Go back to the Europarl portal

Choisissez la langue de votre document :

 Index 
 Full text 
Verbatim report of proceedings
Thursday, 15 February 2001 - Strasbourg OJ edition

Situation in Chechnya
MPphoto
 
 

  Haarder (ELDR).(DA) Mr President, we in the ELDR Group are in despair and filled with impotent rage concerning what is happening in Chechnya. The medieval warfare against civilians violates everything in which we believe in the European Union and cannot be justified in terms of the terrorist actions perpetrated by certain groups of Chechens. What the Russians are doing infringes a long list of international obligations to which they themselves have signed up. It may well be that we cannot do anything about it. It may well be that it is no use threatening Russia with sanctions and isolation, but here in Parliament, in the stronghold of freedom of expression, it must be said loudly and clearly that we condemn the abuses, the executions, the disappearances, the concentration camps and the systematic oppression of a whole people. We condemn the brutalisation which we are seeing and which offers unpleasant reminders of the past. We urge that the way should now be opened for missions from the UN High Commission, the OSCE and the Red Cross to be permitted to evaluate the atrocities and come to the rescue of the population.

 
Legal notice - Privacy policy