Save Chechnya Campaign
www.savechechnya.org
05 July 2006
Action Alert: Help Chechnya! Request your MP to attend a Meeting on Chechnya in House of Lords, 18 July 2006
Save Chechnya Campaign urges all campaigners to request their MPs to attend a meeting on Chechnya arranged by Lord Rea in the House of Lords on Tuesday 18 July 2006.
On 17 June, the President of Chechnya, Abdul-Halim Sadulayev was killed by Russian forces, the fourth such Chechen leader to be killed in this manner.
2006 marks the 12th year since Russia launched her brutal war in Chechnya. A quarter of the Chechen population has been killed and a comparable number displaced. Rampant human rights abuses and daily disappearances of ordinary Chechen men, women and children by Russian forces have reached such a level that in March 2005 Human Rights Watch described the situation as a \’Crime against Humanity\’.
The policy of disengagement by the international community has failed yet Europe continues to look away whilst Russia pursues catastrophic policies of state terror and unfettered violence in the Caucasus.
The event will be an excellent opportunity for parliamentarians to inform themselves on this forgotten conflict and be acquainted with an issue that has been termed the \’Killing Fields of Europe’.
Now more than ever there is a need to understand a conflict frequently associated with the ‘War on Terror’.
How can you help?
Contact your MP and make them aware that Chechnya is an issue of importance and concern:
Make an appointment to see them next week. Face-to-face appeals are by far the most effective way persuading your MP.
Write or email to your MP now and request that they attend this meeting.
For contact details of who your MP is and where to write to them, visit www.writetothem.com. Alternatively, call the House of Commons switchboard on 020 7219 3000 and ask for your MP’s office
Details of the event and a sample letter which you can use for your MP can be found below.
Chechnya and the North Caucasus – Europe’s Forgotten Conflict
Date: Tuesday 18 July 2006
Time: 6-8pm
Venue: Committee Room G, House of Lords
Speakers:
o Lord Rea of Eskdale (Chair )
o Oksana Chelysheva – Russian-Chechen Friendship Society – tbc
o Lord Frank Judd (Former Rapporteur for the Council of Europe Monitoring Group on Chechnya)
o Akhmad Zakayev (Foreign Minister of the Republic of Ichkeria –the Chechen Government of Resistance)
o Major Charles Blandy (Caucasus section of the Institute of Conflict Studies)
o Tom de Waal (Institute of War and Peace Reporting)
o Oksana
All are welcome. RSVP (attendees only) to: reajn@parliament.uk Fax 0207 687 1219
SAMPLE LETTER
[Your Name]
[Your Address]
[Date]
[Your MP]
House of Commons
London
SW1A 0AA
Dear [Your MP]
Re: Meeting in House of Lords regarding Chechnya
As a member of your constituency, I am writing to request that you attend a meeting on Chechnya arranged by Lord Rea in Committee Room G of the House of Lords on Tuesday 18 July between 6 and 8pm.
The meeting, Chechnya and the North Caucasus – Europe’s Forgotten Conflict, has been arranged in the wake of the Russian killing of the President of Chechnya, Abdul Halim Sadulayev, on 17 June. Sadulayev is the fourth Chechen leader to be killed in this way by the Russians.
2006 marks the 12th year since Russia unleashed her brutal war in Chechnya in which up to a quarter of the Chechen population has been killed and a comparable number displaced. Rampant human rights abuses and daily abductions of ordinary Chechen men, women and children by Russian and pro-Moscow Chechen forces still continue. In March 2005 Human Rights Watch described the situation in Chechnya as a \’Crime against Humanity\’. The Western Media reports hostage taking tragedies such as Beslan but seldom describes the underlying situation which gives rise to such outrages.
Speakers at this meeting all have first hand experience and long standing involvement in the situation in Chechnya and the North Caucasus. The event will be an excellent opportunity to understand a forgotten but ongoing European conflict which is frequently but falsely described by President Putin as part of the global “War on Terror”.
Thank you for your time. I urge you to attend this meeting. I will be contacting you shortly to confirm receipt of my letter.
I look forward to hearing from you soon on this matter.
Yours Sincerely,
[Your Signature]
[Your Name]
