On May 31, the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the Council of Europe unanimously adopted a draft resolution that raises the issue of ongoing human rights violations and the disregard for the rule of law in the North Caucasus. The resolution is based on the report prepared by Dick Marty, the Special Rapporteur of the Council of Europe on Human Rights in Northern Caucasus, and focuses on the republics of Chechnya, Ingushetia and Dagestan.
 
The report, states that in the Chechen Republic, authorities continue to nurture a climate of fear and intimidation of the public, the media and the civil society, exacerbated by the legal impunity of security and law enforcement services and the corrupt judicial system. In Ingushetia and Dagestan, the report underscores the alarming upsurge in violence that prompts responses by the security and law enforcement services which are not always “lawful and productive.” It urges the republics’ leaders to seek stabilization of the situation through dialogue with the civil society.
 
The draft resolution calls on the Russian government to combat terrorism while upholding the rule of law; to effectively address the underlying causes of radicalization and growing extremism; bring to justice perpetrators of human rights violations; enforce the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights; and to co-operate with human rights organizations while ensuring safety of their staff members. The debate on the final resolution is scheduled to take place on June 22, 2010 during the summer plenary session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

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Human rights in the North Caucasus: the most serious situation in the geographical area of the council of Europe
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, May 21, 2010