Report: Chechen Women Forced to Wear Headscarves

[LvivLovers 39]

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/03/10/hrw-chechen-women-forced-wear-headscarves/?test=latestnews

GROZNY, Russia -- The cars pull up in broad daylight. Security forces point guns at terrified women and shoot. It turns out they're paintball pellets, but still harsh punishment in Chechnya for leaving home without a headscarf.

Chechnya's strongman Ramzan Kadyrov has imposed an Islamic dress code on women, and his feared security forces have used paintball guns, threats and insults against those refusing to obey.

In a 40-page report released Thursday, Human Rights Watch condemned the campaign as a flagrant violation of women's rights and urged other nations to raise the issue with Moscow.

"The enforcement of a compulsory Islamic dress code on women in Chechnya violates their rights to private life, personal autonomy, freedom of expression, and freedom of religion, thought, and conscience," the report said.

"It is also a form of gender-based discrimination prohibited under international treaties to which Russia is a party."

Kadyrov rules with the support of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who has counted on him to stabilize the mostly Muslim region in southern Russia after two separatist wars in the last 16 years. Russian authorities have turned a blind eye to the treatment of women and other rights abuses in Chechnya.

Human Rights Watch interviewed dozens of women who have experienced or witnessed attacks or harassment for their refusal to adhere to the Islamic dress code.

One of the victims, identified as Louiza, told the rights group that she and a friend were attacked while walking down Putin Avenue in Grozny on a hot day last June, wearing skirts a little below the knee, blouses with sleeves a bit above the elbow and no headscarves. Suddenly a car without a license plate pulled up, its side window rolled down and a gun barrel pointed at them.

"I thought the gun was real and when I heard the shots I thought: 'This is death,"' she recalled in the report. "I felt something hitting me in the chest and was sort of thrown against the wall of a building.

"The sting was awful, as if my breasts were being pierced with a red-hot needle, but I wasn't fainting or anything and suddenly noticed some strange green splattering on the wall and this huge green stain was also expanding on my blouse."

The 25-year-old woman said her friend was hit on her legs and stumbled to the ground. Men dressed in the black uniform of Kadyrov's security forces looked out of the car's windows, laughing and sneering.

"It's only at home that I could examine the bruise and it was so huge and ugly," Louiza recalled. "Since then, I don't dare leave home without a headscarf."

Another target, a 29-year-old woman whose name was not given, said she was walking down the same central avenue in June with two other women, all without headscarves, when two cars stopped nearby and bearded men in black uniforms fired paintball guns at them, screaming: "Cover your hair, harlots!"

The woman told Human Rights Watch that she knows 12 women who were shot at with paintball guns in June. Overall, at least 50 or 60 women were targeted, the rights group said.

Threatening leaflets also appeared on the streets of Grozny, warning women that those who fail to wear headscarves could face "more persuasive measures." The women interviewed by Human Rights Watch interpreted that as a threat to use real weapons.

Kadyrov's security force has been blamed by rights activists for abductions, torture and extrajudicial killings in Chechnya.

In July 2009, the director of the Chechen office of Russia's Memorial rights group, was abducted near her home in Grozny and found shot to death along a roadside a few hours later. Natalya Estemirova had publicly criticized the Islamic dress campaign as a violation of Russian law, angering Kadyrov who had threatened her with repercussions.

A few weeks after the paintball shootings, Kadyrov told local television that he was ready to give awards to the men who carried out the attacks and that the targeted women deserved the treatment. There was no response from the federal authorities.

The paintball attacks ended in mid-June, having achieving Kadyrov's objective. The majority of women are now too scared to enter the center of Grozny without headscarves or dare to complain against the "virtue campaign."

At Chechen State University in Grozny this week, all females students wore headscarves and, toeing the official line, defended the practice as part of local tradition and a sign of respect for Islam.

"The headscarf is part of our religion, part of our faith," said Seda Sabarova, 18.

Kadyrov also scoffed at criticism of his effort to enforce an Islamic dress code, telling foreign reporters that headscarves make women beautiful.

[patient2010 93]

[^_^ 5,021]

This is how it all starts. Paintball guns? Won't be paintball guns for long.

[ONA 133]

He wants headscarves and legalisation of polygamy.

And that (along with some other reasons) is why people in Russia (at least outside Chechnya, Dagestan and Ingushetia) don't want Kadyrov.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

He wants headscarves and legalisation of polygamy.

And that (along with some other reasons) is why people in Russia (at least outside Chechnya, Dagestan and Ingushetia) don't want Kadyrov.

That's a bit ironic seeing how Tsar Putin and his siloviki thieves are the ones responsible for the Kremlin lapdog and butcherer in Chechnya aka Kadyrov for being where he is today. It's difficult to say who's murdered more journalist and human rights workers to date... the Kremlin or Kadyrov.

[slim 1,530]

Independence without secession. "It's like it's your own country but we'll just still call it Russia. Nobody will notice."

[sea-monkey 13]

This is why females in those regions should carry grenedes. Forget pepper sprays. While getting shot up with paintballs, grab your frag and utilize the P.A.T.S. method. Pull Aim Throw Scram.

[slim 1,530]

They did carry grenades for quite a while. This is what's happening after they've "won" the wars.

[Captain Hammer 113]

It's pretty disgusting what they do to women in the name of God. I'm pretty sure God doesn't want fully half His population treated this way.

[slim 1,530]

It's pretty disgusting what they do to women in the name of God. I'm pretty sure God doesn't want fully half His population treated this way.

Then why does He let it happen?

If He's all-powerful, all-knowing, why does he let bad things happen?

[Captain Hammer 113]

Then why does He let it happen?

If He's all-powerful, all-knowing, why does he let bad things happen?

Good question. I'm not religious, my comment was just trying to appeal to the religious side of the argument.

[Golden Gate 530]

Then why does He let it happen?

If He's all-powerful, all-knowing, why does he let bad things happen?

Because humans are given free-will, but apparently many haven't evolved very far in their thinking.

[ONA 133]

Independence without secession. "It's like it's your own country but we'll just still call it Russia. Nobody will notice."

You got it.

It's easy to figure that out as long as you're familiar with the history of Chechen wars and of where Kadyrov and other Chechen politics come from.

Then why does He let it happen?

If He's all-powerful, all-knowing, why does he let bad things happen?

Erich Maria Remarque in one of his books says that the God is scared, cause "if everybody is happy, nobody will need Him anymore". It doesn't have to be true, but I love books by Remarque, cause they really make me think about stuff like that.

[^_^ 5,021]

The Godfellas episode of Futurama is awesome.

[slim 1,530]

You got it.

It's easy to figure that out as long as you're familiar with the history of Chechen wars and of where Kadyrov and other Chechen politics come from.

Prior to 9/11 most Americans had never heard of Chechnya.

Post 9/11, most Americans have still not heard of Chechnya and even those who do know about that sort of thing are not familiar with specifics. I saw an "expert" on CNN one day talking about the conflict over there and he called the place "Check" nee ya, the same way we'd pronounce Czech Republic. I figured anyone who mispronounced the name of the place probably had ZERO first-hand information on the subject. Sure enough, he spouted off "facts" he'd read in some journal and offered absolutely no useable intelligence.

Erich Maria Remarque in one of his books says that the God is scared, cause "if everybody is happy, nobody will need Him anymore". It doesn't have to be true, but I love books by Remarque, cause they really make me think about stuff like that.

This is why I laugh when people get all hot and bothered over religion - even to the point of fighting wars over it.

NOBODY REALLY KNOWS!!!!