Delivered by Umar Khanbiev


Thank you Mr. Chairman,

My name is Umar Khanbiev. I speak on behalf of the Transnational Radical Party, being also a member of its General Council.

Three years ago I spoke in this same room and my speech provoked loud protest from the Russian delegation. I was testifying to Russian crimes against humanity and asking for help to stop the genocide of the Chechen people. What changes have occurred since then?

Unfortunately none. The only difference is that the number of people killed, maimed and disappearing, has increased by hundred of thousands. This is the price of your lack of action. Concentration camps, torture (including torture aimed at destroying fertility), non judicial executions, kidnappings, trading in hostages and corpses, death squadrons, experiments with poisons on detainees, hidden mass graves – such is the reality of Chechnya today.

On some occasions young people have been tied together and blown up in public to intimidate the population. Every type of weapons has been used against the civilians, including weapons forbidden by the Geneva Convention, such as incendiary and air vacuum fuel bombs. We have records of new combined chemical-bacterial weapons being used.

According to data compiled by the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Chechnya and independent NGOs, 25% of the Chechen population has perished since the beginning of the war, 30% becoming refugees. The people who remain in Chechnya have become hostages and are subjected daily to air bombing, artillery bombardment, “clean-up” operations and executions.

It is time to understand that Russia is not engaged in an “anti-terrorist campaign” but in a colonial war and a shameful campaign of terror aimed at the physical and moral destruction of the Chechen people.

Mr Chairman,

President Aslan Maskhadov, has repeatedly stated that he is ready to start a dialogue with the international community. Should the UN be prepared to listen to his reasonable appeals, the lives of thousands of children, women and elderly people could be saved.

The international community has refused to intervene, closing its eyes on the way Russia has made a parody of democratic institutions. Referendum and elections were conducted at gun point. The situation is getting worse every day. The Chechens will not accept the Quisling Kadyrov. Without a serious international intervention, the Russian leadership will not have the will and the moral fortitude to engage in a serious political dialogue.

Taking note of the Resolution of the European Parliament adopted on 26th February 2004 (recognising the 1944 Stalin’s deportation as an act of genocide and stating its willingness to consider President Maskhadov’s Peace Plan), we request that the UN should also take measures.

Mr. Chairman,

Fully aware that there cannot be a military solution to the century-old Russian-Chechen conflict, the Transnational Radical Party urges this august body to give the highest priority in considering Aslan Maskhadov’s Peace Plan for a political solution that could put an end to this genocide war. This proposal stipulates that independence is not a goal in itself but the only mean of survival in the face of constant Russian terror. It suggests setting up a temporary UN administration in order to allow Chechnya to be demilitarised and to develop democratic institutions while safeguarding the interests of both warring parties.

I thank you, Mr. Chairman