UN REPORT CALLS FOR END TO ABUSES.

On March 13 the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, called for an end to abuses by both sides in the fighting between Russian forces and the Chechen separatists. She referred to reports of serious human rights violations being carried out by the separatists and called on Russia to set up an independent inquiry to investigate alleged mass killings and other violations committed in Chechnya. She underlined that to date there had been no proper inquiry into the abuses. Robinson’s report was submitted to the UN Commission on Human Rights, a body consisting of fifty-three member states (Reuters, March 14).