The United Nations Human Rights Commission rejected...

The United Nations Human Rights Commission rejected an attempt by the European Union to urge Russia to prevent executions, torture and other human rights abuses in war-torn Chechnya. Twenty-three countries in the 53 member Commission voted against the draft resolution, which had sought to "strongly condemn the ongoing serious violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law in Chechnya". Russia effectively escaped further pressure to allow UN human rights specialists to probe the situation in Chechnya, as well as to open up the breakaway republic to aid agencies and human rights groups, which were key demands of the text. The draft resolution, filed by the EU and backed by several central and east European states that were once in the Soviet orbit, had listed "forced disappearances, extra judicial executions, torture, ill treatment, arbitrary detentions and abductions". It had also urged Russia to "urgently... stop and prevent violations of human rights" in Chechnya and to prosecute offenders. But only 13 countries approved the proposal, while seven states abstained in voting.