Committee of Ministers

Information Seminar

" Hierarchy of rules in a federal state and methods of harmonising
federal and regional legislation"

Pyatigorsk, 27 – 28 April 2000

SYNOPSIS/ MISSION REPORT

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SYNOPSIS/ MISSION REPORT

by the Directorate General of Political Affairs

Political Advice Department

Information Seminar

" Hierarchy of rules in a federal state and methods of harmonising

federal and regional legislation"

Participants

A Representatives of the subjects of the Russian Federation from the North Caucasus region:

1. Republic of Adygeya

3 participants representing the legislative and executive branches of power;

2. Republic of Dagestan

4 participants including the Vice-Chairman of the Popular Assembly, Deputy Prime Minister, First Deputy Minister of Ethnic Policy, Information and External Relations;

3. Republic of Ingushetia

3 participants - Deputy of the Popular Assembly, Deputy Minister of Justice and Head of the Government Administration;

4. Kabardino-Balkar Republic,

5 participants including a Member of the Parliament, member of the Government and the Prokurator of the Republic;

5. Republic of Kalmykia

5 participants including the Minister of Justice, Member of the Parliament and Chairman of the President's Committee on Human Rights;

6. Karachai- Cherkess Republic

5 participants including the Speaker of the Parliament, the Prime Minister, Minister of Finance;

7. Republic of North-Ossetia-Alania

5 participants including the Vice Chairman of the Parliament and Minister of Justice;

8. Chechen Republic

6 particpants (for details please see special part at the end of this report concerning the participation of the Chechen delegation);

9. Krasnodar Kray

5 participants including Chairman of the Committee on Legislation and Legal Policy of the Legislative Assembly of the Kray;

10. Rostov Oblast

6 participants including the Deputy Head of the Oblast, members of the Legislative Assembly of the Oblast and Deputy Minister of Finance;

11. Stavropol Kray

7 participants including the Vice Chairman of the State Duma of the Kray and the Deputy Prime Minister + 5 representatives of the city of Pyatigorsk headed by the Mayor of Pyatigorsk;

B Representatives of the federal institutions:

1. Federal Assembly

3 Members of the State Duma headed by Mr D Rogozin, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee and Chairman of the delegation to the PACE + 2 staff members;

2. Administration of the President of the Russian Federation

Mr O Tarasov, Principal State and Law Directorate of the President;

3. Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Mr V Orlov, Deputy Director, Department for Relations with the Subjects of the Federation, Parliament, Public and Political Organisations;

4. Ministry of Affairs of the Federation and of the Nationalities

5 representatives headed by Mr A Voronin, First Deputy Minister;

5. Ministry of Justice

Mr P Vysotksiy, Head of Directorate of Legislation of the Subjects of the Russian Federation;

6. Office of the Government

Ms T Terebilina, Deputy Head of Section in charge of relations with the Federal Assembly + a consultant on Regional Development;

7. Office of the Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation for ensuring human and citizens rights in the Chechen Republic

Mr Y Puzanov, Head of Staff;

8. Scientific institutions

4 participants;

Total number of participants: around 90.

Partner institutions/organisations:

- Ministry of Affairs of the Federation and of the Nationalities (co-ordinator)

- Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Directorate for Relations with the Subjects of the Federation, the Parliament, Public and Political Organisations)

- Administration of the President of the RF ( Principal State and Legal Department)

- Administration of Pyatigorsk

Origin/reference to other activities

1. ADACS Programme for 2000, Russia - Project RUS- I,

Activity RUS-I/A.2/6 "Training in legal aspects of federalism"

2. Recommendation 1444 (2000) of the Parliamentary Assembly "The conflict in Chechnya"

in which (paragraph 17/iv) "the Assembly recommends that the Committee of Ministers reviews, in close co-operation with the Russian authorities, the Council of Europe assistance and co-operation programmes with Russia, to ensure that they help and do not in any way directly or indirectly inhibit a solution to the conflict"

3. Speech by Mr Igor Ivanov, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation to the Parliamentary Assembly on 27 January 2000 in Strasbourg, in which the Minister inter alia stated:

"........ As far as the Council of Europe is concerned, we would welcome assistance in the following areas, in particular - including the Chechen Republic and other North Caucasian republics in the Council of Europe programmes designed to develop federal relations within a framework of a democratic state;.............."

Objectives/Objectifs:

a. On how the principles of pluralist democracy, the rule of law and human rights are implemented in different models of federalism existing in the Council of Europe member states;

b. on co-operation in the field of federal relations between member states of the Council of Europe and the Russian Federation;

c. on legislative aspects of federalism in Russia (on the basis of the Analytical Report with recommendations concerning the legislative aspects of Russian federalism prepared in 1998-1999 by a Joint Working Group composed of Russian and Council of Europe experts);

d. economic mechanisms of State regional policy and their role in strengthening and harmonisation of federal relations (on the basis of the Analytical report with recommendations on fiscal federalism prepared in 1998-99 by a Joint Working Group composed by the Russian and Council of Europe experts).

2. To address the situation in the North Caucasian region of the Russian Federation in the light of the crisis in one of the subjects of the Russian Federation, the Chechen Republic and to have an exchange of views between the representatives of federal authorities and the representatives of the public authorities of participating subjects of the Federation:

a. on possible activities aimed at implementation of the following legislation of the Russian Federation:

- "Law on principles and procedures of division of duties and competencies between the public authorities of the Russian Federation and public authorities of the subjects of the Russian Federation";

- "Law on general principles of organisation of legislative (representative) and executive organs of State power of the subjects of the Russian Federation".

b. on different aspects of asymmetry of the Russian Federation and on additional possibilities for taking into account the specificity of the subjects of the Russian Federation of the North Caucasus region in further development of the legislation of the Russian Federation and its subjects.

Results/ conclusions:

A/ General

a. The partner institutions should be commended for the excellent organisation of this activity, including the security measures necessary in this part of the Russian Federation;

b. The number and level of participants confirmed, that federalism is a very topical issue in Russia. Participation of representatives of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly and of the Chechen Republic should be mentioned in particular;

c. This was an information seminar but after the first informative part it quickly turned into a very lively discussion on possible solutions of problems of "common concern" - the possibilities of development of federalism in the North Caucasian region of the Russian Federation;

d. As pointed out by several speakers in the seminar "despite the different evaluation of the crisis in the Northern Caucasus by the Parliamentary Assembly", the Council of Europe was commended for providing assistance on the given topic at this very difficult moment for the Russian Federation. This proves that the Council of Europe and its experts " not only understand Russia but also help at the right time".

B/ Federalism

a. The participants in the seminar called on the Federal Assembly to accelerate the adoption of the legislation which should complete the provisions of the federal Constitution concerning federalism, in particular, the division of competence between the Federation and its subjects. They expressed their concern that 7 years after the adoption of the Constitution these pieces of legislation have not yet been adopted. Particular importance should be given to the legislation concerning the financial issues - budget ,taxes etc. The absence of clear rules in the financial sphere is dissuading potential foreign investors.

b. The conclusion of already 42 treaties by the Federation with 46 subjects of the federation could not solve the problem in the long term. Furthermore, sooner or later most of them will have to be renegotiated because of changes in federal legislation.

c. Despite the efforts of the federal Constitutional Court some of these treaties still contradict the federal Constitution. The role of the judiciary in the settlement of conflicts between the federal, regional and local legislation should also be clarified by federal and regional legislation and put into practice.

d. The specificity of the Northern Caucasus region, multicultural in particular, is not always reflected in federal legislation. Some provisions of the federal legislation are impossible to implement in this region. This is the reason why the regional legislators had to adopt laws and regulations, which contradict the federal legislation but allow regulating the given field of social activity. Two questions were discussed in this respect in the seminar:

i/ how to change the composition of the Council of the Federation in the future and the Federal Assembly as a whole, so that the particular interests of the regions could be better reflected in the federal legislation.

ii/ how can the institutes of national and cultural autonomy help solve this problem.

Attention was drawn to the positive and negative aspects of legislation on the citizenship of the subjects of the Federation currently under discussion in several regional parliaments.

C/ Crisis in the Chechen Republic

• A. The interventions by the participants from the region reflected the strong impact the Chechen crisis has had on the whole region of the North Caucasus. The subjects of the federation from the region have been affected by:

- direct military actions/ attacks (in particular Stavropol Kray and Dagestan);

- by influx of refugees and IDPs;

- by the deterioration of economic life, in particular by reduction of work places, limitation of new investments, interruption of deliveries of important goods from Chechnya (in particular fuel and other oil products at low prices);

- psychological destabilisation of the population by permanent threat of dangers of the war.

• B. It was made clear that the beginning of return to normal life in Chechnya and in the whole region is inseparable from the restoration of the role of democratic institutions, both at the regional and local level. Council of Europe's assistance in the field of federalism and local democracy will be most welcomed.

• C. The utmost concern for all is of course the continuation of violence in the Chechen Republic. Nobody in the seminar had an answer to this problem. The Chechen participants expressed their hope that the successful return to a normal, decent and profitable life in the northern parts of Chechnya could attract the attention of number of the fighters from the South. This could lead to an increased isolation of the hard core of the terrorists and to a better identification of "who is who in Chechnya".

• D. Several proposals for possible international assistance to Chechnya were discussed. The proposals prepared by the Council of Europe "to strengthen democratic stability in North Caucasus "dated 31 March 2000 were most welcomed.

The Chechen authorities are looking forward to the seminar in Vladikavkaz scheduled for 30 - 31 May 2000.

The Temporary Administration (including the local administrators) together with the federal authorities will prepare a list of their needs of assistance for the seminar in Vladikavkaz, both from the Federation and from abroad, in the areas covered by the activity.

On the basis of such a list the Seminar could formulate concrete actions, put them in order of priority and indicate the activities which could be financed and implemented by the Council of Europe, by the Russian Federation and those where help from other international sources should be sought.

• E. The participants from the Chechen Republic represented the "widest possible spectrum of the society" of the Republic appropriate for such type of seminar. There were 3 representatives of the Temporary Administration of the Chechen Republic including the First Deputy Head of the Temporary Administration Mr Ya Deniev and 3 Heads of Local Administration from Districts of Gudermes, Nozhai- Yourt and Achkoi Martan.

Without mentioning it specifically, the 6 participants also represented different religious circles, "former fighters", the women's movement etc.

o o o

The following paragraphs reproduces the points of view presented during the seminar by the representatives of the Chechen Republic:

• The priority of the " ordinary" people is to restore basic elements of normal life, in particular the education and the work places of people.

• In Chechnya there is a significant part of the young generation which, due to the crisis, did not attend any school in the last 10 years!!

• During the same period of 10 years all major places of work possibilities were destroyed, in particular in the oil industry and agriculture (wine, tobacco).

• Without the restoration of education and work opportunities the beginning of any political solution is an illusion.

• In today's Chechnya it is difficult to say, "who is who" and therefore impossible to start the political dialogue.

• Maskhadov’ regime received a mandate by the electorate to restore the country after the disastrous regime of Dudayev and to negotiate the status of Chechnya in the Russian Federation on the basis of the Khasav Yourt agreement. All the money received from the Federation and other sources for reconstruction of Chechnya were stolen. Maskhadov and his collaborators used the time after 1997 only to prepare the next fight. Maskhadov has lost control over other field commanders. He also lost the confidence of all the Chechen population and therefore lost his popular mandate. Any call for talks with Maskhadov means an attempt to re-legitimatise his lost mandate.

• The Chechen society is at the moment divided in about 20-30 family clans with a strong hierarchical structure based on rules of non-violent Islamic religion. There are also about 40-armed military groups with a different approach to the use of arms.

• Before restoration to normal life, it is impossible to consider any kind of elections. First of all, before any election, the activities of the active military groups ("the wahabists") should be stopped at all costs. Secondly, without the basic elements of a normal life, everyone will only vote for representatives of his or her clan or armed group. Under such conditions an election therefore could only lead in dividing the Chechen society.

• During the 10-year crisis there were many violations of human rights on all sides. But now is not the right time to start investigations and punishment of the perpetrators. The society needs to recover first of all from the trauma by starting to live a normal life. There should be schools functioning, medical care available, and possibilities to find a job. Only such a restored society could start with reconciliation and looking for justice.

• Everybody wishing to help should be guided by patience. It took 10 years to destroy Chechnya. It will take 20 years to restore normal life and 50 years to reconcile.