Grozny, March 11: High heels are now a fashion must for women in Chechnya’s capital, where clean pavements have replaced the moonscape of mud, bomb craters and hulking ruins of the recent past.
But there’s now another absolute must – a headscarf – and not all Chechen women wear one willingly.
Chechnya’s strongman Ramzan Kadyrov has imposed an Islamic dress code on women, and his feared security forces have used paintball guns and threats against those refusing to obey.
In a report released overnight, Human Rights Watch condemned the campaign as a flagrant violation of women’s rights and urged other nations to raise the issue with Moscow.
Russian authorities, who rely on Mr Kadyrov to stabilise the war-tattered region, have turned a blind eye to his treatment of women and other rights abuses.
——–Agencies