Assessing Human Rights Protection in Eastern European Disputed and Conflict Entities Report from the Fidh Regional Seminar
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ASSESSING HUMAN RIGHTS PROTECTION IN EASTERN EUROPEAN DISPUTED AND CONFLICT ENTITIES REPORT FROM THE FIDH REGIONAL SEMINAR Article 1: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. Article 2: Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty. Article 3: Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person. Article 4: No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms. Article 5: No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, September 2014 / N°638a Map of Eastern European Disputed and Conflict Entities Cover photo: Soldiers take part in exercises with the Operational group of Russian Forces in the Transnistrian region of Moldova, 2012. Credit: Sergey Kuznecov/RIA Novosti 2 / Titre du rapport – FIDH INTRODUCTION ---------------------------------------------------- 5 The FIDH regional seminar and its objectives ---------------------------------- 5 Historical and geopolitical context ------------------------------------------ 7 I. CHARACTERISING HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN DISPUTED ENTITIES AND CHALLENGES TO THEIR PROTECTION AND PROMOTION ----------- 10 1.1. Main types of human rights violations ----------------------------------- 10 1.1.1. Right to citizenship ----------------------------------------------- 10 1.1.2. Freedom of movement --------------------------------------------- 11 1.1.3. Rights to life and security ------------------------------------------- 13 1.1.4. Violations of economic and social rights --------------------------------- 14 Right to an adequate standard of living ----------------------------------- 14 Right to health ---------------------------------------------------- 17 Right to education ------------------------------------------------- 17 1.1.5. Lack of an enabling environment for the civil society ------------------------ 18 Freedom of speech ------------------------------------------------- 18 Freedom of association ---------------------------------------------- 19 1.2. Legal frameworks and judicial systems in disputed territories -------------------- 21 1.2.1. Ineffective judicial systems ----------------------------------------- 21 1.2.2. The limited role of Ombudsmen -------------------------------------- 23 1.2.3. Torture and ill-treatment in the administration of Justice ---------------------- 25 Moving forward on human rights in disputed entities -------------------------- 26 II. THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY’S RESPONSE --------------------- 28 2.1. Council of Europe ------------------------------------------------- 29 Legal and political commitments associated with the Council of Europe membership ---- 29 2.1.1 European Court of Human Rights -------------------------------------- 30 -------------- 30 ---------------- 32 2.1.2. Other Council of Europe institutions ----------------------------------- 33 Committee of Ministers ---------------------------------------------- 33 Secretary General of the Council of Europe -------------------------------- 34 Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) ---------------------- 34 Commissioner for Human Rights --------------------------------------- 35 Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) ------------------------------ 36 Other bodies and policies --------------------------------------------- 38 2.2. Organisation for the Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) ----------------- 40 2.2.1. Peace negotiations ----------------------------------------------- 40 2.2.2. Field Missions, ODIHR and other institutions ----------------------------- 41 2.3. European Union (EU) ---------------------------------------------- 43 2.3.1. Striving for peace: high-level diplomacy, negotiations, mediation ---------------- 43 ------------- 46 2.4 United Nations ---------------------------------------------------- 47 Human rights treaty bodies ------------------------------------------- 48 Special Procedures and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights -------------- 49 Possibilities for creative solutions --------------------------------------- 50 2.5 The International Criminal Court --------------------------------------- 51 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS -------------------------------54 FIDH – Assessing Human Rights Protection in Eastern European Conflict and Disputed Entities / 3 List of Abbreviations ABL Administrative Boundary Line CAT UN Committee Against Torture CERD UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination CPT Committee for the Protection of Torture of the Council of Europe CoE Council of Europe ECHR European Convention on Human Rights ECtHR European Court of Human Rights EU European Union EUBAM EU Border Assistance Mission EUMM European Union Monitoring Mission EUSR European Union Special Representative HCNM High Commissioner on National Minorities of the OSCE ICCPR International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights ICRC International Committee of the Red Cross IDP Internally Displaced Person IPRM Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organisation OSCE Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe SNTD Status Neutral Travel Documents UN United Nations UNCHR United Nations Commission on Human Rights UNDP United Nations Development Programme UNSR United Nations Special Rapporteur UPR Universal Periodic Review 4 / Assessing Human Rights Protection in Eastern European Conflict and Disputed Entities – FIDH “ Human rights do not have any borders. It is vital to address underlying human rights issues in disputed territories, regardless of the political recognition or the legal status of a territory.” INTRODUCTION The FIDH regional seminar and its objectives In April 2014, FIDH organised a two-day seminar on Assessing Human Rights Protection in Eastern European Disputed Entities: Transnistria, Nagorno-Karabakh, Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Crimea de facto states, Crimea has formed a de facto part of Russia since its annexation on 21 March 2014. However, these human rights enjoyment of their citizens. This is the issue that formed the principle focus of FIDH’s April seminar. have developed their own legislative and executive powers, electing presidents (de facto- de facto part of that state. Despite this, under international law, the de jure authorities of these human rights violations that take place there. As the de jure authorities have no real leverage over the de facto authorities, expecting the former to improve the human rights situation in such disputed territory is unrealistic. However, necessary human rights conventions in their own right, rendering those persons under their - ties may unilaterally choose to apply certain international covenants and conventions in such FIDH – Assessing Human Rights Protection in Eastern European Conflict and Disputed Entities / 5 Propaganda in Tiraspol stating: Our strength is unity with Russia. – Credit: Robert B. Fishman/ Picture-Alliance/AFP instances.1 International organisations are wary of engaging with de facto authorities for fear de facto authorities status of some geographical entities – and the legal and institutional vacuum they create – lead to a situation where individuals see their rights unprotected. Nevertheless, this is a situation human rights defenders and practitioners from the disputed entities in question and the coun- 1. For example, in 1992 the Supreme Council of Transnistria declared that the International Covenant on Civil and Political (See: FIDH 2013 Report, Torture and ill-treatment in Moldova, ICCPR, the ICESCR, the Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and certain protocols to these conventions (information received from the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of South Ossetia, Murat Kusmitch 6 / Assessing Human Rights Protection in Eastern European Conflict and Disputed Entities – FIDH individuals with a platform to meet, share experiences and challenges, and look for strategies to improve human rights protection in disputed entities.2 contains an overview and analysis of main human rights violations at issue in these territo- community. Finally, Part III contains recommendations directed at international organisations, de facto authorities, de jure authorities and independent civil society organisations at entity, national and international levels. aims to focus attention on selected themes. It is hoped that this will promote more human rights- - Historical and geopolitical context The disputed entities in Eastern Europe are a direct result of the former Soviet Union’s stra- 3, whilst others Russia’s role in fomenting and perpetuating the existence of these entities was and remains helping them to politically and military maintain at least partial effective control over the terri- tory of the newly proclaimed states. As these entities went on to proclaim their independence de factode jure in Armenia. Renewed escalation of violence is a permanent threat. 2. Discussions