There has been talk of little else in the weeks leading up to what the Financial Times has called Russia's "media event of the year": next week's meeting in Moscow between Barack Obama and Dmitri Medvedev. Barrack Obama, possibly one of the most popular presidents America has produced, will allegedly use the meeting to "press the re-set button" on US-Russia relations. With his impressive global support - a recent IPS poll calculated a 61% approval rating from 19 nations across the world - President Obama would appear well placed to do just that. However it is essential that these talks are based on the notion of recipricocity and that Russia agrees to comply with its international obligations on human rights.
Obama has certainly championed the ideals of democracy and the rule of law, not least in his spectacular speech at the Al-Azhar University in Cairo, where he claimed that "I do have an unyielding belief that all people yearn for certain things; the ability to speak your mind and have a say in how you are governed (...) government that is transparent and doesn't steal from the people; the freedom to live as you choose. Those are not just American ideas, they are human rights, and that is why we will support them everywhere." Yet he has also been criticized for his reluctance to engage in overt judgments of other countries' behaviour, including his ‘slow' response to the dubious Iranian election results and the heavy handed crackdowns that the Iranian government subsequently engaged in.
The fear for Chechens, which is shared by Russia's other oppressed territories and neighbours, is that Obama's pragmatism will win over his ambition to promote a more just and peaceful world, one in which the "real" democracy he talks of is a reality for all. Certainly the reduction of nuclear weapons, something that has been touted to be top of the agenda at next week's summit, will be an important step towards that goal. But achieving progress on nuclear disarmament must not mean that the other cheek is turned to the blatant abuses of human rights and the rule of law taking place at the hands of the Russian administration and their cronies in the North Caucuses.
Amnesty International published a report this week detailing the "indiscriminate killings, excessive use of force, death and torture in custody, arbitrary and secret detention, abductions, threats to human rights activists and independent journalists, the targeting of relatives of suspected fighters and the forced evictions of internally displaced people" that continue to take place in Chechnya. These are not the activities of a government that "reflects the will of the people," as Obama refers to in his speech.
The Amnesty report says that: "There has been and continues to be a total failure of political will to uphold the rule of law and address impunity in Chechnya which has led to destabilization across the North Caucasus."
If President Obama really wants to embark on a new era of constructive relations with Russia, he should bring his considerable personal popularity to bear on Russia's own record of democracy and rule of law, and call for an end to the atrocities that Russia continues to perpetrate in this region.
Next week is a chance for Obama to uphold these fundamental freedoms for all of us and ensure that any olive branch from the US means a new direction from Russia too.
Ivar Amundsen
Director, Chechnya Peace Forum |
