have come sooner, but I'm pleased that I now have an opportunity to come," she said. "I will do my best to have a full visit."

VIDEO CNN's Mike Hanna reports on the frustration that Mary Robinson, U.N. high commissioner for human rights, encountered Sunday in Chechnya (April 2). QuickTime Play Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K     MESSAGE BOARDS Changes in Russia The battle for Chechnya

Robinson was scheduled to meet with Interior Ministry officials in Moscow, but her request for a meeting with Russian President-elect Vladimir Putin had not been granted Monday morning.

U.N. officials described the trip so far as "frustrating," with her trip back to Moscow delayed because of bad weather and transportation snags in addition to Russian refusals to let her visit the prison camps and two villages where human rights groups say large numbers of civilians were killed.

Robinson wanted to visit five of the controversial "filtration camps" in Chechnya, where Russian forces hold those suspected of fighting for or cooperating with Chechnya's rebel government. She was told such an inspection was not possible.

Rights group disappointed by refusal

The high commissioner was able to view the widespread damage to the Chechen capital Grozny, which Russian forces captured after a massive bombardment and a slow, grinding winter offensive.

"You hear and read of the destruction, see pictures," Robinson said. But it was "very devastating ... to come and see row after row of blackened, destroyed homes."

The human rights monitoring group Amnesty International has raised several complaints about the Chechen war, particularly about the Russian camps for Chechen prisoners. Amnesty spokesman Iain Levine said the group was disappointed that Robinson was not allowed to visit the camps.

"We had been very much hoping that she would be able to visit some of the filtration camps, where there have been very serious allegations of torture, of rape, and of executions, and the fact that Russian authorities have no allowed her to visit is obviously a very worrying sign," he said.

Russia denies the claims of human rights abuses, saying it is acting appropriately and must restore order to Chechnya. The territory became rife with crime, kidnapping and violence after Russian troops withdrew in defeat at the end of the 1994-96 war, in which Chechens won an unrecognized independence from Moscow.

Council of Europe ponders action

Robinson's trip comes before a scheduled Monday meeting of the Council of Europe, the continent's leading human rights watchdog. Delegates will discuss whether to suspend Russia over allegations of abuses in the Chechen war.

And after talks with senior Russian officials in Moscow, she is scheduled to report on the situation in Chechnya to the U.N. Human Rights Commission in Geneva.

"It is absolutely vital that she really makes it clear to the Russian authorities that the demonization of the Chechen people, and the massive and systematic violations of human rights that have taken place -- and continue to take place -- cannot be allowed to continue," Levine said.

Robinson also visited a Chechen refugee camp in the neighboring republic of Ingushetia on Saturday to ask about conditions at the camp and whether refugees felt it was too dangerous to return home. Police and soldiers struggled to hold back crowds of angry refugees who shouted for Robinson's attention when she arrived.

More than 200,000 Chechens who fled the fighting have taken refuge in Ingushetia.

Correspondents Steve Harrigan and Mike Hanna contributed to this report.

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Amnesty International On-line: human rights website
International Committee of the Red Cross
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights: Mary Robinson
Russian Federation administration
Chechen Republic Online.
Kavkaz center
Chechnya: Renewed Catastrophe -- Human Rights Watch
Interfax International Group
ITAR-Tass

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