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To:
Mary Robinson,
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

Sadako Ogato, UN High Commissioner for Refugees

Alvaro Gil-Roblez, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights

From:
Glasnost Defense Foundation (Moscow)
Index/Dos'e na Tzensuru Editorial board (Moscow)
1999 November 16

Based on journalists' reports from the Caucasian theatre of operations and findings of HRO special missions (see: www.poli.ru/index-dossier/refugees), and also taking into account current Russian information policy, we have to state with regret that neither public opinion nor public institutions in today's Russia are capable of exerting any considerable influence on the country's leadership in order to bring Russian policy in the Caucasian region in compliance with civilized standards and principles of unconditional protection of interests and the very lives of Russian citizens.

We therefore turn to international organizations, Russian and foreign media with the request to share our concern and take the necessary measures proposed by us in order to bring official international institutions to help effectively protect Russian citizens against actions of government authorities.

1. Russian citizens who have become refugees as result of government actions, by the very fact of their existence state their doubts that government institutions are being guided in their actions by citizens' actual interests.

   Government institutions' inability (or unwillingness) to correct their current policy to provide for necessary protection of refugees and their interests basically confirms that the government does not take real interests of that group into account, which de facto removes refugees from the national jurisdiction and turns them into a subject of international law.

   Such a conclusion can hardly meet with positive response from the Russian authorities since it rejects point blank their attempts to present the problem as internal only and consequently not subject to international interference.

2. We believe that this issue should be discussed by the international community including legal experts, political scientists, sociologists, journalists, etc.

   The Kosovo precedent and the international community's actual stance (however controversial the evaluation of the related use of force may be) have already internationalized the otherwise internal refugee problem.

   The fact that the Chechen refugees problem is still being regarded as domestic is only due to Chechnya's geographic location causing refugees to be pressed out into the Russian territory and rush around within the state borders trying to get to safety and protection.

   Today, the international community could act to help achieve an international solution of the problem. We believe that the following steps should be taken:

   a) Joint efforts involving a contiguous state (Georgia, in this case) should be coordinated to set up refugee camps on its territory fully provided for by international organizations until the refugees are able to effectively return to their respective places of residence;

   b) Russian escort for those refugees desiring to seek shelter at such international camps (in particular, while en route via Ossetia towards the border between Russia and Georgia) frontier) should be insistently negotiated for.

   c) International financial organizations should try to bring Russia by way of negotiations to accept a share (possibly the biggest) of the cost involved in maintaining such refugee camps (perhaps partially using loans to cover the expense).

We are convinced that only determined steps in this direction could jumpstart effective and efficient actions by Russian authorities to protect the interests of refugees, and result in development of a consistent policy aimed at securing citizens' safety in the military operations area and enabling international organizations and their representatives to participate in resolving the extremely complicated problem of protecting Russian citizens from the government's arbitrary actions.

A.Simonov, President, Glasnost Defense Foundation

N.Nim, Chief Editor Index/Dos'e na Tzensuru

tel-fax (095) 201-50-86 e-mail: index-dossier@polit.ru