IWPR: Chechens Mark Ten Years of Exile
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posted by eagle on December, 2009 as Human Rights
Chechens Mark Ten Years of Exile
A decade after they fled their homeland, Chechens in Georgia still fear it is unsafe to go back. By Lizaveta Zhahanina in Tbilisi (CRS No. 524, 18-Dec-09) Chechen refugees in Georgia, marking the tenth anniversary of their flight, scorn Russian suggestions the war is over and say they will only go home when the bombing and shooting have stopped.
Kameta Temirbulatova, a middle-aged woman wearing the traditional Chechen dress of a headscarf and long skirt, said refugees in Georgia’s remote Pankisi valley suffer from homesickness and poverty. They are also stung by Russian accusations that they harbour al-Qaeda extremists.
The valley is home to about 800 Chechen refugees, who have linguistic ties to the ethnic Kists who make up most of the local population.
Most refugees arrived in Pankisi in November or December 1999, fleeing the second phase of Russia’s war in Chechnya, which was launched in October 1999.
Russian troops ...>> full...
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YAHOO NEWS: Rights Prize Winner Urges EU To Keep Pressure On Russia
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posted by eagle on as Human Rights
Rights prize winner urges EU to keep pressure on Russia
Wed Dec 16, 1:32 PM
STRASBOURG (AFP) - Russian activist Sergei Kovalev urged the EU to put pressure on Moscow to respect human rights, as he received the prestigious Sakharov prize from the European parliament on Wednesday.
"Europe's task is to not remain silent, but to always insist that Russia respects its obligations" on human rights, Kovalev told the parliament in Strasbourg.
"To not call on Russia to do so would be interpreted as indulgence by the Russian authorities. That would be bad for Russia and for Europe as a whole," the 79-year-old former Soviet prisoner warned.
Europe's policy towards Moscow should be "firm and friendly" so that Russia respects fundamental freedoms, he added.
The EU parliament's Polish president, Jerzy Buzek, declared himself "proud" that the members of the European parliament had decided to honour Kovalev, a member of the Memorial group, Oleg Orlev, its founder, ... >> full...
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BBC NEWS: Award Highlights Russia's Rights Threat
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posted by eagle on as Human Rights
Award highlights Russia's rights threat Wednesday, 16 December 2009 By Daniel Fisher
BBC News, Moscow
Memorial, which has won the European Union's Sakharov Prize, is one of the few human rights groups in Russia willing to speak out about cases of alleged kidnapping, torture and extrajudicial killings by Russian forces. The European Parliament, announcing the prestigious award, said it was intended to signal that all such groups in Russia should be free to voice their thoughts without fear or violent reprisals. Memorial chairman Oleg Orlov, who was cited personally by the awarding panel, said the prize inspired the organisation to continue working despite the constant setbacks and obstacles put in its way by the Russian government. "It is very important for us. It is a recognition of how important our work is," he said. "It assures us that we are moving in the right direction in these difficult times. Sometimes we feel like giving up. We work hard, ...
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Prague Watchdog: Modern Manners
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posted by eagle on as Human Rights
Modern manners
By Usam Baysayev, special to Prague Watchdog
Oslo, Norway
Yesterday I edited an article about a "zachistka” (sweep operation) in Kurchali. Kurchali is a village in Chechnya’s Vedensky district. It stretches along the gorge for quite a long way, and on the map one sees three Kurchalis: Upper, Middle, and Lower. In Soviet times they were all linked by one village Soviet, and are now are likewise joined by one administration. Or were at the start of the Chechen war, at least. In 2001 Russian units under the command of Lieutenant General Nikolai Bogdanovsky regularly disrupted this village. They looted homes, seized hostages and killed local people. And they did so in considerable fear of the insurgents, terrified that when they withdrew the latter would open fire on them, or worse, organize an ambush. At the end of October 2001 the men under the ... |
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Window On Eurasia: Russians Currently Consume Same Number Of Calories Daily That German POWs Did In Soviet Camps In 1941
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posted by eagle on as Human Rights
Paul Goble
Vienna, December 13 – After seeing an improvement in caloric consumption since the 1990s, Russians are again consuming an average of only 2550 calories a day, an amount comparable to the amount provided by the diet given German POWs in Soviet camps at the end of 1941 and one that casts a shadow on that country’s demographic future.
Largely because of the economic crisis, Rosstat figures show, Russians consumed 0.5 percent fewer calories in 2008 than in 2007, a small decline but on that understates the country’s food problems, given that even the earlier total – 2564 calories -- was “below medical norms” (health.km.ru/magazin/view.asp?id={B50CBD92-6CAD-4C27-9CE8-29746F14E4C4}).
The most immediately visible impact of this level of consumption is low weight levels among the draft-age population. Of the 305,000 young men drafted in ...
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