North Caucasians in Europe under Threat from Moscow and Its Agents, PACE Warns

 Paul Goble

            Staunton, June 21 – Today, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe unanimously adopted a resolution on “the necessity of restoring human rights and the supremacy of law in the North Caucasus.” It may not cause Moscow to change course there, but it has the potential to change the behavior of Europeans toward North Caucasians who have fled West.

            The resolution, a complete text of which is available at pace.coe.int/en/files/30165/html, details the many ways in which Russian officials and their agents in the North Caucasus continue to violate the human rights of people in the North Caucasus. Unfortunately, history suggests, Moscow will ignore this criticism.

            But the resolution does more than that. It calls attention to something many in the West don’t want to acknowledge. Moscow and its agents not only continue to demand that refugees from the region be returned to Russia but also continue to visit retribution up to and including murder of those refugees in Western countries.

            Any North Caucasian returned to Russia, even if he or she is not returned to the North Caucasus, is at risk of repression, PACE warns; and any North Caucasian who has succeeded in coming West to Europe also is under threat because Moscow and its minions show no respect for the rights of those they attack or for international law.

            And consequently, there is a chance that while the PACE action may not affect Moscow, it may very well affect the actions of Western governments who have been put on notice that sending North Caucasians and others back to Russia or failing to protect them in the West is itself a violation of their human rights.

            For a discussion of this resolution and these possibilities, see kavkazr.com/a/v-evrope-prinyali-novuyu-rezolyutsiyu-o-pravah-cheloveka-na-severnom-kavkaze-chto-ona-realjno-mozhet-izmenitj-/31927779.html.