Residents of Northern Caucasus seem to be diverted from human values, experts assert

Residents of the North-Caucasian republics try to balance between the sharia law, the Russian laws and the adat law, and that leads to the vagueness of norms and rules of behaviour in society, and in turn, that results in violation of the rights of women. This opinion was voiced by participants of the roundtable on the topic "The role of the state, society and media to protect the rights of women in Northern Caucasus."

According to Ekaterina Sokiryanskaya, Senior Analyst at the International Crisis Group (ICG), a member of the Board of the HRC "Memorial", in the Caucasus, because of the influence of religious practices, "the situation with the women's rights, particularly in recent years, has become much worse."

"In the North-Caucasian republics, officials actively intervene in the private space of women. In Chechnya, the authorities has set its goal to 'restore moral and ethic character' of the republic after the Second Chechen War, and at present, they try to impose a dress code for women and the morality of the women's behaviour is controlled by armed ruffians," said Ekaterina Sokiryanskaya.

According to Irina Kosterina, the coordinator of the gender programme of the Russian branch of the Heinrich Boell Foundation, Chechnya faces the situation of vague value framework and rules.

"There is a large space of incomprehensible laws, which became apparent during the Second Chechen War. And they appeared in Chechnya, and now their waves diverge in other republics," notes Irina Kosterina.

Denis Sokolov, the head of the "RAMCOM" Research Centre, has emphasized that the process of returning to archaic traditions, which is often mentioned with reference to Northern Caucasus, mostly deals with family relations. "The situation of women is becoming worse than it was before the collapse of rural society, and the man becomes a subject, bringing arbitrariness and violence," notes the expert.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.