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October
1999
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.
Related
Articles
Presentation
by Diederick Lohman
War
Crimes and Human Rights Violations in Chechnya by Oleg
Orlov
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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. |
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David
Turns
David
Turns is a Lecturer, International & European Law
Unit, School of Law, University of Liverpool, United Kingdom.
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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.
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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. |
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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). |
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