The European Union should establish human rights criteria for moving forward with a new strategic partnership with Russia, Human Rights Watch said today. The EU and Russia are to resume negotiations on renewing their partnership agreement at a summit meeting on November 14, 2008, in Nice.
Link to HRW

Tags: EU, Russia

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Georgian Clusters Landed in Villages; Russian and Georgian Duds Still a Threat
Georgian cluster munitions fired in the conflict with Russia in August 2008 caused more damage and hit more locations than previously commonly reported, Human Rights Watch said today in a presentation to the Convention on Conventional Weapons in Geneva. Explosive remnants from the weapons, [...]

Tags: Georgia, Russia

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Human Rights Watch welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the ongoing preparations for the forthcoming EU-Russia human rights consultations. The consultations come at a difficult point in EU-Russia relations. Thus, it is all the more important for the EU to press forward with important human rights concerns, sending a signal that it will maintain its [...]

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International Meeting on Conflict to Start October 15
The European Union should emphasize the right of all people to return to their homes in Georgia at this week’s talks on the recent conflict over South Ossetia, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch also urged the EU to expand the mandate of its observer mission [...]

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Recent attacks on independent journalists and human rights activists illustrate the risks under which they work in Russia, Amnesty International said on the eve of the second anniversary of Anna Politkovskaya’s murder. The organization urges the Russian authorities to end impunity for violence against human rights defenders and the media.
“Human rights activists and journalists are [...]

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As European Union monitors take up their posts in Georgia, ongoing security concerns, unexploded ordnance from the 7-13 August Georgia-Russia conflict and the large scale destruction of property in some parts of the conflict area continue to undermine the right of tens of thousands of people to return to their homes.
“Shootings, looting and ethnically motivated [...]

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Allegations of Execution, Torture in South Ossetia
Russia should immediately investigate allegations of extrajudicial execution, torture, and other abuse of Georgian military and civilian detainees by Ossetian forces during the recent conflict in Georgia.
In interviews with former Georgian military detainees, Human Rights Watch has documented at least one extrajudicial execution of a Georgian soldier in detention, [...]

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In Security Vacuum, Frequent Attacks and Pervasive Fear
The European Union observer mission scheduled to move into areas near South Ossetia must be given both a mandate and adequate resources to protect civilians, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch researchers in Georgia in recent days have documented numerous attacks by Ossetians against civilians in [...]

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On August 21, 2008, Human Rights Watch reported a series of attacks with cluster munitions around four towns and villages in Georgia’s Gori district. Human Rights Watch attributed all the strikes to Russian forces, but upon further investigation has concluded that the origin of the cluster munitions found on August 20 in two of the [...]

Tags: Georgia, Russia

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Government Acknowledges Using Weapon Against Russian Forces
The Georgian government said it used cluster munitions during the August 2008 armed conflict with Russia, Human Rights Watch said today. In a letter to Human Rights Watch, the Georgian Defense Ministry stated that cluster rockets were “used against Russian military equipment and armament marching from Roki tunnel to [...]

Tags: Georgia, Russia

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