HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE OSCE REGION: THE BALKANS, THE CAUCASUS, EUROPE, CENTRAL ASIA AND NORTH AMERICA
REPORT 2001 (EVENTS OF 2000) The activities of the IHF in 2000 and the printing of this report were made possible by national Helsinki Committees and thanks to contributions from:
Austrian Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Austrian National Bank, Carnegie Corporation of New York, City of Vienna, Council of Europe, European Commission, Barbara Finberg, Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ford Foundation, German Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Robert James and Ardis James Foundation, Open Society Institute, Royal Ministry of Foreign Affairs (The Netherlands), Royal Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Norway), Swiss Ministry of Foreign Affairs, United States Mission to the OSCE.
The IHF wishes to thank Dr. Josef Unterweger for his legal assistance.
The historical archives of the IHF are in the possession of the Open Society Archives, Budapest, Hungary.
We thank all contributors and welcome donations to support the publication of this report.
In addition to IHF member and cooperating co-operating committees (as referenced in the endnotes), the following IHF staff members, interns and volunteers participated in the preparation of this report: Ivan Draganov, Brigitte Dufour, Chris Edge, Rachel Hammonds, Gertraud Hödl, Fanni Kadocsa, Maria Kolb, Natalia Lazareva, Aaron Rhodes, Paula Tscherne-Lempiäinen, Nicole Watson, Nina Wessel, Vladimir Weissman, Petra Winter.
Chief Editor: Paula Tscherne-Lempiäinen Editorial Assistant: Nicole Watson Language Editors: Sinead Corr, Chris Edge, Nicole Watson
Layout by Milos Uveric-Kostic Cover design by Demner, Merlicek & Bergmann and Milos Uveric-Kostic
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© 2001 by the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights and IHF Research Foundation. All rights reserved.
Printed by Charis, Bratislava, Slovakia HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE OSCE REGION: the Balkans, the Caucasus, Europe, Central Asia and North America
Report 2001 (Events of 2000)
International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF) 2 INTERNATIONAL HELSINKI FEDERATION
The International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF) is a non-governmental or- ganization that seeks to promote compliance with the human rights provisions of the Helsinki Final Act and its Follow-up Documents. In addition to supporting and providing li- aison among 39 Helsinki Committees and cooperating organizations, the IHF has direct links with human rights activists in countries where no Helsinki Committees exist. It criticis- es human rights abuses regardless of the political system of the State in which these abus- es occur. It has consultative status with the United Nations and the Council of Europe.
The IHF represents member and co-operating committees in Albania, Austria, Belarus, Bos- nia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, Ser- bia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and the United Sta- tes. Other cooperating organizations include the European Roma Rights Center (Budapest), and Human Rights Without Frontiers (Belgium).
Since 2000, the officers and staff of the IHF are:
Honorary Chairman: Yuri Orlov President: Ludmilla Alexeyeva Vice President: Ulrich Fischer Advisory Board: Karl Schwarzenberg (Chair) Lord Dahrendorf Timothy Garton Ash Anton Pelinka Jaques Rupnik George Soros Executive Committee: Sonja Biserko Holly Cartner Bjørn Engesland Krassimir Kanev Andrzej Rzeplinski Treasurer: Stein-Ivar Aarsæther Executive Director: Aaron Rhodes Deputy Executive Director/Legal Counsel: Brigitte Dufour Associate Legal Counsel/Project Coordinator: Petra Winter Chief Editor: Paula Tscherne-Lempiäinen Editor/Project Coordinator: Nicole Watson Editor/Project Coordinator: Nina Wessel Project Coordinator: Joachim Frank Press Officer: Ursula Lindenberg Financial Officer: David Theil Accountant: Rainer Tannenberger Office Manager: Maria Kolb Administrative/Financial Assistant: Natalia Lazareva Project Consultants: Renate Weber (Women’s Project) Vladimir Weissman (Former Soviet Union) Special Consultant: John Robbins Research Associate: Isabelle Kortian Interns: Øyvind Lervik Judith Vitt Stanislaw Witkowski Volunteer: Ivan Draganov
IHF Research Foundation Staff: Gertraud Hödl PREFACE 3
The aim of this Report, entitled Human Rights in the OSCE Region: the Balkans, the Caucasus, Europe, Central Asia and North America, Report 2001 (formerly the IHF Annual Report) is to shed light on the OSCE Governments’ compliance with their OSCE and oth- er international human rights commitments, and to document human dimension issues in those countries. This Report is based primarily on the results of investigations carried out by the national Helsinki Committees, other cooperating human rights NGOs and the IHF Secretariat. The Report does not cover all OSCE States. The absence of a country from the Report in no way implies that no human rights abuses were committed in that country. Similarly, the length of a section does not necessarily indicate the gravity of the IHF’s concerns. Under many country headings, only certain specific human rights issues are dealt with. This does not imply that no other forms of abuse took place in those countries; in most cases, the selection of issues simply reflects the local monitors’ field of expertise. Further, the IHF does not claim that the issues included are more serious than any violations which have not been cited. Moreover, our emphasis is principally on civil and political rights. All readers who wish to have more detailed information on the issues covered by this Report – or other possible human rights issues not covered by this Report - are en- couraged to contact national Helsinki Committees and the IHF Secretariat. As a rule, all sources of information are referenced in the endnotes. For certain coun- tries and issues, the sources are referenced at the beginning of the section. In some cas- es, the informants have wished to remain unidentified, fearing reprisals. All references to IHF activities under all headlines are based on the activity reports of the Helsinki Committees or the IHF Secretariat, and should therefore be regarded as distinct from oth- er sources. Those readers who wish to familiarize themselves with the OSCE process and, partic- ularly, with its human dimension component, should refer to the Helsinki Monitor – Quarterly on Security and Cooperation in Europe, published jointly by the IHF and the Netherlands Helsinki Committee. Helsinki Monitor includes a complete overview of the most important developments within the OSCE region, and reviews of recent publications on the Helsinki process and current human rights issues. In addition, important OSCE doc- uments are published in the Helsinki Monitor in their entirety. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface ...... 3
Introduction ...... 6
Country Issues: ...... 9 Albania ...... 11 Armenia ...... 19 Austria...... 29 Azerbaijan ...... 41 Belarus ...... 50 Belgium ...... 58 Bosnia and Herzegovina...... 65 Bulgaria...... 77 Canada ...... 88 Croatia ...... 97 Czech Republic ...... 107 Denmark...... 114 Estonia ...... 120 Finland ...... 125 France...... 129 Georgia ...... 135 Germany...... 142 Greece ...... 148 Hungary ...... 160 Italy...... 168 Kazakhstan ...... 174 Kyrgyzstan...... 184 Latvia ...... 195 Lithuania ...... 207 Macedonia ...... 212 Moldova ...... 222 The Netherlands ...... 231 Norway ...... 236 Poland ...... 240 Portugal ...... 248 Romania ...... 250 Russia ...... 258 Slovakia...... 266 Slovenia ...... 271 Spain...... 275 Sweden ...... 282 Switzerland ...... 290 TABLE OF CONTENTS 5
Tajikistan ...... 292 Turkey...... 296 Turkmenistan ...... 309 Ukraine ...... 318 United Kingdom ...... 328 United States ...... 338 Uzbekistan ...... 352 Yugoslavia, Federal Republic of (Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo) ...... 363
Appendices: ...... 401 Appendix A: IHF Human Rights Award to Yuri Schmidt ...... 402 Appendix B: IHF Activities in 2000...... 404 Appendix C: Excerpts from International Human Rights Provisions. . . . . 410 Appendix D: Address List ...... 421
Abbreviations ...... 427
Index ...... 428 6 INTRODUCTION
In the year 2000, the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF) engaged in the broadest and most comprehensive program of human rights monitoring and advoca- cy in the history of the organization. Large-scale project grants from the European Union and the Ford Foundation, with other funds donated by national Governments, the Council of Europe and other sources, made it possible for us to undertake regional programs in which many Helsinki Committees and other NGOs participated. Included in the Report is a list of the main activities of the IHF that illustrates, in a cursory way, our efforts over the past year. Thanks especially to the vision and positive energy of our President, Ludmilla Alexeyeva, the IHF took many actions vis à vis human rights problems in Russia and in oth- er former Soviet Republics, and developed long-term plans for future cooperation. Over 225 human rights activists gathered in Moscow to observe the 25th anniversary of the Helsinki Final Act. We continued to raise concerns about violations of humanitarian law in Chechnya and about authoritarian political tendencies in Russia; about severe abuses of political and civil rights in Belarus where we cooperated with the OSCE and the Belarus Helsinki Committee in monitoring political events; and about corruption and growing threats to the rule of law and the separation of powers in Ukraine and Moldova. The human rights situation in Central Asia deteriorated. The leader of the Kyrgyz Committee for Human Rights, Ramazan Dyrldaev, was forced into exile and the IHF assist- ed the Committee to establish a base in Vienna. The IHF issued many statements and or- ganized several briefings to help strengthen the voice of independent civil society groups in the region that seek compliance by their Governments with international human rights standards. The IHF became more active in cooperating with human rights groups in the Caucasus. A number of political prisoners were released as a result of our efforts and we had oppor- tunities for substantial face-to-face discussions with the Presidents of both Armenia and Azerbaijan, in which we advocated for allowing civil society organizations more space to contribute to human rights and conflict resolution in the region. The IHF began a large program of monitoring and advocacy focusing on Serbia, Kosovo, Montenegro and Bosnia - Herzegovina, as well as on other Balkan countries. In co- operation with the Helsinki Committee in Serbia, the IHF established dialogue with the new political authorities in FRY, and pressed for cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). We continued a regional program of research and analysis begun in the framework of the Royaumont process. At the Human Dimension Implementation Meeting of the OSCE in Warsaw, the IHF and Greek Helsinki Monitor pre- sented a special comprehensive report on Greece to supplement our thematic report cov- ing the whole region. The IHF took up issues in the established democracies of the OSCE, for example hold- ing a press conference in New York about the death penalty in the United States and ex- pressing concern about the freedom of expression in Austria, where the founder of the Austrian Helsinki Committee, Professor Anton Pelinka, was convicted of libelling the leader of the right-wing Freedom Party. We made plans to strengthen our cooperation with the Helsinki Committees in EU candidate countries, focusing on the human rights dimension of the accession process. The IHF made a major contribution to promoting women’s rights with the publication of Women 2000, a systematic, 552-page analysis of women’s rights issues in 29 countries. The project was led by human rights lawyer Renate Weber, Chair of the Open Society Foundation in Romania and a member of the Romanian Helsinki Committee. The results will be the basis for future programs to monitor and advocate for the enforcement of women’s human rights. INTRODUCTION 7
With the assistance of experts from the Committees, the IHF’s Rule of Law Council and the staff, we began drafting a guide for human rights advocacy in the OSCE region that will help clarify our political objectives. We began a process of analysing and improving our communications practices. The Open Society Archives’ exhibit documenting the history of the Helsinki human rights movement was displayed at the Austrian National Library as part of the OSCE’s 25th anniversary celebration. We initiated an annual recognition award, which was presented to Russian human rights lawyer Yuri Schmidt at the General Assembly meeting in Prague. And, with the assistance of the City of Vienna, the IHF moved into a larger office after 18 years in the small apartment of Czech human rights advocate Jana Starek, who finally reclaimed the space. This is the IHF’s report on human rights issues in the OSCE region in the year 2000. Of course, neither human rights developments nor the work of the human rights commu- nity frame themselves in terms of calendar years. The problems described here are con- tinuing, and so is our work in 2001. Personally and on behalf of the IHF, I thank all the Helsinki Committee members, Executive Committee members, our collaborators in other organizations and our loyal staff for their efforts and their sacrifices. And all of us are grateful to the financial supporters whose commitment is necessary to sustain our work.
Aaron Rhodes Executive Director
9
COUNTRY ISSUES
ALBANIA1 11
IHF FOCUS: Elections; freedom of expression and media; freedom of assembly; con- ditions in prisons and detention facilities; protection of ethnic minorities; women’s rights.2
Albania was still undergoing a difficult and some organisational and technical transition period. Substantial and significant problems which, however, did not affect changes had taken place in many areas of the final results. The Albanian Helsinki human rights, profoundly transforming the Committee deemed the elections free, country’s human rights record in compari- honest and open, reflecting the fact that son with the past. A new society was emer- the Albanian electorate was prepared for a ging which was working towards democra- democratic political life based on interna- tisation particularly in the field of human tionally approved, advanced standards. rights and the rule of law. In Himara, however, the end of the Nevertheless, some acute problems campaign was marred by nationalist rheto- remained and were closely linked to the ric in relation to the Greek-speaking com- difficulties of the transition period. The pic- munity, reported at length in the local and ture as a whole was encouraging, but con- national media even on election day, in an tinuous efforts needed to be made to im- environment of increased tension with a prove the status of human rights, focusing neighbouring country. On second round particularly on some very sensitive issues election day, the situation was marked in such as the operation of the media and the this constituency by some serious irregular- behavior of the police ities – including intimidation of Election Commission members, the destruction of Local Elections one ballot box in a violent incident, and fraud in three other voting centres reported The 1 October local elections constitut- by Human Rights Watch3 - which had not ed an important step towards democratisa- been sufficiently addressed by the Central tion of the institution of elections and were Election Commission (CEC) by December.4 organised within a new constitutional and According to the Albanian side, the legislative framework. high tension in Himara could largely be at- In general, the new Electoral Code was tributed to the campaign by ethnic Greek implemented satisfactorily. The elections deputies who strongly promoted their own were conducted in a tense but peaceful at- candidates. mosphere, although with some isolated vi- Although, by law, the election cam- olent incidents. Also the police behaved in paign should have started one month be- an appropriate way, and, for the first time, fore the voting day, in reality it started much the media covered the election campaign earlier. Public meetings were organised in a and the elections extensively and objec- peaceful manner, but some representatives tively. of political parties - especially the two According to the Albanian Helsinki biggest parties, the Democratic Party (DP) Committee, that monitored the elections and the Socialist Party (SP) - and part of closely as part of the project “Public the media used a language amounting to Education and Monitoring of Elections for hate speech. The CEC criticised the use of Local Government,” the voting process was foreign representatives of some political carried out according to the law in the ma- parties (particularly the DP) in the election jority of municipalities, and the election propaganda. commissions operated as they were sup- In some cities co-operation between posed to. The problems observed included political factions was good. For example in irregularities in the preliminary voter lists Korce and in Shkoder, the political parties 12 ALBANIA reached an agreement for a peaceful and sial despite the fact that the Electoral Code democratic conduct of the electoral cam- stated clear regulations. paign. There were irregularities and inaccura- These elections were the first in which cies in the voter lists which were contested the CEC was established in accordance of by the opposition. The difficult process of Article 154 of the Constitution, and it im- completing and correcting these lists made plemented Law 8609 of the Electoral it more difficult for individuals to exercise Code. However, the CEC was set up and their right of complaint. For this reason, the started working with delays and without be- deadline for complaints was lengthened ing sufficiently acquainted with the Elec- beyond the legal deadline. The corrections toral Code, which led to some weaknesses brought about some improvements, but at in its operation which negatively impacted many polling stations voter lists remained on the electoral process. Such problems in- inaccurate: for example, the Albanian Hel- cluded the lack of regular and planned CEC sinki Committee observed cases where the meetings, delays in giving instructions - names of voters were not found in the vot- which were often vague and controversial - er lists even though some of them could to the Local Government Elections Com- produce a voter card. According to the mission (LGEC) and the Voting Centre Co- Committee, with a co-operative approach, mmission (VCC), and the lack of training for some of these gaps could have been pre- the local electoral commissions. After the vented as the political parties received the first round, the handling of complaints by voter lists prior to the elections. Also, the the election commissions and the courts existence of two lists - the preliminary and was inadequate and did not provide effec- the renewed - created confusion in the vot- tive means of redress. ing process and raised distrust among the The CEC’s announcement of the re- voters. However, at the polling stations sults after the first round was slow and in- monitored by the Committee, the number complete, and, between rounds, it did not of those who could not vote was relatively take action to remedy some of the short- low. comings observed on 1 October. In addi- The Albanian Helsinki Committee also tion, the withdrawal of a number of Demo- noted that, considering that the Electoral cratic Party candidates between rounds fol- Code was new, there was insufficient pub- lowing a call to boycott from the DP na- lic information about it on radio and TV tional leadership caused confusion. This (with the exception of Telenorba that gave was made worse by the absence of a information about the Code on four occa- deadline for candidate withdrawal.5 sions). The public was informed about the The establishment of the LGEC and the voting procedure only one or two days pri- VCC were delayed because some political or to the election day, but it was done in a parties submitted their nominations too thorough manner. Some private radio and late. The LGEC and VCC members were TV stations gave only partial information on poorly trained, a fact that led to inadequate the electoral process, thus violating the law. knowledge of the Electoral Code and the manual prepared by the CEC as well as de- Freedom of Expression and Media lays and other shortcomings in the dealing Albanian legislation and in particular with complaints. For example, the CEC gave the Constitution provide for freedom of ex- instructions to the commissions on cases pression and freedom of the media. The where voters were not allowed to vote if media were active and unrestrained in re- their names were not found in the voter porting in 2000 and, generally, had unhin- lists too late. Moreover, its instructions on dered access to information. However, the non-validity of ballots were controver- some journalists complained that they ALBANIA 13 were not allowed to attend court sessions,6 tance of this issue, which dealt with one of and there were some reports of the police the fundamental principles of the freedom ill-treating journalists when they were carry- and independence of the press, there was ing out their duties, e.g. covering demon- a need for a press law which could provide strations. a legal solution to problems such as the The Albanian Helsinki Committee not- above-mentioned case and other issues ed, however, that the problem with the dealing with the operation of the press. journalistic responsibility and the profes- sional integrity of journalists remained. Access to Information Although some media had improved their On 20 March 2000 the Albanian Hel- professional standards and covered prob- sinki Committee criticised the fact that the lems of Albanian society through accurate media had been denied access to courts. reporting in a balanced way, other media Journalists of both the printed and outlets resorted to sensationalism, publish- electronic media complained that a Tirana ing gossip, and spreading unsubstantiated court authorities had given orders not to al- accusations or outright fabrications. low them to attend court sessions. The Committee noted that despite the poor Disclosure of Confidential Information Although free expression and media physical conditions of the above court - work were generally respected, the Alba- which had even forced it hold trials in its of- nian Helsinki Committee recommended fices - the order to bar the media from the improvements to the existing law on the court amounted to a breach of the right of media, particularly as regards the publicati- the press to report on court proceedings, on of confidential information. Motivated and the right of the public to receive infor- by a concrete case concerning the decision mation. Decisions to try cases partially or of a Tirana court which requested the chief fully behind closed doors should be well editor of the newspaper Albania to reveal grounded and always based on the law, the source of information of an article, the said the Committee. Committee expressed its conviction that On 18 October, the newspaper Koha the protection of the source of information Jone published a letter according to which was of prime significance for freedom of local journalists in Vlora had been hindered thought and the independence of the from attending trials in the local court since press. On the other hand, the Committee 1 October when special police forces took pointed out that the Tirana court had acted under their protection the court and the in compliance with Article 151(3) of the Prosecutor’s Office. The chairman of the Penal Procedure Code. This article stipulat- court said to journalists that he could not ed that a journalist was obliged to reveal give orders to the special forces and that his/her source of information when the in- the journalists’ access to court sessions did formation was necessary to prove that a not depend on him. The letter emphasised criminal act had been committed, and that the chairman of the court, apart from when the authenticity of the information generally not being available to journalists, could be proved only by identifying its had also threatened journalists. source. The only provision in the Constitution regarding the press simply read: “The Press Harassment of Journalists is free,” – a declaration that was insuffi- There were few but nonetheless signif- cient. More detailed treatment of the mat- icant cases of harassment of and violence ter is expected. The Albanian Helsinki against journalists. Some faced criminal Committee noted that due to the impor- prosecution for what they had written. 14 ALBANIA