New York, 07/03/2000 (Agence Europe) - Mary Robinson, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, has announced that she has accepted an invitation from the Russian Government to go to Chechnya in April. "Having considered sending a personal representative, I have decided to go myself, notably following the lack of a response from Moscow to allegations of human rights violations on the part of Russian soldiers", she said.
You may recall that, in Lisbon last week, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov announced to the EU Troika that two Council of Europe experts were to work "in the office of the representative responsible for human rights in Chechnya for the Russian President", but that European Commissioner Chris Patten had said that he hadn't the "faintest idea" of the role the two Council of Europe experts could play. In addition, Mr. Patten announced proposals in order to "establish a structure" allowing to provide Chechnya with humanitarian assistance.