From: MSN Nicknameshml_blue  (Original Message)    Sent: 5/19/2005 10:25 AM
19.05.2005
Keep Chechen Refugees in Poland

H.E. Gerhard Schroeder
Chancellor
Federal Republic of Germany
Fax: 9-011-49-30-4000-1818

H.E. Joschka Fischer H.E. Otto Schily
Minister of Foreign Affairs Minister of Interior
Federal Republic of Germany Federal Republic of Germany
Fax: 9-011-49-1888-173402
Fax: 9-011-49-1888-681-2926

Dear Excellencies:

I write to request that the German Government rescind its decision to deport Chechen Refugees currently residing in Germany. Under the current circumstances, their deportation into the hands of the Russian Federation would violate their basic human rights under the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights as well as under several treaties to which Germany is a contracting party. To wit:

I.

First, for Germany to deport these Chechen Refugees into the hands of the Russian Federation would violate the basic principle of customary international law and international human rights law known as non-refoulement, as set forth in Article 33, section 1 of the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, to which Germany is a contracting party: «No contracting state shall expel or return a refugee in any manner whatsoever to the frontiers of territories where his life or freedom would be threatened on account of his race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion." Every major human rights organization in the world, including and especially Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, have determined that the Russian Federation is currently threatening and destroying the very Lives and Freedoms of the Chechen People on account of their Race, Religion, Nationality, and Political Opinion.

II.

Second, Germany cannot deport these Chechen Refugees into the hands of the Russian Federation because to do so would violate Article 3 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which prohibits the expulsion, return or extradition of a person to a state where there are substantial grounds for believing he would be in danger of being subjected to torture. Germany is a Contracting Party to this Convention. The Russian Federation is also a contracting party to this Convention. Nevertheless, every major human rights organization in the world, including and especially Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, have determined that the Russian Federation is currently inflicting Torture, Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment upon the Chechen People in gross violation of this Convention against Torture. In this regard, I call to your attention the fact that on 10 July 2001, the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) publicly denounced the Russian Federation for failing to cooperate with its efforts to shed light on the ill-treatment of detainees in Chechnya. See Gilbert Reilhac, Torture Watchdog Rebukes Russia on Chechnya, Reuters, July 10, 2001:

….

The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT), a body of the 43-nation Council of Europe of which Russia is a member, said CPT experts who visited the region in March found «a palpable climate of fear» and heard consistent allegations of severe ill-treatment by Russian security forces. In a public statement, it said Russia had breached its treaty obligations to advise the CPT what it was doing to uncover and prosecute those responsible for such abuses.

Russia had also made clear that it intended to ignore a CPT recommendation for an independent inquiry into ill-treatment at a detention center in the village of Chernokozovo, in northwest Chechnya, between December 1999 and early February 2000.

«To date, an inquiry of the kind requested by the CPT has not been carried out and the Russian authorities have now made it clear that they have no intention of organizing such an inquiry," the statement said. Russia now contended that no such detention facility existed at the time, which was «clearly untenable," the CPT said. It was only the third time in 11 years that the CPT had issued a public statement denouncing a Council of Europe member state for failure to cooperate with its work.

….

Last week, the New York-based international group Human Rights Watch said Russian troops had rounded up hundreds of men during a security sweep through villages in western Chechnya and tortured and beaten many of them.

….

Experts who visited the region in March this year heard «numerous credible and consistent allegations…of severe ill-treatment by federal forces," the statement said.

«The CPT’s delegation found a palpable climate of fear. Many people who had been ill-treated and others who knew about such offences were reluctant to file complaints to the authorities.

«There was the fear of reprisals at local level and a general sentiment that, in any event, justice would not be done," the statement added. As a Member of the Council of Europe and as a contracting party to the Convention against Torture, Germany is obligated to refrain from deporting Chechen Refugees into the hands of the Russian Federation where they will be subjected to Torture, Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment, as determined by the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture. I have attached a copy of this 10 July 2001 CPT Public Statement to this Communication for your convenience and consideration.

III.

Third, Germany cannot legally expel or deport Chechen Refugees into the hands of the Russian Federation because to do so would violate Articles 2, 6, 7, 9, 10 and 17, inter alia, of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Germany is a Contracting Party to this Covenant. The Russian Federation is also a Contracting Party to this Covenant. Article 2 provides that Germany «undertakes to respect and to ensure to all individuals within its territory and subject to its jurisdiction the rights recognized in the present Covenant, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religious, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status." Article 6 guarantees these Chechen Refugees their «inherent right to life. This right shall be protected by law. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life." Article 7 guarantees that these Chechen Refugees shall not «be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment." Article 9 guarantees these Chechen Refugees their «right to liberty and security of person. No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest or detention. No one shall be deprived of his liberty except on such grounds and in accordance with such procedures as are established by law," etc. Article 10 guarantees these Chechen Refugees that «All persons deprived of their liberty shall be treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person." Article 17 provides that these Chechen Refugees shall not «be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to unlawful attacks on his honour and reputation." All of these basic human rights of the Chechen Refugees will be violated, defeated and negated should Germany deport them into the hands of the Russian Federation.

IV.

Fourth, Germany cannot legally expel or deport these Chechen Refugees into the hands of the Russian Federation because to do so would violate Common Article 1 and Common Article 3 of the Four Geneva Conventions of 1949. Germany is a Contracting Party to the Four Geneva Conventions of 1949 The Russian Federation is also a Contracting Party to the Four Geneva Conventions of 1949. Common Article 3 requires that the Russian Federation «shall in all circumstances [treat Chechens] humanely, without any adverse distinction founded on race, colour, religion or faith, sex, birth or wealth, or any other similar criteria. To this end, the following acts are and shall remain prohibited at any time and in any place whatsoever with respect to the above-mentioned persons: (a) violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture;… (c) outrages upon personal dignity, in particular, humiliating and degrading treatment; (d) the passing of sentences and the carrying out of executions without previous judgment pronounced by a regularly constituted court affording all the judicial guarantees which are recognized as indispensable by civilized peoples." Nevertheless, every major human rights organization in the world, including and especially Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, have determined that the Russian Federation has inflicted grave breaches of Common article 3 upon the Chechen People. Under Common Article 1 to the Four Geneva Conventions of 1949, Germany is under an absolute obligation «to respect and to ensure respect» for the Geneva Conventions «in all circumstances." Under these particular circumstances, the only way for Germany «to respect and to ensure respect» for the Four Geneva Conventions of 1949 is to prevent the deportation of these Chechen Refugees into the hands of the Russian Federation.

V.

Fifth, Germany cannot legally return these Chechen Refugees into the hands of the Russian Federation because to do so would violate Article I and Article III(e) of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Germany is a Contracting Party to the Genocide Convention The Russian Federation is also a Contracting Party to the Genocide Convention. Article 1 requires that Germany take affirmative steps «to prevent» genocide, which would preclude the return of these Chechen Refugees to the Russian Federation. Article III(e) prohibits Germany from engaging in «complicity in genocide." For Germany to deport these Chechen Refugees into the hands of the Russian Federation would aid and abet the ongoing Russian genocide against the Chechen People as defined and prohibited by Article II of the Genocide Convention, and thus render Germany an accomplice. As one of the foremost proponents of human rights in the world today, Germany must have nothing to do with genocide.

VI.

Sixth, for Germany to deport these Chechen Refugees into the hands of the Russian Federation would violate its most elementary obligations under the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Article 1 thereof requires that Germany «shall secure to everyone within their jurisdiction the rights and freedoms defined in Section 1 of this Convention." These Chechen Refugees are currently within the jurisdiction of Germany. Their deportation into the hands of the Russian Federation would violate, defeat, and negate all of their basic human rights set forth in Article 2 through Article 14 of the Convention.

****

For all of the above-mentioned reasons, under the current circumstances Germany is obligated to refrain from the deportation of these Chechen Refugees into the hands of the Russian Federation. Please accept, Excellencies, the assurance of my highest consideration.

Respectfully,
Francis A. Boyle
Professor of International Law
Attorney of Record for the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria

cc: His Excellency Ilyas Akhmadov
Foreign Minister
Chechen Republic of Ichkeria
http://www.chechentimes.org/en/refugees/?id=29040