Fatima Souleimanova

My name is Fatima Souleimanova, and I speak as the spokesperson of the Chechen movement « United Force », which advocates for the human rights of the Chechen people and the indigenous and colonised peoples of the Russian Federation.

This meeting on preventing torture and ill-treatment is directly relevant to a pattern of protection failures affecting Chechen asylum seekers and political opponents of the Russian authorities.

In practice, there are documented cases in which Chechen refugees have been extradited or returned to the Russian Federation, where they face a serious risk of arbitrary detention and torture. They are also subjected to indirect forms of pressure, including retaliation against family members and forced mobilisation. Such cases also concern other refugees from the national republics.

These risks must be understood in the broader context of the continuing Russian occupation of Chechnya, which has created conditions in which serious human rights violations, including torture and ill-treatment, continue with impunity.

Despite two devastating wars, the continuing occupation of Chechnya, and persistent serious human rights violations, European systems often reduce Chechen applicants to inherited Russian narratives and stereotypes rather than assessing the political nature of their protection claims.

In this regard, I call on participating States to recognise the severe restrictions on fundamental freedoms and the systematic repression carried out by the Russian occupation regime in Chechnya, as well as in other regions, and to strengthen safeguards in extradition and deportation procedures, ensuring that refugees from Chechnya and other colonised republics who have reported these violations are not returned to the Russian Federation.

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