Crimes of War - Expert Analysis

Chechnya and the Laws of War

In October of 1999, the Crimes of War Project carried out an informal survey of international legal experts to etermine the applicability of the laws of war —international humanitarian law— to the conflict in Chechnya. In response, these experts submitted short written statements of their views. We found that there is general agreement among them that the situation in Chechnya is an internal armed conflict as defined in international law. As such, the laws of war apply to both Russian and Chechen forces. The conflict is not simply a "police" or "anti-terrorist" action as described by Russian authorities but one that brings into effect the laws of war.

The Russian Federation ratified the Geneva Conventions of 1949 on May 10, 1954, and ratified Additional Protocol II on September 29, 1989. As a result, it is bound to observe the rules set forth in these treaties and conduct its military actions accordingly.

This survey was carried out in the hope informing the debate on the conflict in Chechnya, and to draw attention to what may prove to be serious abuses of international humanitarian law.

The opinions presented are those of the individuals and not of their respective institutions, and they are not writing as representatives of the Crimes of War Project. Please cite author and this web site for attribution.

The Experts

Bakhtiyar Tuzmukhamedov
Bakhtiyar Tuzmukhamedov is an Associate Professor at the Diplomatic Academy in Moscow. He is a member of the Committee on Arms Control and Disarmament Law of the International Law Association and of the Executive Committee of the Russian Association of International Law.

David Turns
David Turns is a Lecturer, International & European Law Unit, School of Law, University of Liverpool, United Kingdom. Cherif Bassiouni

H. Wayne Elliott, S.J.D.
H. Wayne Elliott, S.J.D., Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Army (Retired), is a former chief of the international law division at the Judge Advocate General's School, U.S. Army.

Françoise Hampson
Françoise Hampson is a professor at the University of Essex and co-director of its Children and Armed Conflict Unit. She is a member of the UN Sub-Commission on the Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, the ICRC expert committee on customary law, and governor of the British Institute of Human Rights.

A.P.V. Rogers
A.P.V. Rogers, OBE, is a retired major general in the British Army and a recognized expert on the laws of war. He received the 1997 Paul Reuter prize for Law on the Battlefield (Manchester University Press, 1996).