Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Seeking Life, Finding Justice: Russian NGO litigation and Chechen Disappearances before the European Court of Human Rights

  • Published:
Human Rights Review Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This article presents findings from an interview study of human rights practitioners who assist relatives of the disappeared from Chechnya with their complaints before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). These practitioners work for nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). The study contributes to the scant literature on NGO litigation before the ECtHR and to the social scientific literature on how human rights are actively practiced. It investigates the NGOs’ intermediary position between the ECtHR and the relatives of the disappeared in Chechnya. Consequently, this article asserts that a significant aspect of this position lies in the practitioner’s capacity to mediate between an ambition to externalize local grievances to the ECtHR and the relatives’ hopes that the ECtHR can bring certainty to the uncertain loss of their disappeared relatives. From this position, several dilemmas emerge as to how international legal mechanisms can provide remedies following disappearances.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Lisa Ott discusses the various legal interpretations of enforced disappearances (Ott 2011).

  2. While there is much optimism on the role of NGOs in human rights advocacy, some scholars have argued that their role in the domestic implementation of human rights is ambiguous because of their varying beliefs in justice (Boesenecker and Vinjamuri 2011). In addition, the NGOs’ working capacity and professionalism highly depends on their competition with other NGOs to secure foreign funding (McIntosh Sundstrom 2006). Another problem of associational life entails the question of who NGOs represent and how they mediate voices (Edwards 2009). The role of NGOs in Russia has been discussed extensively (see Alapuro et al. 2004; Cook and Vinogradova 2006; Evans et al. 2006; Salmenniemi 2010).

  3. http://www.echr.coe.int/ECHR/EN/hudoc

  4. This amounts to 40.925 pending applications (ECtHR 2011a).

  5. Khashiyev v Russia (57942/00), Akayeva v Russia (57945/00), Isayeva v Russia (57947/00), Yusupova v Russia (57948/00), Bazayeva v Russia (57949/00), Isayeva v Russia (57950/00); applicants were represented by EHRAC.

  6. EHRAC also works on similar litigation programs in cooperation with lawyers in Azerbaijan and Georgia.

  7. http://www.khrp.org/index.php

  8. Interview, acting director, Moscow, June 2011.

  9. Telephone Interview, NGO representative, Utrecht, The Netherlands, March 2012.

  10. http://www.srji.org/en/about/

  11. Interview, Nizhny Novgorod, lawyer, May 2011.

  12. Interview, lawyer, Moscow, November 2010. The ECtHR accepts applications when the applicant has exhausted all domestic legal corridors. However, when applicants file a case at the local prosecutor’s office in Chechnya, the criminal investigation is frequently suspended (Sperling 2009). Initially, there was no way for a Chechen complaint regarding a disappearance to be finalized in a decision by a domestic court. The ECtHR nonetheless recognized this obstacle and accepted Chechen cases, despite the frequent counter claim by the Russian government that applicants had not exhausted all domestic remedies (Leach 2008).

  13. I thank the anonymous reviewer for pointing this out to me.

  14. I thank the anonymous reviewer for pointing this out to me.

  15. SRJI represented Bazorkina. A rare public hearing was held in the ECtHR’s Grand Chamber.

  16. Interview, lawyer, Moscow, November 2010.

  17. Correspondence, lawyer, March 2012; Interview, lawyer, Moscow, November 2010.

  18. Violations of Article 2 (both substantive and procedural: positive obligation to protect life and failure to investigate the events), Article 3 (ill-treatment in relation to the mental well-being of relatives), Article 5 (right to liberty and security), and Article 13 (right to an effective remedy).

  19. Interview, lawyer, Moscow, June 2011.

  20. http://www.srji.org/en/legal/security/. The lawyers and organizations were targets of intimidation by the authorities as well (Lemaître 2010). In particular, SRJI had problems with its registration in Russia on several occasions (Bigg 2012).

  21. Interview, lawyer, Moscow, June 2011.

  22. Telephone Interview, lawyer, Nazran, Ingushetia, May 2011.

  23. Interview, lawyer, Moscow, June 2011.

  24. Cooperation occurs in the form of NGO roundtables and legal training of domestic lawyers.

  25. Interview, lawyer, Moscow, June 2011. See also the Zubayrayev v. Russia (67797/01) judgment.

  26. Interview, three lawyers, Moscow, December 2010.

  27. Interview, lawyer, Moscow, June 2011.

  28. Interview, lawyer, Moscow, June 2011.

  29. Interview, lawyer, Moscow, November 2011.

  30. Interview, three lawyers, Moscow, December 2010.

  31. Interview, lawyer, Moscow, November 2010.

  32. Correspondence, Lawyer, March 2012.

  33. Interview, lawyer, Moscow, June 2011.

  34. Key note speech, Upendra Baxi, seminar “Critical Perspectives on Global Governance” at the University of Helsinki, 7 May 2010.

  35. Interview, three lawyers, Moscow, December 2010.

  36. Interview, three lawyers, Moscow, December 2010.

  37. Telephone Interview, lawyer, Ingushetia, May 2011.

  38. It is not certain whether the lawyers in all cases pursue an Article 2 application despite the wishes of the applicant.

  39. The ECtHR addresses the individual suffering of the relatives because of a lack of information and the authority’s noncooperation by ruling violations of article 3 (inhuman and degrading treatment).

  40. Interview, three lawyers, Moscow, December 2010.

  41. Interview, lawyer, Moscow, June 2011.

  42. Interview, lawyer, Moscow, November 2010.

  43. Interview, three lawyers, Moscow, December 2010.

  44. Interview, three lawyers, Moscow, December 2010.

  45. Interview, lawyer, November 2010.

  46. Interview, lawyer, Moscow, November 2010.

  47. Telephone interview, lawyer, Nazran, Ingushetia, May 2010, similar statements were made by three other lawyers.

  48. Interview, three lawyers, Moscow, December 2010.

References

  • Abdel-Monem T (2004) The European Court of Human Rights: Chechnya’s Last Chance. Vt L Rev 28:237–297

    Google Scholar 

  • Adler N (1993) Victims of Soviet Terror: the Story of the Memorial Movement. Praeger Publishers, Westport

    Google Scholar 

  • Alapuro R, Lonkila M, Liikanen I (2004) Beyond Post-Soviet Transition: Micro-Perspectives on Challenge and Survival in Russia and Estonia. Kikimora Publications, Helsinki

    Google Scholar 

  • Amnesty International (2009) Rule without Law: Human Rights Violations in the North Caucasus. http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/EUR46/012/2009. Accessed 12 Nov 2011

  • Amnesty International (2010) What the European Court of Human Rights Means to Me. http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/IOR61/005/2010. Accessed 12 Mar 2012

  • Arditti R (1999) Searching for Life: The Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo and the Disappeared Children of Argentina. University of California Press, Berkeley, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Barrett J (2009) Chechnya’s Last Hope? Enforced Disappearances and the European Court of Human Rights. Harvard Human Rights Journal 22:133–143.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bigg C (2012) NGO’s Legal Woes Threaten Pursuit Of Justice For Chechens. In: RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. http://www.rferl.org/content/russian_justice_initiative_struck_off_chechen_atrocities/24543341.html. Accessed 16 Apr 2012

  • Boesenecker AP, Vinjamuri L (2011) Lost in Translation? Civil Society, Faith-Based Organizations and the Negotiation of International Norms. International Journal of Transitional Justice 5:345–365.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boss P (2004) Ambiguous Loss Research, Theory, and Practice: Reflections after 9/11. Journal of Marriage and Family 66:551–566.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bowring B (2009) Russia and Human Rights: Incompatible Opposites? Göttingen Journal of International Law 1:257–278.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burkov A (2007) The Impact of the European Convention on Human Rights on Russian Law: Legislation and Application in 1996–2006. Ibidem-Verlag, Stuttgart

    Google Scholar 

  • Çalı B (2010) The Logics of Supranational Human Rights Litigation, Official Acknowledgment, and Human Rights Reform: The Southeast Turkey Cases before the European Court of Human Rights, 1996–2006. Law & Social Inquiry 35:311–337.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cherkasov A (2012) Sud’ba Neizvestna. Zven’ya, Moscow

    Google Scholar 

  • Chevalier-Watts J (2010) The Phenomena of Enforced Disappearances in Turkey and Chechnya: Strasbourg’s Noble Cause? Human Rights Review 11:479–548.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cichowski R (2006) Courts, Rights, and Democratic Participation. Comparative Political Studies 39:50–75.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cichowski R (2007) The European Court and Civil Society: Litigation, Mobilization and Governance. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Conant L (2006) Individuals, Courts, and the Development of European Social Rights. Comparative Political Studies 39:76–100.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cook LJ, Vinogradova E (2006) NGOs and Social Policy-Making in Russia’s Regions. problems of post-communism 53:28–41.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dembour M-B (2010) What Are Human Rights? Four Schools of Thought. Human Rights Quarterly 32:1–20.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dikov G (2009) Rossiiskie Zhaloby v Evropeiskom Sude—Praktika po Nepriemlemym Delam. http://www.polit.ru/article/2009/11/18/dikov/. Accessed 24 Nov 2011

  • ECtHR (2006) Bazorkina v. Russia (69481/01).

  • ECtHR (2008) Zubayrayev v. Russia (67797/01).

  • ECtHR (2009) Information note: Pilot-Judgment Procedure. http://www.echr.coe.int/NR/rdonlyres/DF4E8456-77B3-4E67-8944-B908143A7E2C/0/Information_Note_on_the_PJP_for_Website.pdf. Accessed 5 Apr 2012

  • ECtHR (2010) Annual Report European Court of Human Rights 2010. http://www.echr.coe.int/NR/rdonlyres/F2735259-F638-4E83-82DF-AAC7E934A1D6/0/2010_Rapport_Annuel_EN.pdf. Accessed 20 Aug 2011

  • ECtHR (2011a) Analysis of Statistics 2010. http://www.echr.coe.int/NR/rdonlyres/0A35997B-B907-4A38-85F4-A93113A78F10/0/Analysis_of_statistics_2010.pdf. Accessed 6 Apr 2011

  • ECtHR (2011b) Registry of the Court: Rules of Court. http://www.echr.coe.int/NR/rdonlyres/D1EB31A8-4194-436E-987E-65AC8864BE4F/0/RulesOfCourt.pdf. Accessed 7 Dec 2011

  • Edwards M (2009) Civil society, 2nd ed. Polity Press, Cambridge, Malden

    Google Scholar 

  • EHRAC (2007) EHRAC Annual Report 2006. http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/library/q52471_3.pdf. Accessed 2 Nov 2011

  • EHRAC (2011) EHRAC Annual Report 2010. http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/fms/MRSite/Research/HRSJ/EHRAC/Publications/EHRAC%20AR%2010%20ONLINE.pdf. Accessed 15 Dec 2011

  • Englund H (2006) Prisoners of Freedom: Human Rights and the African Poor. California University Press, Berkeley, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Evans ABJ, Henry L, Sundstrom LM (2006) Russian Civil Society: a Critical Assessment. M.E. Sharpe, New York, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Galanter M (1974) Why the Haves Come out Ahead: Speculations on the Limits of Legal Change. Law & Soc’y Rev 9:95–160.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Generalova V (2010) European Court Interim Measures: A New Tool in the fight against disappearances in the North Caucasus. http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/fms/MRSite/Research/HRSJ/EHRAC/Publications/EHRAC%20Bulletin%2014%20ENG%20ONLINE.pdf. Accessed 1 Dec 2011

  • Gilligan E (2010) Terror in Chechnya: Russia and the tragedy of civilians in war. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • Goodale M (2007) Introduction: Locating Rights, Envisioning Law between the Global and the Local. In: Goodale M, Merry SE (eds) The Practice of Human Rights: Tracking Law between the Global and the Local. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, New York, pp 1–39

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Gorchkova SA (2004) European Norms on the Protection of Human Rights: On the Development of Russian Human Rights Legislation. Review of Central and East European Law 29:365–405.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gready P, Phillips B (2009) An Unfinished Enterprise: Visions, Reflections, and an Invitation. Journal of Human Rights Practice 1:1–13.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Halme M (2010) Human Rights in Action: Learning Expert Knowledge. Brill Academic Publishers, Leiden

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Hodson L (2011) NGOs and the Struggle for Human Rights in Europe. Hart Publishing, Oxford, Portland

    Google Scholar 

  • Human Rights Watch (2005) Worse than War:“Disappearances” in Chechnya—a Crime against Humanity. http://www.hrw.org/legacy/backgrounder/eca/chechnya0305/chechnya0305.pdf. Accessed 15 Sep 2011

  • Human Rights Watch (2007) Justice for Chechnya: The European Court of Human Rights Rules against Russia. http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/related_material/justice_for_chechnya_2.pdf. Accessed 10 May 2010

  • Human Rights Watch (2009) “Who Will Tell Me What Happened to My Son?”: Russia’s Implementation of European Court of Human Rights Judgments on Chechnya. http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/russia0909web_0.pdf.

  • Human Rights Watch (2011) Making Justice Count in Chechnya: Implementation of European Court of Human Rights Rulings against Russia. http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/related_material/2011_Russia_ECtHRImplementation.pdf. Accessed 18 Dec 2011

  • Kahn JD (2004) Russia’s “Dictatorship of Law” and the European Court of Human Rights. Review of Central & East European Law 29:1–14.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Keck ME, Sikkink K (1998) Activists beyond Borders: Advocacy Networks in International Politics. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Kelly T (2011) The cause of human rights: doubts about torture, law, and ethics at the United Nations. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 17:728–744.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koroteev K (2010) Legal Remedies for Human Rights Violations in the Armed Conflict in Chechnya: The Approach of the European Court of Human Rights in Context. Journal of International Humanitarian Legal Studies 1:275–303.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lapitskaya J (2011) ECHR, Russia, and Chechnya: Two is not Company and Three is Definitely a Crowd. International Law and Politics 43:479–548.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leach P (2007) Strasbourg’s oversight of Russia—an increasingly strained relationship. Public Law 640–654.

  • Leach P (2008) The Chechen Conflict: Analysing the Oversight of the European Court of Human Rights. European Human Rights Law Review 732–761.

  • Lemaître R (2010) Can the European Court of Human Rights Provide Justice for Victims of Russian Human Rights Abuses in Chechnya? In: Malfliet K, Parmentier S (eds) Russia and the Council of Europe: 10 Years After. Palgrave Macmillan, Hampshire, New York, pp 165–185

    Google Scholar 

  • Lutz EL, Sikkink K (2000) International Human Rights Law and Practice in Latin America. International Organization 54:633–659.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McIntosh Sundstrom L (2006) Funding Civil Society: Foreign Assistance and NGO development in Russia. Stanford University Press, Stanford

    Google Scholar 

  • Memorial (2005) Chechnya, 2004 god. Pokhishcheniia i Izcheznoveniia Liudei. http://www.memo.ru/hr/hotpoints/caucas1/index.htm. Accessed 19 Dec 2011

  • Memorial (2008) Bulletin of the Human Rights Center “Memorial”: Situation in the Zone of the Conflict in the Northern Caucasus: Human Rights’ Defenders’ Assessment. http://www.internal-displacement.org/8025708F004CE90B/%28httpDocuments%29/70480770F24DE3F2C12574F30043BFD7/$file/memorial_bulletin_oct1408.pdf. Accessed 30 Nov 2011

  • Merry SE (1990) Getting Justice and Getting Even: Legal Consciousness among Working-Class Americans. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Merry SE (2003) Rights Talk and the Experience of Law: implementing Women’s Human Rights to Protection from Violence. Human Rights Quarterly 25:343–381.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Merry SE (2006a) Transnational Human Rights and Local Activism: Mapping the Middle. American Anthropologist 108:38–51.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Merry SE (2006b) Human Rights and Gender Violence: Translating International Law into Local Justice. University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Mertus J (2000) Truth in a Box: The Limits of Justice through Judicial Mechanisms. In: Amadiume I, An Na’im A (eds) The Politics of Memory: Truth, Healing and Social Justice. Zed Books, London, New York, pp 142–161

    Google Scholar 

  • Michelson E (2006) The Practice of Law as an Obstacle to Justice: Chinese Lawyers at Work. Law & Society Review 40:1–38.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Minow M (1999) Between Vengeance and Forgiveness: Facing History after Genocide and Mass Violence. Beacon Press, Boston

    Google Scholar 

  • Ott L (2011) Enforced Disappearance in International Law. Intersentia, Cambridge, Portland

    Google Scholar 

  • Preclík P (2010) Judging the Chechen War: Assessing the Impact of the European Court for Human Rights on Russia’s Conduct in Chechnya. LAP Lambert Academic Publishing, Saarbrücken

    Google Scholar 

  • Privalova M (2010) Ne Propast’ Darom. In: Esquire Russia. http://esquire.ru/strasbourg. Accessed 21 May 2012

  • Redhead R, Turnbull N (2011) Towards a Study of Human Rights Practitioners. Human Rights Review 12:173–189.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Risse T, Ropp SS, Sikkink K (1999) The Power of Human Rights: International Norms and Domestic Change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Robins S (2010) Ambiguous Loss in a Non-Western Context: Families of the Disappeared in Postconflict Nepal. Family Relations 59:253–268.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Robins S (2011) Towards Victim-Centred Transitional Justice: Understanding the Needs of Families of the Disappeared in Postconflict Nepal. International Journal of Transitional Justice 5:75.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rutten RA, Baud M (2004) Introduction. In: Rutten RA, Baud M (eds) Popular Intellectuals and Social Movements: Framing Protest in Africa, Asia and Latin America. International Review of Social History Supplements (No. 12). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge; New York, pp 1–18

    Google Scholar 

  • Salmenniemi S (2010) Struggling for Citizenship: Civic Participation and the State in Russia. Demokratizatsiya 18:309–328.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sarkin J (2011) The Role of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in Reducing Massive Human Rights Violations Such as Enforced Disappearances in Africa: Towards Developing Transitional Justice Strategies. Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism 11:130–142.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Solvang O (2008a) Chechnya and the European Court of Human Rights: The Merits of Strategic Litigation. Security and Human Rights 19:208–219.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Solvang O (2008b) Russia and the European Court of Human Rights: The Price of Non-Cooperation. Human Rights Brief 15:14–17.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sperling V (2009) Altered States: the Globalization of Accountability. Cambridge University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • SRJI (2003) Russian Justice Initiative Annual Report 2002. http://www.srji.org/en/about/annual/. Accessed 1 Mar 2011

  • SRJI (2011) Russian Justice Initiative Annual Report 2010. http://www.srji.org/files/reports/2010.pdf. Accessed 4 Jan 2012

  • Tarrow S (2005) The New Transnational Activism. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Tarrow S (2009) Outsiders Inside and Insiders Outside: Linking Transnational and Domestic Public Action for Human Rights. Human Rights Review 11:171–182.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Trochev A (2009) All Appeals Lead to Strasbourg? Unpacking the Impact of the European Court of Human Rights on Russia. Demokratizatsiya 17:145–178.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilson RA (2007) Conclusion: Tyrannosaurus Lex: The Anthropology of Human Rights and Transnational Law. In: Goodale M, Merry SE (eds) The Practice of Human Rights: Tracking Law between the Global and the Local. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, New York, pp 342–370

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This study was supported through grants from the VSBfonds, Hendrik Muller Fonds, CIMO/Nuffic foundation, and mobility grants from the Academy of Finland. The author thanks Miia Halme-Tuomisaari, Markku Lonkila, Suvi Salmenniemi, members of the Helsinki Research Group for Political Sociology, and the anonymous reviewers for their insightful and supportive comments on earlier drafts of the mansucript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Social Research, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 18, Unioninkatu 35, 00014, Helsinki, Finland

    Freek van der Vet

  2. Aleksanteri Institute for Russian and Eastern European Studies, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 42, Unioninkatu 33, 00014, Helsinki, Finland

    Freek van der Vet

Authors
  1. Freek van der Vet
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Freek van der Vet.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

van der Vet, F. Seeking Life, Finding Justice: Russian NGO litigation and Chechen Disappearances before the European Court of Human Rights. Hum Rights Rev 13, 303–325 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12142-012-0226-2

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12142-012-0226-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation