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Text File | 1994-06-28 | 57KB | 1,092 lines

<text> <title>Helsinki Watch: Soviet Union</title> <article> <hdr> Human Rights Watch World Report 1992 Helsinki Watch: Soviet Union </hdr> <body> Human Rights Developments The year 1991 saw the destruction of the Soviet Union as a political entity, a process that seemed to be culminating at year's end. The strong pro-independence vote in the Ukrainian referendum on December 1, following the failure of Soviet President Gorbachev in his various efforts to create a new political union, led to a meeting on December 8 involving Russian President Boris Yeltsin, Belorussian Supreme Soviet Chairman Stanislau Shushkevich, and Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk at which they established a commonwealth of independent states open to all republics of the former USSR. The new commonwealth will strive for coordination in foreign policy, development of a common economic space, customs and migration policies, transport and communications, ecology and the struggle against crime. Although Soviet President Gorbachev promptly declared this proclamation illegal, within days the parliaments of the three Slavic republics had ratified the commonwealth, and the four Central Asian republics plus Kazakhstan said they wanted to join the commonwealth. At the time of this writing, Yeltsin had announced that ten of the 12 remaining republics would join the commonwealth by the end of the year, and that President Gorbachev had no place in the new commonwealth structure. The three Slavic republics that launched the commonwealth, as founding members of the Soviet Union and signatories of the 1922 state treaty, proclaimed the end of the USSR "as a subject of international law and a geopolitical reality." Articles in the commonwealth agreement proclaim that USSR laws are henceforth invalid on their republic territory and that USSR organs will cease their activities in these republics. The disappearance of the central government ministries--the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Procuracy, the Ministry of Justice--will have a marked effect on human rights. The rather extensive reforms of, for example, the Criminal Code, are now left to the discretionary power of the republic governments. The human rights picture will become as multi-faceted as the newly powerful republics. The republics have confirmed their "commitment to the goals and principles of the United Nations Charter, the Helsinki Final Act and other documents from the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe" and their obligation "to observe common international norms on human and national rights." Several articles of the commonwealth declaration proclaim specific human rights commitments. The major such proclamation is in Article Two: "The agreeing parties guarantee their citizens, regardless of nationality or other differences, equal rights and freedoms. Each of the agreeing parties guarantees citizens of other parties and also people without citizenship who reside on its territory, regardless of nationality or other differences, civil, political, social, economic and cultural rights and freedoms in accordance with common international norms on human rights." The human rights pledges in this article represent a welcome beginning for the new commonwealth. Particularly key is the promise of equal treatment under the law of all residents in republic territories. It remains to be seen, however, how well republic leaders will observe these pledges in practice. Many events treated in this chapter occurred before the abortive coup of August 19, when the central government ruled--however ineffectually--over the Soviet Union. (For the sake of consistency and simplicity, the terms "Soviet," "Soviet Union" and "USSR" are used to refer to the region both before and after the August coup. Since the December 8 Commonwealth declaration, however, these terms have become part of history.) The year began on a dismal note for human rights policies and practices in the Soviet Union. President Mikhail Gorbachev, who had largely abandoned democratic reform in the fall of 1990, tried to curtail freedoms of press and assembly and sanctioned a vicious crackdown in Lithuania and Latvia. High-level official advocates of liberal reform either resigned or were fired from the USSR government. The "war of laws" between Moscow and the republics signaled the center's growing ineffectiveness and the republics' determination to set their own course. When Gorbachev returned to more democratic policies in the spring of 1991, he focused on drafting a new union treaty and securing Western aid for the desperate Soviet economy. On August 19, the day before the union treaty was to be signed by the participating republics, key right-wing members of the Soviet government, all Gorbachev appointees, declared a state of emergency and attempted to restore power to the center. Due to its plotters' stunning incompetence, and the lack of support for their move among key segments of the government, the coup failed after three days. Had it succeeded, the coup could have totally changed the human rights picture in the Soviet Union, almost surely for the worse. Its failure, instead, ushered in political chaos, leaving considerable uncertainty about the protection of human rights. The collapse of the central government and the discrediting of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) empowered republic leaders, unleashing intense power struggles in some republics. In the post-coup period, it is feared that internal social and economic tensions and popular anger at undemocratic local leaders will more often find expression in bitter--if not violent--confrontation than in the painstaking, consensus-building work of democratic institutions. Moreover, participants in some of these political struggles are armed, an alarming development which imperils civilians and bodes poorly for democratic outcomes. Nationalism has surged throughout the Soviet Union's myriad ethnic groups, encouraging republic leaders to take up nationalist agendas. In Georgia and Azerbaidzhan, for example, intensified struggles for power are exacerbating already lethal interethnic violence. No republic is ethnically homogenous. In some republics including the Russian Republic (RSFSR), ethnic minorities that have their own political-administrative units are waging intense battles for autonomy. Minorities without political representation fear discrimination. For example, Russians in many of the non-Russian republics are leaving their homes in response to an anti-Russian mood. It is no surprise, therefore, that human rights violations increasingly involve the rights of ethnic minorities. It is unclear who will win the political struggles and what kinds of governments will take hold in the republics. This turbulent political transition is particular cause for concern as power devolves to the republics and they assume jurisdiction over institutions with human rights mandates. In the wake of the attempted coup, the central government avowed that respect for human rights was a priority in the Soviet Union. In September, the Congress of People's Deputies issued a Declaration of Human Rights and Freedoms. The document provides for a wide range of civil and political rights. Marking a clean break with socialism's emphasis on collective rights, no mention was made of group interests in the definition of the freedoms of speech, association, conscience, religion and assembly. In addition to civil and political rights, the Declaration sets out social and economic rights, including the right to work, property, education, sufficient living standards, and state support in housing and health protection. In September, the Soviet government moved toward a more meaningful acceptance of international standards for human rights. At the Moscow Conference on the Human Dimension, part o