[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 69 (Friday, May 9, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E920]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  HUMAN RIGHTS IN BELARUS AND CHECHNYA

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                          Friday, May 9, 2003

  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, as Co-Chairman of the 
Organization on Security and Cooperation in Europe, I have followed 
with particular concern both the deadly climate in Chechnya and the 
deterioration of human rights in Belarus. Such violations of basic 
human rights deserve focused criticism, and it is appropriate that the 
agenda of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights included 
resolutions on each situation.
  On April 17, the U.N. Commission voted 23-14 with 16 abstentions to 
approve a U.S.-cosponsored resolution urging the Belarusian authorities 
to investigate ``fully and impartially'' credible reports that senior 
government officials were involved in the disappearances in 1999 and 
2000 of leading opposition figures and a journalist.
  I have followed these cases closely and have become increasingly 
frustrated at the Belarusian regime's intransigence in meaningfully 
investigating these disappearances. Here in Washington and at OSCE 
Parliamentary Assembly meetings in Paris and Berlin, I have had 
occasion to meet with the wives of the disappeared. These meetings have 
been heart-wrenching. The cases of their husbands--who disappeared in 
1999 and 2000 and are presumed to have been murdered--offer a chilling 
glimpse into the nature of the regime of Belarusian dictator Alexander 
Lukashenka, a regime that has the worst human rights record in Europe 
today. In February, I introduced H.R. 854, the Belarus Democracy Act, 
designed to bolster democratic development in that beleaguered country, 
and I am pleased that the State Department authorization bill approved 
yesterday by the House International Relations Committee includes key 
provisions of the Belarus Democracy Act. This bill encourages sanctions 
against the Belarusian regime until certain conditions are met, 
including a full accounting of these tragic disappearances.
  The Belarusian people deserve to live in a society where democratic 
principles and human rights are respected and the rule of law is 
paramount, and I believe that the passage of the U.N. Human Rights 
Commission resolution is an important step towards that end.
  Mr. Speaker, I wish I could report that the U.N. Commission on Human 
Rights had acted with equal conscience on the issue of Chechnya. We all 
know the desperate human rights situation in that war-torn region of 
the Russian Federation. Since the Chechen war reignited in 1999, 
international and domestic Russian human rights organizations have 
documented the disproportionate and indiscriminate use of force by 
elements of the Russian military, as well as extrajudicial killings, 
abuse of prisoners, kidnaping, rape, and extortion of civilians. 
According to official statistics, 2,800 persons are missing in 
Chechnya; mutilated bodies of young Chechen males turn up almost daily. 
A representative of the respected human rights organization Memorial 
reported at a recent Helsinki Commission briefing that ``one of the 
recent tendencies is to explode the corpses'' in order to prevent 
identification. Needless to say, all of this is in clear violation of 
the Geneva Convention and the OSCE Code of Conduct during internal 
conflicts.
  What's left of the Chechen capital of Grozny after Russian artillery 
shelling has been compared to the ruins of Stalingrad in 1943. 
According to the U.N., there are 92,000 internally displaced persons 
forced to flee from the fighting, with around 17,000 living in tent 
camps in neighboring Ingushetia.
  Chechen forces are not entirely blameless. There are credible reports 
of their executing prisoners and using non-combatants as human shields. 
They have also assassinated pro-Moscow Chechen officials. The U.S. 
Government has placed three militant groups involved in the Chechen 
resistance on its list of terrorist groups.
  Still, is this an excuse for Russia's savage war against the civilian 
population?
  Despite all the documentation and eyewitness testimony on egregious 
human rights violations committed in Chechnya, the Commission on Human 
Rights rejected by a vote of 15-21 an even-handed European Union 
resolution expressing deep concern at the reported ongoing violations 
of international law in Chechnya. I note that the U.S. delegation did 
not cosponsor the resolution, though it did support it when the measure 
came to a vote. We should not be surprised that China, Sudan and 
Zimbabwe voted against the resolution. I do find it disconcerting, 
though, that the delegations of Armenia and Ukraine are in that less 
than distinguished company.
  Ambassador Jean Kirkpatrick, Head of the U.S. Delegation to the U.N. 
Commission noted: ``The United States believes it important that the 
Commission address the serious human rights abuses that have occurred 
in Chechnya. We recognize Russia's right to defend its territorial 
integrity and itself against terrorism. The broader conflict in 
Chechnya cannot be resolved militarily and requires a political 
solution. Human rights violations by Russian forces in Chechnya need to 
be curtailed, and abusers held accountable.''
  So the people of Chechnya continue to suffer, and the U.N. Commission 
on Human Rights looks the other way.

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