Human Rights Center "Memorial"

The Initiative Group "Common Action"
Moscow, 20.04.01

Open appeal to the president of the Russian Federation

Respected Mr. President!

Public organizations are extremely concerned about recent tendencies of active inducements of the people of Chechen Republic, who were forced to leave their territories, to return.

Since the resumption of military action in Chechnya in autumn 1999, the Russian authorities have made numerous attempts first to prevent civilians from leaving and later to force them to return to the territory of Chechnya.

Inhabitants of Chechnya who wanted to leave the territory because of the war were forbidden to do so. At the end of September 1999, corresponding telegram messages to effect this action signed by the commander of the federal joint forces "West" Major-General V. Shamanov were sent to all organs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the districts and republics of the Russian Federation.

The only Russian region that accepted displaced people from Chechnya was the Republic of Ingushetia. At the beginning of November 1999 through a decree by its president R. Aushev, Ingushetia's borders were opened to Chechens fleeing from the war. The general command of the federal forces opposed this decree for a long time.

As soon as November 12, 1999, Russian Vice-Premier and representative of the Russian government in the Chechen Republic Nikolai Koshman declared at a press conference that before December 25, all displaced Chechens in Ingushetia would be resettled in the Chechen territory. Soon after, an attempt was made to transport refugees in wagons from Ingushetia to Chechnya.

Later, a number of populated areas in Chechnya were declared "security zones". The permanent inhabitants of these populated areas were encouraged to return to their places of residence. In Chechnya and outside the republic the inhabitants of the "security zones" were refused registration under Form No.7, which is a must for receiving minimum social benefits.

Order No. 15 of the Federal Migration Services signed on February 25, 2000 completely liquidated the Form No. 7 registration. However, in three weeks' time the order was reversed because of the worsening security situation in Chechnya and the sharp increase in the flow of refugees.

Calls and even demands for the return of refugees to Chechnya by the Russian authorities are repeated constantly. At the same time, food supply in the refugee camps in Ingushetia is stopped, while the federal authorities still owe between 300 and 500 million rubles for feeding expenditures to the Ingushetian authorities. On top of that, the return of Chechen refugees home is not accompanied by the creation of minimal acceptable conditions of life and the violence of the military forces against civilians is not ended.

The political line on the return of the inhabitants of Chechnya and the deprivation of their right to make a free and independent choice of place to live on the territory of Russia is confirmed with normative lawful acts, which have been adopted during the military campaign in Chechnya in 1994. But the attitude of the government of the Russian Federation towards the inhabitants of Chechnya was different in 1994-96 from that of today. At that time, in May 1995 an order for payment of individual compensation to those who suffered in that war was adopted. A whole series of documents to provide direct help for those who had lost their homes and properties and had no intention of returning to Chechnya was established.

Decree No. 510 of April 30, 1997 on the "Order of payment of compensation to those who have lost their homes and or property as a result of the conflict in the republic and who have left the territory forever", is effective up to now.

Decree No. 163 of the government of the Russian Federation of March 3, 2001 is the only one directed towards helping those who suffered as a result of the military action, which started in 1999. The decree does not give the refugees the opportunity of settling down and building up their lives independently. The government is only willing to finance temporary refugee settlement camps and the transportation of the refugees back to Chechnya. No other choice is made available to them.

However, the refugees do not want to return to Chechnya. The reasons for this are well known: lack of security guarantee, unlawful activities committed by members of the federal forces, especially during the frequent "cleansing" operations, absence of elementary conditions for existence - lack of gas, light, water, food, medical services and the opportunity to work and study.

Employees of the non-governmental organization "Vesta" conducted a public opinion poll on 624 Chechen families (4370 people) living in private homes, camps and newly emerged settlements all over Ingushetia. About 24 % of the families asked said that some or all members of families are planning to return to Chechnya this year. 75 % of the families are certainly not planning to return this year if the situation there remained as it is now and 9 % of the families do not wish to return to Chechnya at all. Considering these results, it is easy to conclude that the inhabitants of Chechnya who fled the war are not prepared to return.

However, from April 13, 2001 a decision of the territorial organ of the Ministry of Federation of Ingushetia stopped the registration of Chechens under Form No. 7. The Minister of Emergency Situations of the Republic of Ingushetia V. Kuks announced that registration would be stopped for approximately one month until a new form of registration is introduced. However, no new form of registration is mentioned in any of the federal documents.

Unfortunately, the public organizations not by hearsay know how dangerous is it now to be on the territory of the Chechnya Republic. Nobody has the right of using physical or other means to force people to return there. The people should be allowed to use their constitutional rights to choose whether to return or not.

Mr. President! We appeal to you as the highest state official, who is called to guarantee the rights and freedoms of the citizens of Russia, in particular, the right of every Russian citizen to free movement and choice of place to live as defined by Article 27 of the Russian Constitution and our legislation.

We ask you not to allow forced return and pressurizing of the inhabitants of Chechnya in their territory in whatever form.

We call on the Russian authorities to adopt a normative act, which gives the opportunity to the people who have suffered as a result of the military action in Chechnya to choose for themselves where and how they want to settle down and build up their lives within the Russian territory.

We are convinced that only help, which is addressed directly to those who need it, can provide every citizen with the opportunity of starting a worthwhile new stage in their lives.

Members of "Common Action" (In order of signatory)

Svetlana Gannushkina, "Civic Assistance"
Oleg Orlov, Human Rights Center "Memorial"
Andrej Babushkin, "Committee for Civil Rights"
Karina Moskalenko, "Center for Assistance in International Protection."
Mikhail Arutyunov, "International Human Rights Defense Assembly"
Lydmila Vakhnina – Human Rights Center "Memorial"
Sergej Sorokin, "The Movement Against Violence"
Leonid Paperno, "The Movement Without Borders", "Children's Rights"
Lev Ponomarev, "For Human Rights"
Lev Levinson, "The Institute of Human Rights"
Victoria Malikova, " The Helsinki Group of Moscow"
Ernest Chernyj, Coalition "Ecology and Human Rights"
Gleb Yakunin, "Defense of Freedom of Conscience"
Yuri Samodurov, " The Andrei Sakharov Museum and Public Center"
Lidia Grafova, "The Forum for Immigrant Organizations"
Malva Landa, human rights activist