Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-01-18-Speech-3-289"
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"en.20060118.22.3-289"2
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".
Mr President, President-in-Office, honourable Members, I am most grateful for this opportunity to give the Commission’s view on the future of Chechnya after the elections. It is positive, as the Presidency mentioned, that the elections took place without violence, even if one cannot ignore the deficiencies in the process. Three parties received sufficient support to be represented in the new parliament, with the pro-Kremlin United Russia far outweighing the others. We hope that this constitutes a step towards greater political representation, greater stability and eventually peaceful democracy.
We are taking careful note of the way in which these provisions are implemented. That is our task now. And we shall also be taking every available opportunity to make the Russian authorities aware of any concerns that arise with regard to that implementation. Our regular political dialogue with Russia and the next round of EU-Russia human rights consultations set for March are an excellent chance to do this.
Neither the OSCE nor the Council of Europe sent a fully fledged observer mission, since the conditions on the ground did not permit it, but the latter did send an eight-member fact-finding mission. We therefore have no official reports, but we are aware of statements by members of the latter mission and by other organisations drawing attention, in particular, to deficiencies in the process, and we expect such allegations to be properly investigated.
While we welcome the Russian Federal authorities’ commitment to allocate significant funds for reconstruction, a number of other actions need to be taken if these elections are to be a step towards more peace and democracy. Although there appears to have been an improvement in the security situation in Chechnya, unfortunately a culture of impunity remains. Reported cases of disappearances and torture should be fully investigated and the perpetrators, including members of the law enforcement authorities, brought to justice.
We note that Russia has expressed its willingness to cooperate with UN human rights mechanisms including, for instance, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mrs Louise Arbour. These assurances should be put into practice and there should be cooperation with the UN Special Rapporteurs. It is also important that the local ombudsman in Chechnya be seen to be carrying out his duties impartially, as well as effectively.
As has already been mentioned, I would like to emphasise that the European Commission is playing its part in the region. We have agreed a EUR 20 million programme for socio-economic recovery in the North Caucasus, because we believe that to be one of the root causes of that conflict. This is in addition to humanitarian assistance, for which we are already the biggest donor through ECHO. This gives a clear indication of our willingness to be actively involved in the process of strengthening democracy and stability in the region.
Our programme will help support the much-needed rehabilitation of the health and education sectors and assist in job-creation and income-generation activities. In my former capacity as Austrian Foreign Minister I visited Chechnya as chairwoman of the OSCE. I remember my visit very well. We saw health establishments at first hand and a lot of improvement is indeed necessary.
It is also our intention to open an office in the North Caucasus region, possibly in Vladikavkaz, which would help us to monitor the implementation of our programme and keep us better informed on the situation on the ground.
I should, however, express our concern at the continuing difficulties that NGOs have to face – as the Presidency mentioned – including those receiving support from the European Commission, such as the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society in Nizhny Novgorod. This also affects NGOs delivering humanitarian assistance under the ECHO programme.
In that context I should like to draw your attention to the recent amendments to Russian legislation on NGOs. We expressed our concerns about the effect of that legislation on NGOs financed under ECHO in the North Caucasus through the EIDHR and TACIS programmes to the chairwoman of the Presidential Council on the development of social society and human rights. I also discussed the matter with the Foreign Minister, Mr Lavrov, who assured me that there would be changes to the proposal at second reading in the Duma. The text of the legislation finally approved by the Duma does indeed take some account of concerns expressed by the European Union and the Council of Europe, which we welcome. However, we remain concerned that some of the provisions remain too far-reaching – for example the scope for denying registration to local NGOs and the controls exerted on both local and foreign NGOs."@en1
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