When the United Nations Commission on Human Rights
begins its meetings on March 19 it is likely that the Chechen issue
will come up, but unlikely that meaningful action will take place.
Since the 1800s when predominately Muslim Chechnya was taken over by
Czarist Russia the people of that distant land struggled for
independence. This struggle has continued through 20th
century and found its way into conflicts that still arise today. The
poor people of Chechnya continue their resistance against oppressive
Russians without international help or recognition. Over these
centuries the people of Chechnya have not been allowed to demonstrate
their culture or practice their religion--contrary to popular belief
that this "democratic" government has been open and
forthcoming to minorities. The story of Chechens is surprisingly
similar to that of Slavic minorities. The national minorities (in this
case Slavic Muslims) constitute a majority in their enclave, and of
course they face constant persecution for such. Its is also this
struggle that has found its way into the news with a high-jacking of a
plane in Russia.
Chechens are a defiant and resistant group of
people, and over the course of several hundreds of years of oppression
they have always held true to their heritage and fought for their
rights. And for their bulldog like defiance the Russian people and
government have grown to hate Chechens with a bitter passion. A group
of people so arrogant as to stand up to Russia and even fight for
their independence is a slap on the face of the fading pride of the
Russian people who have viewed their mighty super power degenerate
into a meek third world country. Russians are stilled brainwashed by
their government-controlled media that teaches them of "Muslim
savages" and other archaic views. The Russian psyche is one that
still grasps at the old glories of the mighty Soviet Union. If nothing
else, it is the imperialism, ethnocentrism, and racism of old Soviet
Russia that has made the transition into the current Russian
Federation. It is these motives that shredded apart human lives in
the 20th and still continues to oppress indigenous people.
The level of barbarity the Russian army has shown
only parallels that of Serbia during its civil war and struggle with
Kosovo. Numerous human rights groups have fought for the rights of the
Chechen people to be restored. But as usual their desperate pleas have
fallen on almost completely deaf ears. Even though it is a weak power,
no nation or international body seems willing to stand up to Russia as
they so reluctantly did for Kosovo. Where NATO planes could strike at
a lame duck in Serbia, they would never dare do such a thing to a
nation that could actually fight back. Boris Yeltsin himself told the
world, when pressure started to amount about Chechnya, not to forget
that Russia "…still had nuclear weapons." Among the most
shocking of events to arise from this long drawn out conflict is the
US officially taking notice of the Humanitarian crises in Chechnya. In
a recent state department report the government stated,
Russian security forces demonstrated little respect for basic
human rights. The indiscriminate use of force by government troops
in the Chechen conflict resulted in widespread civilian casualties
and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of persons…[there
are] credible reports that military forces engaged in extra
judicial killings…During the conflict in Chechnya in February,
there were credible reports that the military used indiscriminate
force in areas of significant civilian populations, resulting in
numerous deaths…[Russian forces]…reportedly beat, raped,
tortured, and killed numerous detainees.
Russia has yet to comply with a UN Commission on Human Rights’
resolution, and alas the paper tigers of human rights observation of
the United States and the United Nations stand by and do nothing but
throw about meek words that will not save any lives. Something that
only makes you shake your head is the fact that supposedly Muslim
states that preached a global Islamic state and freedom for all
Muslims, have for the most part abandoned their Chechen brothers in
favor of lucrative defense contracts.
Naturally the Russian government prevents all but a few
non-government run agencies into Chechnya, fearing that their actions
will be even more exposed to the public eye. The number of outside
media outlets is increasingly falling, as they are one-by-one being
expelled from the country. The humanitarian situation, contrary to
Russian reports, is only getting worse. Approximately 260,000 [approx.
33% of the total population] civilians have found themselves displaced
within Chechnya and another 170,000 [approx. 22% of the total
population, making a total of 55% of the population refugees] are
refugees in neighboring countries which are teeming with
the influx of population and to which and to which aid is difficult to
get [Note: statistics courtesy of Human Rights Watch]. This is not to
say that the Chechen rebels have not undertaken inappropriate actions
such as capturing and abusing civilians. However, this is only in
response to the far greater oppressions ! manifested through
institutional racist, autocratic, and tyrannical actions of the
Russian government for centuries. When you back an animal up against a
wall, it will either back down or strike back, and the Chechen people
have never had a reputation of backing down. The Russian government
has broken 22 of the 30 articles of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights (Articles 1-5,7-12,15-23, 25-27). Among the most shocking and
blatant violations include article 5 ("No one shall be subjected
to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment"), article 9 ("No one shall be subjected to
arbitrary arrest, detention or exile."), and article 15 (Everyone
has the right to nationality…No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of
his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.) While
the shattered and smoldering remains of cities and lives remain
throughout the Chechen landscape nothing rings of more truth and irony
than the indictment at the Nuremberg t! rails:
Ill treatment…of civilian populations…murder or ill
treatment of prisoners of war…wanton destruction of cities,
towns or villages…inhumane acts committed against any civilian
population.
There should be no doubt that Chechens have never fully had the
rights of Russians, and have for centuries lived under the repressive
Russian government.
No matter how hard the Russian people or government may try, they
will never be able to justify any of their actions in Chechnya. They
are violating the fundamental right of every human to have
self-determination within themselves and their government. There are
many arguments to why Russia should maintain Chechnya. Among the most
troubling is that Russians built Chechnya to what it is today and also
that there are great economic interest in the region. Pardon if I
didn’t get the memo, but economic reasons have never been a moral
justification of declining people their rights. Furthermore,
Chechnya was built on the backs and hard labor of the Chechen people.
Even the former speaker of the Russian parliament and staunch opponent
of Chechen independence, Ruslan Khasbultov, has gone so far as to
criticize the government. He wrote in an editorial in Nezavisimaya
Gazeta that Chechnya "no longer exist" after the
unjustifiable destruction that the central government has d! one to
the region. He even called for new peace talks and disapproves of the
behavior of the military. Even if one doesn’t agree with Chechen
independence or autonomy, they must sympathize with the struggles of
the people and disapprove of the actions of the Russian army.
Who is going to help these civilians? Certainly not the US.
Certainly not the UN.
But If the Russian government or people think they can subdue the
resilient Chechen spirit by massacring their civilians and destroying
their homes…they are sorely mistaken. Some time their
time will come.
For Chechens are like the Caucus landscape they have defended for
so long.
Cold, hard, and enduring.
