Human Rights Watch called on Russian authorities to fight hazing in the Russian Army, where two years of service are mandatory for all Russian males, and killings and suicides claim dozens of lives every year. The group called hazing one of Russia´s biggest human rights problems. (09-NOV-04)

The U.S.-based rights group published an 86-page report that included accounts wherein first-year conscripts are subjected to pervasive humiliation, battery, and harassment by their seniors, thus driving hundreds to commit suicide and thousands of others to flee their military units.

“This is a very big human rights problem – one of the biggest that the Russian Federation has,” said Diederik Lohman, a senior researcher Europe and Central Asia Division for Human Rights Watch.

Hazing practices involve making new conscripts buy alcohol, shine boots, make beds or give money to senior soldiers. But physical abuse – like beatings with stools or rods, and even sexual assaults, are rife in the army.

Cases of torture are not uncommon as well.

Valentina Melnikova, chairwoman of the Committees of Soldiers´ Mothers, said conscripts from the Kremlin regiment told her they were ordered to produce $170 every month or they would literally “pay for it” if they failed. Soldiers are paid the equivalent of about $3.40 per month.

Since the start of the year, 25 soldiers have died as a result of hazing by older conscripts; 12 others died from excess force used by their officers, and 109 committed suicide, according to Russia´s chief military prosecutor, Alexander Savenkov.

The numbers, however, are probably much higher than official statistics, Soldiers´ Mothers say, since deaths are often registered as accidents or as happening outside of service.

In its report, Human Rights Watch said officers should be made accountable for preventing hazing in their units.

The group also suggested creating a task force to put forward a strategy to fight hazing. It proposed appointing a deputy ombudsman under Russian human rights commissioner Vladimir Lukin to investigate hazing incidents.

Read more about HRW report “Russia: Systematic ´Hazing´ a Serious Abuse” on http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2004/10/20/russia9525.htm