Human rights groups Friday called on a U.N. commission ...(Reuters: 3/17/00)

GENEVA (Reuters) - Human rights groups Friday called on a U.N. commission to condemn alleged grave violations, including executions, in China and Chechnya.

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch urged the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, which begins its annual meeting here Monday, to send investigators to Chechnya to gather evidence of alleged executions, torture and rapes by Russian forces.

The groups accused China of increasing repression of peaceful dissent and religious movements in the past year. China had arbitrarily detained tens of thousands of members of the banned Falun Gong group, according to London-based Amnesty.

Amnesty also pressed the 53-member commission to end its silence about ``appalling'' abuses in traditionally untouchable Saudi Arabia, where it said torture was used to extract confessions and floggings and amputations were commonplace.

``It is time that the Commission on Human Rights put aside political and economic considerations and put human rights protection back as the core concern,'' Amnesty's legal director Stephanie Farrior told a news briefing.

CONCERN OVER CHINA

China, with the highest rate of executions in the world, routinely shackled prisoners, inflicted beatings, electric shocks and deprived detainees of food and sleep, Farrior said.

``Amnesty International is urging the Commission to adopt a resolution expressing its concern at the widespread human rights violations in China and urging the Chinese government to stop executions and release all prisoners of conscience,'' she said.

The United States has announced it will sponsor a resolution denouncing political repression and other violations in China, but the European Union has yet to state its position.

U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright will address the main U.N. rights forum on March 23 to press the case against China. China has quashed debate and escaped censure every year since the 1989 pro-democracy demonstrations.

Joanna Weschler of Human Rights Watch accused Russian forces of widespread atrocities in the rebel republic of Chechnya.

``Our researchers have uncovered a pattern of Russian war crimes, including the summary executions of civilians throughout Grozny. The situation demands a thorough and in-depth U.N. investigation,'' she said.

Amnesty said it was also concerned at reports of human rights abuses by Chechen fighters, including the use of civilians as human shields, torture and ill-treatment, rapes, and killing captured combatants.

``One of our recommendations is to urge the Commission to consider an international investigation of grave abuses of human rights and humanitarian law,'' Farrior said.

``It is of paramount importance that the visit takes place while the Commission is in session and they come back to inform it. We can't wait a year,'' added Isabelle Scherer, Amnesty's representative to the U.N. European headquarters in Geneva.

Amnesty International also denounced continued killings in the Yugoslav province of Kosovo, abuses by the military and paramilitary groups in Mexico, and violence by former rebel forces in Sierra Leone despite a peace pact.

The commission's annual meeting will last six weeks.