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 Copies are available from: International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF) Wickenburggasse 14/7, A-1080 Vienna, Austria Tel: (+43-1) 408 88 22, Fax: (+43-1) 408 88 22-50 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: http://www.ihf-hr.org Bank account: Creditanstalt Bankverein 0221-00283/00 © 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 . ..