| Instability has spread beyond Chechnya to other areas of the North Caucasus. The risk of full-blown war in the region has heightened, and human rights abuses – committed by both terrorists and Russian officials – have only increased. Yet despite the continuing violence, the region’s growing volatility, and the destabilizing war in neighboring Georgia, the international community has done little to address the situation at hand. In effort to broaden international attention to and understanding of this issue, Dr. Sarah Mendelson has launched a series of regional projects within CSIS’s Human Rights and Security Initiative.
 | Photo of children in Chechnya by Yaser Oststerkhanov, a 12 year-old orphan: "In my photos I tried to tell the adults that we, the children of Chechnya, need protection and care."
© UNICEF workshop/Yaser Osterkhanov/2006 |
49 Steps to Improve Human Rights and Security in the North Caucasus: Unlike other conflicts around the world in which expertise, political will, and vast sums have been deployed to address, diminish or contain violence, we have seen dramatically less activity surrounding Chechnya and other parts of the North Caucasus. This report presents an abridged version of the dozens of recommendations generated by an international policy network and collaborative experts (see Bosch events). Released September 18, 2007. Also available in Russian, and French.
Cauldron of Terrorism or Bowl of Kasha? What Survey Data Say About the North Caucasus: The North Caucasus has been the site and source of increasing levels of violence, yet relatively little is known about the people who live in these regions – their poverty level, the strength of their religious affiliations, the degree of ethnic animosity. Sarah E. Mendelson and Theodore Gerber explore these questions through their survey, conducted by the Levada Analytic Center, of young males in the region on socio-economic conditions, views of the political role of Islam, and attitudes toward international assistance. Among other conclusions, the survey suggested that overall the young males of this region in many ways resemble males of the same age group in other parts of Russia in terms of their attitudes and concerns. Released July 6, 2006.
Anatomy of Ambivalence: The International Community and the Human Rights Abuse in North Caucasus: A look at why the international community has done so little to address the region’s grave human rights abuses. Sarah E. Mendelson, Problems of Post-Communism, vol. 53, no. 6, November/December 2006, pp 3-15.
"The World Fiddles While North Caucasus Simmers," Sarah E. Mendelson and co-author Fiona Hill, Financial Times, August 29, 2005.
"Les droits de l'homme et la guerre en Tchétchénie," (Human rights and the war in Chechnya)," in “La Russie de Poutine (Putin’s Russia) Sarah E. Mendelson and Theodore P. Gerber, edited by Marie Mendras, Pouvoirs, Paris, n. 112, January 2005, pp 79-92.
“Putin’s Policies Fail, So Schoolchildren Suffer,” Sarah E. Mendelson and Theodore P. Gerber on Russia’s Chechnya policy, written during the Beslan school hostage crisis. Globe and Mail, September 3, 2004.
"Russian Public Opinion on Human Rights and the War in Chechnya,” Sarah E. Mendelson and Theodore P. Gerber, Post-Soviet Affairs, Vol. 18, No. 4 (October-December 2002), 271-305.
“Toward a U.S. Policy on Chechnya” Sarah Mendelson, Program on New Approaches to Russian Security, Policy Memo 204, November 2001. “Explaining the International Community’s Response to the War in Chechnya,” Sarah Mendelson, Program on New Approaches to Russian Security, Policy Memo. April 2000.
Berlin, October 2006 Sarah Mendelson convened a meeting at the Bosch Foundation at which she and Dr. Theodore Gerber shared the results of a benchmark survey fielded by CSIS collaboration with the Levada Analytical Center of 1,200 males, ages 16 to 39 years old in Dagestan, North Ossetia and Kabardino-Balkaria (see Cauldron of Terrorism or Bowl of Kasha? for their findings). Major donors to the North Caucasus region attended the meeting including various UN agencies, the European Union, USAID, the World Bank, and senior officials from Denmark, France, the Netherlands and the UK. Reports and presentations from the meeting are also available: World Bank Presentation, World Bank Report, USAID Presentation, UN Presentation Berlin, March 2006 Sarah Mendelson hosted a meeting at the Bosch Foundation at which several producers of human rights reports from the North Caucasus met with report consumers to discuss ways to increase the impact of human rights monitoring. Berlin, May 2005 Sarah E. Mendelson and Fiona Hill of the Brookings Institution jointly organized a unique, high-level meeting with forty practitioners from organizations including the World Bank, the European Union, the Council of Europe, and various agencies within the United Nations in order to generate ideas for future international involvement in issues faced in the North Caucasus. With financial support from the Bosch Foundation, the meeting generated dozens of recommendations, including the need for subsequent meetings and further research.
Sarah Mendelson was quoted in "Under Iron Hand of Russia’s Proxy, a Chechen Revival," New York Times. September 30, 2007. Sarah Mendelson discussed the recent appointment of Ramzan Kadyrov as Chechnya's new President with BBC World News, March 2, 2007. |
