THE SOUTH CAUCASUS: A REGIONAL OVERVIEW AND CONFLICT ASSESSMENT
REGIONAL OVERVIEW

Human Rights and Civil Society

The countries of the Caucasus have passed through a painful transition period, which reflects in their limited ability to advance democracy and human rights in the region. Judicial reform has been slow and has failed to bring each of the three legal systems in line with the international conventions they have signed and ratified. Soviet-era practices in the law enforcement agencies and judicial systems have remained in force, including police and detention torture, failure to provide fair trials, and the practice of extracting confessions under duress rather than obtaining evidence against suspects. These types of abuses at the lower scale of the institutional hierarchy are endemic and cannot be expected to disappear swiftly given the absence of democratic traditions and that many Soviet-era officials remain in office. However, the lack of will among the state structures of power and justice to commit to reform has created an impunity that allows these practices to continue. The situation in the military of the three states is also a cause of concern, as conscripts are routinely subject to abuse (hazing) by seniors – leading to extortion, injury, and occasionally death. Again, impunity is rampant and as a result, draft evasion is endemic and weakens the development of effective and efficient military forces in the region. Religious freedoms are also an issue. Although religious tolerance is traditionally present in the multi-cultural Caucasian societies, non-traditional religious sects such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses are not socially accepted, seen as subversive, and often experience discrimination, especially as they are perceived to attract converts through economic assistance. The situation of women has also worsened since the end of Soviet rule. Although women experience greater equality than in neighboring regions to the South, domestic violence is rarely investigated, and trafficking of women has taken on alarming proportions in the last several years.

In spite of the serious problems, the South Caucasian societies and states have proven to be permeable to change and reform, especially if compared with the Soviet past only a decade ago. Important progress has been achieved in the creation of semi-democratic legal systems and the beginnings of a rule of law, pledges to protect the individual rights of citizens, and the emergence of civil society. The role of the international community is extremely important in the gradual progress of the human rights situation in the South Caucasus. The CoE and the OSCE, as well as unilateral influence by chiefly western states, are gradually helping to create a culture of democracy and human rights in these states. Government at the very least are now forced to pay lip service to these ideals, and as they do so, these principles gradually trickle down to the reluctant bureaucracies and state organs. The South Caucasian states are now parties to such international legal instruments as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural rights; the European Convention on Human Rights; the UN Convention on Torture; and the UN Convention on the elimination of all Discrimination against Women.

Human Rights

In the region as a whole, the section of the population whose human rights have been violated to the highest degree are the refugees and Internally Displaced Persons produced from conflicts. The war over Mountainous Karabakh has created close to one million refugees and displaced people in Azerbaijan. These include 650,000 internally displaced people from outside Mountainous Karabakh; 60,000 Azeris from Shusha and other towns in Mountainous Karabakh; 220,000 refugees from Armenia proper; and 50,000 Meskheti-Turks from Uzbekistan. In spite of United Nations Security Resolutions calling for the immediate withdrawal of military forces and liberation of the occupied lands, the situation of refugees has remained unchanged for the past 8-10 years, as the majority of them continue to live in tent camps and abandoned railway wagons. Armenia has ca. 300,000 refugees from Azerbaijan, who are relatively well integrated into society (like the Azerbaijani refugees from Armenia). It is also worth noting that many refugees have settled in villages abandoned by Azeris in Armenia. There were also between 60,000 and 72,000 people displaced from villages bordering on Azerbaijan as a result of the Mountainous Karabakh conflict. Most displaced persons have been integrated locally or returned home since the 1994 cease-fire.

In Georgia, up to 264,000 IDPs live in equally poor conditions, most in the Samegrelo province bordering on Abkhazia but also in other parts of Georgia, including the capital Tbilisi. Groups of IDPs have continuously tried to return to their homes in the Gali raion of Abkhazia, but are subjected to severe abuses by Abkhazian de facto authorities and ca. 30,000 were again expelled after a relapse of military confrontation in 1998. With regard to the IDPs caused by the South Ossetian conflict, more progress has been made in spite of the lack of a political solution. Numerous ethnic Ossetian refugees from Georgia proper have returned, as have ethnic Georgian refugees from South Ossetia that were forced to flee in 1990-92.

In Armenia, most human rights abuses are directed at political opposition. Political prisoners regularly report that they have experienced torture and ill-treatment, and indicate that they have not received impartial investigations. The government also continues to incarcerate conscientious objectors to military service. Furthermore, although a moratorium on the death sentence exists, death sentences continue to be passed out. Political violence and the intimidation of opposition and media have persisted alongside cases of deaths in prisons and in the military. Prison conditions are difficult and life threatening. Lengthy trials are usual and the mistreatment of detainees widespread. The judicial branch remains under heavy pressure from the executive. A recent high profile case in point concerns the beating to death in a Yerevan Jazz club restroom by President Kocharian’s bodyguards of a man who uttered disparaging comments at the President. The bodyguards have yet to be charged. Moreover, controversy still surrounds the investigation into the October 27, 1999 parliamentary murders. The investigation has been deeply compromised by allegations of government interference and counter-allegations of the prosecution attempting to implicate presidential advisors for political reasons. Journalists investigating the affair have been subjected to arson and threatened. Although Armenia can boast the strongest army in the Caucasus because of what has been considered a strong national will, discipline, combat experience and good equipment, the quality of the armed forces appears to be under constant decline, and troops appear extremely pessimistic and demoralized.

In Azerbaijan, although there is fairly well developed multi party system, political parties and their members are often subjected to harassment by police and the Ministry of National Security. While some political opponents are imprisoned, others function under fear. Most recently, the secretary of the opposition Azerbaijan Democratic Party was arrested for several days in 2002. There are several human rights NGOs and think tanks in Azerbaijan, but they are constrained by limited funding and fear of persecution. The President in 2002 appointed NGO woman activist Dr. Elmira Suleymanova as Azerbaijan’s first ombudsman on human rights. The issue of political prisoners became a disputed topic between the authorities, and the opposition and the Council of Europe. Azerbaijan committed to the CoE to review all cases of political prisoners in the country, including the cases of former Defense Minister Rahim Gaziyev, former Interior Minister Iskender Hamidov, and the leader of the Talysh separatist movement Alikram Hümbatov. In June 2002, the government began the re-trial of two former ministers under pressure from the CoE.

Georgia claims to view human rights and freedoms as a keystone for democratic development and as a prerequisite for national security. Georgia has created new legislation that is generally in line with the norms and principles of international law. In 1995, the constitutionally mandated Office of Public Human Rights Defender, or ombudsman, was created. While government representatives have been effective in individual cases, neither they nor the NGO’s have been successful in prompting systemic reform. At the same time there are significant difficulties regarding various aspects of human rights protection in Georgia. Human rights are mainly violated by the security forces – whose brutality has increased since the 2000 Presidential elections. They continue to beat and otherwise abuse detainees, force confessions, and fabricate or plant evidence, while pervasive corruption is tolerated at higher echelons. Elected civilian authorities do not maintain adequate control over the law enforcement and security forces, and the central government is unwilling or unable to control them. Senior government officials, including the President, acknowledge serious human rights problems and seek international advice and assistance on needed reforms. In December 2001, the President declared Georgia a torture-free territory, but most government promises of reforms remain unfulfilled. Neither the President nor other senior officials have taken concrete steps to address these problems, and Parliament has failed to budget adequately for mandated reforms. In 1997, a joint human rights office was established by UNHCR and the OSCE in Sukhumi, Abkhazia, to investigate human rights abuses. The office, which has operated sporadically because of fluctuating security conditions, provides periodic findings, reports, and recommendations.

Ethnic and Religious Minorities

Prior to the beginning of the Karabakh war, Armenia had an ethnic Azeri minority of nearly 220,000. Their expulsion in 1987-89 left no major ethnic minority in the country. Currently, there are several thousand Yezidi Kurds in the country who reportedly suffer from police and their irresponsiveness to the crimes committed against their community. There is also widespread mistreatment of homosexuals, whom police physically and mentally abuse to receive bribes. The overwhelming majority of the population of Armenia (94%) is of the Armenian Apostolic faith. Tolerance toward other religious sects is low. The law restricts religious activity, including a prohibition on proselytizing, by religions other than the Armenian Apostolic Church. As a result, other denominations have reported discrimination by mid and lower-level state officials. Furthermore, it is important to note that all denominations other than the Armenian Apostolic Church are legally required to register with the State Council on Religious Affairs. To qualify for registration, groups must have over 200 members, must constitute a ‘purely spiritual nature’, and must subscribe to a doctrine based on ‘historically recognized holy scripture’. In 2000, police did not intervene to prevent the harassment and abuse of members of Jehova’s Witnesses by local gangsters. This religious group has also been denied registration by the Armenian government.

Azerbaijan is a multi-ethnic country. There are nearly 75 ethnic minorities in the republic, the size of which range from several hundred thousands, as in the case of Talysh in the south and Lezgins in the North (See CA), to several hundred, as in the village of Khinalig, in the Greater Caucasus Mountains. Ensuring the safety and guaranteeing the human rights of these ethnic groups is a challenge in the post-Soviet Azerbaijan, as separatist movements among Lezgins and Talysh as well as among Mountainous Karabakh Armenians have created fear of minorities among the political elite in the country. At the same time, there are around 20,000 ethnic Armenians still living in Baku, mainly in mixed marriage families. Although Azerbaijan has a long history of tolerance toward ethnic minorities and several centuries of peaceful coexistence with these groups, transforming these traditions into government policy remain a major challenge for Azerbaijani political circles. The government has an office of presidential counselor on minority policy to monitor the situation with ethnic minorities. This office provides limited resources for publication of books and magazines as well as the production of TV programs in minority languages. However, limited budgetary funding does not permit the expansion of these activities.

Azerbaijan is a predominantly Muslim country, with the majority (70%) of its citizens belonging to Shi’a branch of Islam. Nevertheless, Islam has traditionally coexisted peacefully with other major religions in the state. Despite the fact that Azerbaijan is a Muslim country, there is a settlement of Jews in the village of Krasnoya Sloboda of Guba region, whose history dates back 3000 years. There is also a large Jewish community and several synagogues in Baku. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, a religious revival has taken place. With the help of foreign charity organizations and religious institutions from Islamic countries, many mosques and religious schools, medreses, were built. Islamic charity organizations operate in refugee camps, where they also conduct propaganda work. The number of foreign missionaries has dramatically increased in the past few years, raising concerns among Azeri authorities. For most of the 1990s, religious groups worked at a grassroots level and posed little direct threat to the government. However, the activities of the Islamic Party of Azerbaijan, (funded by circles in Iran) and the religious group “Jeyshullah” (which assassinated famous historian and political figure Ziya Bunyatov), led to crackdowns when these two groups began to threaten the stability of the country. In 2001, activists of the most radical Sunni sect of Islam, Wahhabism, were also active in the country. President Aliyev created a state committee on religious affairs, charged with monitoring religious activities and organizations, the publication of religious literature and reporting subversive religious activity to the Interior Ministry. It also reserved the right to restrict proselytism by foreign nationals and recommend judicial bans on religious groups and activities deemed threatening to the central government.

Georgia is the most multi-ethnic country in the South Caucasus, with ca. 30% of the population being non-Georgian. Main minorities are the Armenians, Azeris, Ossetians, Russians, Abkhaz and Greeks. The Georgian Constitution recognizes the equality of all citizens without regard to race, language, sex, religion, etc., and the Government generally respects these rights. The Constitution stipulates Georgian as the state language, though school instruction in non-Georgian languages is permitted. Minority communities communicate in their native languages or in Russian, and Russian is still used alongside Georgian for interethnic communication. Ethnic minorities generally suffer from similar social and economic difficulties as Georgians, but often perceive these problems as a result of discrimination. Minorities are seldomly involved in the social and economic life of the country, and very poorly represented in the central government and parliament, where they hold less than 6% of seats. These sorts of grievances help mobilize anti-Georgian sentiments among the minorities. Steps to ensure actual equality are necessary to develop Georgia and to decrease tensions with minorities. As discussed in the conflict assessment, latent minority issues of great concern are the Armenian minority in Javakheti and the Kist and Chechen refugee population in the Pankisi gorge, while the Ajarian (Muslim Georgian) and Azerbaijani populations currently have less conflict potential.

Despite a general tolerance toward minority religious groups traditional to the country, including Catholics, Armenian Apostolic Christians, Jews, and Muslims, citizens remain very apprehensive about Protestants and other nontraditional religions, including Baptists, Seventh-Day Adventists, and especially Jehovah’s Witnesses, which are seen as taking advantage of the population’s economic hardships by gaining membership through the distribution of economic assistance to converts.  Some members of the Georgian Orthodox Church and the public view non-Orthodox religious groups, especially nontraditional groups or so-called "sects", as a threat to the national Church and Georgian cultural values. A defrocked Georgian Orthodox Priest, Vasili Mkalavishvili, has led numerous violent attacks against nontraditional sects, but has nevertheless received a generally understanding attitude from media and law enforcement agencies.

Gender Issues

The three South Caucasian states are all traditional societies, in which the Soviet regime made significant progress in the emancipation of women. In particular, women have similar literacy (practically 100%) rates, and are active participants in the work force of their societies. In the Soviet period, women enjoyed a relatively high level of equality; this was due to conditions of full employment, an equally high level of education, and the functioning of a social protection system. However, the position of women in Caucasian society remained traditional, with women carrying professional engagements in addition to domestic workloads. Traditional gender roles are still strong, especially in rural areas. The discrimination against women in homes and work places is a major concern, and the trafficking of women for prostitution purposes has become a region-wide problem. Women are heavily under-represented at the decision-making level, both in governmental and local self-government bodies. Only in Georgia does a woman hold a key political office – Nino Burjonadze is the Speaker of the Parliament. Even there, only ca. 5% of the parliament consists of women. In Azerbaijan gender issues are mainly determined by a combination of Muslim laws and traditions, and the Soviet legacy. Although women have free and full access to education, they are still heavily discriminated in the work force. In regions outside Baku, the practice of marrying women after high school age and not allowing women to work is not unusual. The Parliament has 13 women deputies, ca. 10% of the total.

With the break-up of the old system, women were relatively unprepared, and were hit harder by the general economic deterioration and growing rate of unemployment. With men losing their traditional role as family supporters, women’s traditional roles are undergoing change, and thus exacerbating the problems felt by women. As a result, this has led to the creation of women’s movements in the region. The economic crisis has forced women to adapt to the changed circumstances, engaging in a wide range of small businesses or migrating. Paradoxically, the economic balance has, since independence, shifted in women’s favor since many traditionally male jobs disappeared. Women have in many cases become the sole bread earners for their families. However the transition also clearly negatively impacted women at different levels. Many women have had to seek employment abroad. This fact along with hard economic conditions leads to trafficking in women for the purpose of forced prostitution that is still a huge problem. The sectors where women were traditionally well represented (food processing, chemical industry, state institutions) experienced heavy reductions in employment and salaries, and more generally, a lower social status.

Reduced medical protection has led to increased maternal mortality and a general rise in infectious diseases, and thus also child illnesses. There has also been a demographic impact: birth rates have declined as a consequence of changed reproductive patterns caused by the general socio-economic decline. Ethnic conflicts have reduced hundreds of thousands of Georgians to refugee status. Women have suffered particularly heavily either as refugees or as unemployed workers as a result of ethnic conflicts and a civil war. Violence in these wars was directed toward civilians. Of the 5 000 dead in Abkhazia, 2000 were women and children. Rape was used as an instrument of war by both sides in the Abkhazia conflict. Most rape survivors have not received treatment because of the social stigma attached to rape.

Civil Society and Media

One of the most significant developments in the South Caucasus since independence has been that while political progress has been slow, civil society has emerged and continues to strengthen. NGOs in the region are mostly politically oriented. The majority of charitable associations, human rights groups, and other NGOs depend heavily on foreign aid and grants, and are active in the fields of ecological protection, social charity, human rights, education and youth activities. Their activity, however, is severely hindered by a lack of funds: local philanthropy is not developed and almost no funding comes from state entities. The NGO sector faces further obstacles as a result of commonly experiencing harassment from authorities, in the registration process – especially in Armenia and Azerbaijan. Yet growing citizen awareness of civil rights and democratic values and the continued evolution of civil society provide a partial check on the excesses of law enforcement agencies. It is hoped that cooperation between various state agencies and NGOs will promote the implementation of guarantees in the field of human rights. This cooperation should contribute to the establishment of the public control mechanisms and advancement of the rule of law. For the most part, NGOs do not yet receive the government support required to be significantly effective – in fact, there is insufficient cooperation between NGOs and public officials. Furthermore, because NGOs are almost entirely dependent on foreign support, they tend to adapt their needs and objectives to the interests of donors in order to compete in obtaining the limited funding that is on offer.

Armenia and Georgia have seen the largest development of NGO networks, mainly due to higher funding levels. The Armenian Assembly of America has set up an NGO resource and training center in Yerevan, which serves the needs of the NGO community of ca. 1200 organizations. Azerbaijan recently passed a new law on NGOs, and NGO activists participated in its elaboration. However, NGOs receiving major parts of their funding from foreign entities are still prohibited from participating in political processes. Since most of the local NGOs depend heavily on foreign funding, they were not allowed to monitor the November 2000 parliamentary elections. The public perception of NGOs and their role in the development of civil society remains low. A survey conducted in Azerbaijan in 2000 showed that only 7% of the population had some awareness of what the NGO sector is. Media reports on NGO activities have nevertheless increased. Governments also feel threatened by NGOs, as many of them are associated with opposition parties – especially in Azerbaijan. For this reason, the authorities remain reluctant to include NGOs in the decision making process.

A number of independent think tanks have emerged in the region – however, only a few of them have gained real credibility. These include the Armenian Center for National and International Studies, headed by the former foreign minister Raffi Hovannisian, the Caucasian Institute for Peace, Democracy and Development headed by Ghia Nodia, and the Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies, headed by Alexander Rondeli. Private institutions of higher learning have been established in all three states; some of the most advanced are Khazar and Western universities in Baku and Hrachya Acharyan University in Yerevan. In addition, American Universities were established in Baku and Yerevan, though the one in Baku shut down in the late 1990s.

All three countries have constitutional guarantees for freedom of the press. In practice, the print media has been significantly liberalized. Oppositional forces can and do publish newspapers that harshly criticize the government; however, oppositional journalists are not exempt from harassment by authorities. Moreover, the judicial system is frequently used against the independent media in the form of libel suits and fines that remove the financial basis of the media’s operation. Broadcast media is much more heavily controlled by the state, as it reaches much greater numbers of people, including in the provinces. Newspapers have rather limited circulation, and most people get their news from television. As a result, government attempts to curtail the media have focused on independent TV stations. In Armenia and Azerbaijan, TV stations have been closed down; in Georgia, government attempts to suppress the independent Rustavi-2 channel prompted the November 2001 government crisis. Self-censorship is widely practiced in all media. The state TV channels have low popularity among the public, due to the low quality of their programs. The internet has continued to be a growth industry in the Caucasus, especially in Azerbaijan. The number of ‘internet clubs’ has grown at a staggering rate, providing cheaper and faster internet access to the public, mostly the youth. This has also positively contributed to the growth of the independent media.

Armenia has several TV channels and dozens of newspapers which are mostly partisan in their views and activity. In April 2002, the government took away the broadcasting license from one of the most independent TV channels, "A1+". This caused much turmoil and disapproval among the general public.

The print media operates rather freely in Azerbaijan, although there are frequent cases of harassment and pressure on journalists. Most newspapers are either pro-opposition, like daily Yeni Musavat   (18,500 copies) or pro-governmental. Few newspapers, like Ekho, Zerkalo and 525-Gazet have managed to maintain relative independence. There are also a few English-language newspapers in Azerbaijan, mostly aimed at foreign citizens and the business community. In 2001, there were a number of cases of harassment of media representatives, which led to street rallies and President Aliyev’s personal promise to protect the journalists. There are two state and four independent TV channels in Baku with ANS TV station having the reputation of the most independent one. In the past, authorities have closed down two independent TV channels, Sara TV and ABA TV, and put unofficial restrictions on the opening of new independent TV stations. Two regional stations, “Xayal” and “Gutb” were forced to close down in 2001.

In Georgia, independent newspapers such as Resonansi and 24 Hours have replaced the government-controlled press as the population’s source of information. However, independent newspapers continue to struggle in the regions, due largely to the population’s lack of purchasing power. High printing costs and general poverty, especially in the countryside, limited the circulation of most newspapers to a few hundred or a few thousand readers. Few newspapers are editorially independent or commercially viable, and are usually subsidized by patrons in politics and business. The Government finances and controls one newspaper (which also appears in Russian-, Azeri-, and Armenian-language versions) and a radio and television network with a national audience, which reflect official viewpoints. Most persons continue to get their news from television and radio. The Government’s monopoly on television news was broken when Rustavi-2, a member of the independent television network TNG, emerged in 1998 as an important alternative to state television, after successfully resisting 2 years of government attempts to shut it down. In addition to Rustavi-2, there are seven independent television stations in Tbilisi.