Moscow Mechanism rapporteur reports to OSCE Permanent Council on alleged human rights violations in the Chechen Republic of the Russian Federation

VIENNA, 20 December 2018 – Wolfgang Benedek, OSCE Moscow Mechanism rapporteur, presented to the OSCE Permanent Council today his report on alleged human rights violations and impunity in the Chechen Republic of the Russian Federation.

Benedek, a professor of international law at the University of Graz, was appointed rapporteur by the 16 OSCE participating States that invoked the OSCE’s Moscow Mechanism in November.

The Mechanism, agreed by consensus by the OSCE participating States, allows for an investigation to be launched without consensus and independently of the OSCE Chairmanship, institutions and decision-making bodies if one State, supported by at least nine others, "considers that a particularly serious threat to the fulfilment of the provisions of the [OSCE] human dimension has arisen in another participating State".

The Permanent Council, one of the OSCE’s main regular decision-making bodies, convenes weekly in Vienna to discuss developments in the OSCE area and to make appropriate decisions.

The report with related recommendations can be found here.