OSCE decision responds to silencing human rights problems in Chechnya

The work of the Moscow Mechanism in Chechnya depends on Russia's consent to cooperate with the international mission of the OSCE (Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe), since authorities are no longer able to hide information about human rights violations in the region and escape uneasy questions. This was stated by Igor Kochetkov, the head of the Russian LGBT Network, and Tatiana Lokshina, a human rights defender.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on August 30, fifteen OSCE countries demanded from Russia to report on human rights violations in Chechnya. Russia is unwilling or unable to solve the problem of such violations in Chechnya, representatives of the above OSCE countries indicated.

After the launch of the Moscow Mechanism, the international mission will check reports of human rights violations in Chechnya and establish a truth that the Russian authorities could no longer hide, Igor Kochetkov believes.

The launch of the Moscow Mechanism of the OSCE means that independent lawyers will assess facts, even if the Russian authorities would not want it, the Russian LGBT Network has noted.

Since April 2017, the network has evacuated more than 130 victims and their family members from Chechnya, but requests for help from residents of the republic continue arriving at the "hotline" of the LGBT network.

The Moscow Mechanism assumes that a group of experts will visit Chechnya, but this is possible only if Russia agrees to cooperate, Tatiana Lokshina, the director of Russian programmes at the Human Rights Watch (HRW), has explained.

If Russia refuses to cooperate with the mechanism, experts will have to work with the information already gathered by the expert and human rights organizations.

The effectiveness of the Moscow Mechanism is evidenced by the fact that in most cases states themselves applied to the OSCE with a request to launch it, Ms Lokshina has noted.