The UN Commissioner for Human Rights, Mrs Mary Robinson, yesterday called on Russia to respond more credibly to allegations of violations in Chechnya, including executions and torture.
Mrs Robinson, in a speech to an informal session of the UN Commission on Human Rights, also urged Indonesia to protect 120,000 East Timorese refugees as well as aid workers in West Timor from militias who killed three UN staff last week.
The Commission's 53 member-states held a one-day session in Geneva to assess progress since the annual meeting last March-April. At the time, the forum adopted a resolution calling on Russia to establish a national commission of inquiry on Chechnya.
"I will inform the General Assembly that my chief concern remains that there be a credible response from the Russian authorities commensurate with the scale of the allegations of serious human rights abuses in Chechnya," Mrs Robinson said.
". . . I continue to be deeply concerned about reports of serious human rights violations in Chechnya and convinced of the need for these to be adequately addressed," she added.
She pointed out that three independent UN investigators - on executions, torture and internally displaced persons - had yet to receive invitations from Russia, although they had asked to carry out fact-finding missions.