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| Sunday, 13 February 2005 |
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Russia and France clash over issue of forced disappearances GENEVA, Saturday (AFP) France and Russia clashed Friday over a proposed convention on forced disappearances, which France is seeking to make a crime against humanity. The diplomatic row blocked progress on the project, which has been under discussion for the past two years. French ambassador Bernard Kessedjian, who presides the working group on enforced or involuntary disappearances, sought to extend the scope of the treaty to persons or non-state groups, including rebel movements. Russian ambassador Sergei Chumarev then undiplomatically accused Kessedjian of having "personal ambitions," but the French diplomat said he did not intend to be destabilized by such rudeness. Human Rights Watch and other humanitarian organizations have accused Russia of condoning widescale abductions of civilians in Chechnya, where government forces are involved in a bitter war with separatists The UN Commission on Human Rights set up the working group in 1980 following widespread abductions of civilians in Argentina, Chile and Central America, many of whom were never seen again. |
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