Rights activists accuse Kadyrov of imposing Islamic dress code on women in Chechnya

Human rights defenders find head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov responsible for enforcing Islamic dress code for women in his republic. This was stated by rights defender Tatiana Lokshina at presentation of the report "Woman Should Know Her Place: Enforcement of Islamic Dress Code for Women in Chechnya".

The report of the Human Rights Watch (HRW) "Woman Should Know Her Place: Enforcement of Islamic Dress Code for Women in Chechnya" was presented today in Moscow.

Rachel Denber, Director of the HRW Centre for Europe and Central Asia, said that the report was dedicated to rights defender Natalia Estemirova, their colleague, assassinated in Chechnya. It was Natalia, as Ms Denber explained, who was the first to speak about the pressure on women with the aim to force them wear headscarves.

Svetlana Gannushkina, head of the "Civil Assistance" Committee, found unacceptable the situation, when the head of the region encourages violence against women, promotes polygamy and treats comfortably the so-called "honour killings" of women for alleged immoral behaviour. At the same time rights defender noted that President Medvedev and the federal centre condone Kadyrov in all his actions in exchange for his loyalty to the Kremlin.

Tatiana Lokshina, a rights defender and the author of the report, said that today Chechnya is commanded by only one law, which has nothing to do with the Russian legislation and international norms assumed by Russia, - unspoken, but clearly executable instructions of Ramzan Kadyrov.

Ms Lokshina said that shooting at women without headscarves from paintball guns in the streets, as well as other forms of pressing women (taking away mobile phones from girls in the streets and impeding of access of women with the uncovered head to public institutions) are committed by power agents on the wish of the head of Chechnya.