On 19 October, HREA organised a public chat session on the human rights crisis in Chechnya. Russian human rights defenders and experts from the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF) responded to questions about the background of the conflict, the nature of the human rights violations, and efforts undertaken by international organisations like the Organization for Cooperation and Security in Europe (OSCE) to end the conflict, among other topics.
Ten years after the catastrophic 1994-1996 war, which killed almost 100,000 people and reduced the capital of Grozny to rubble, the armed conflict in Chechnya still continues. Both parties in the conflict, the Chechnyan rebels and the Russian authorities and army, continue to violate human rights and humanitarian law, including acts of torture, extrajudicial executions and disappearances. Civilians have been the prime victims of this armed conflict, which started in 1993 when Chechnya wanted to break away from the Russian Federation. Read further.