Ask Amnesty

From Daniela:

What would you like to see foreign governments/NGOs/Chechens doing for Chechnya?

Eliza Moussaeva and Bela Tsugaeva are two human rights defenders from Chechnya who have recently completed a tour in the US.

1. As for foreign governments, we would like them to generate political pressure to get Russia to do anything about the violations in Chechnya. If during high-level meetings, the question of violations of human rights in Chechnya is raised, if violations in Chechnya can be viewed not as an internal affair of Russia, but as violation of international human rights law, it can help to improve the situation.
2. In regards of humanitarian assistance, we would like foreign countries to allocate more funds to cover the needs of thousands of refugees and make Chechen NGOs their implementing partners, because, Chechens, being refugees themselves, or being the citizens of the breakaway republic, know the situation better and the needs inside their Motherland. In regards to education, we would like foreign countries to develop projects that allow Chechen children to come to their country to study at educational Institutions there. Education is a sore point today in Chechnya. In the future, we face the catastrophe of illiteracy.
3. As for foreign and Chechen NGOs, we would like them to coordinate their sectors of work and not overlap each others activity and try to cover as many gaps as possible. For example, at the current stage it would be vital to pay more attention to the projects targeted on women, widows in particular. There are a lot of women in Chechnya, whose husbands were killed, disappeared, tortured and being invalids, can not longer act as breadwinners. That is why women today need to be strong and educated, so that they can work somewhere to earn their living. The average chechen family is usually an extended one (with 5-9 children). Vocational training for such women will be very helpful with further involvement of these women into different humanitarian projects. And there are a lot of other gaps down here which need to be filled.
4. As for Chechens, there are a lot of well-to-do Chechens in different parts of Russia and abroad. If they can unite, open a fund, collect money and develop projects to implement in Chechnya, it will be good input. There are attempts taken by such category of prominent Chechens to help their fellow-citizens, but they do not have well-developed strategy and mechanisms. Usually they provide one-time assistance and as a rule, to those settlements of Chechnya from which they are originated.