Biography

Lipkhan Bazaeva was born in 1945 in Kazakhstan during the deportation period of the Chechens and Ingush. She returned to Chechnya in 1957 together with her parents. In 1967 she entered the Chechen State University, which she completed in 1974. She is married with four children. From 1976 she worked in the Chechen State University as a teacher of Russian language in the department of contemporary Russian language. Having completed post-graduate studies, she prepared a dissertation.

During the first Chechen war (1994-1996) she began work in the field of public life: organisation and coordination of public organisations working for peace and human rights in Chechnya. She participated in the initiative of the creation of the Association for Peace in Chechnya and actively participated as a member. During this time she created a women's organisation called the Union of Chechen Women under her management. Lipkhan applied herself to work on rights and information and the organisation of mass women's actions for peace in Chechnya. At this time (Autumn 1995) she attended meetings in Strasbourg, taking reports  and information about human rights abuses committed during the course of the Chechen war,  to the session of the Commission of the Council of Europe about the situation in Chechnya and to the sessions of other sections of the Council of Europe. Also at this time Lipkhan participated as a coordinator for Chechnya in a project of the International non-governmenta l tribunal for war crimes in Chechnya, organised by the society Glasnost (Moscow, Sergei Ivanovich Grigoryants).

Following the end of the first war she worked as the head of the Information-analysis Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Chechnya.  From the start of the second war (in 1999) she was invited to work in the human rights centre Memorial. Together with colleagues in the Memorial office in Nazran she carried out monitoring of the human rights situation in Chechnya and Ingushetia, managed Memorial's social service in Nazran. In 2003-2004 she worked as the head of the Nazran office of Memorial.  

In 2002 and 2003 at various events of the Council of Europe, connected with the situation in Chechnya, she went with reports and information about human rights violations and the situation of women in Chechnya. In 2003, 2004 and 2005 she attended the regular session of the UN, and met with the heads of the Commissi on of Human Rights and the Rights of Women to discuss the situation in Chechnya. She has regularly met with representatives of the embassies of European countries, the USA, Canada and the German Minister of Foreign Affairs.  She cooperates with organisations such as the Helsinki Federation for Human Rights, the Moscow Helsinki Group, the G. Boyle Foundation, with the German Society for Threatened Peoples (Goettingen) and the Swiss Society for Threatened Peoples (Bern) and others, she writes articles, interviews and other publications in newspapers, journals etc.

Womens Centre 

Gaenocologist at work in the centre in Grozny

The local NGO which Lipkhan set up in 2002 has been operating a support centre for women in Grozny providing free-of-charge medical, psychological, humanitarian and legal assistance. They also conduct training and other vocational courses such as computer studies and sewing. The centre is attended by many women – unemployed, widowed, single – who are in great need of the support and care that the centre provides. It is open between 9 and 5pm during the week. On average, 10-15 women come to the centre, often with their children, each day.

* More detailed information on the project (pdf)

* If you would like to support the work of Womens Dignity please contact us

In 2002 Lipkhan set up the women's charity Women's Dignity in Grozny, on the basis of which a rehabilitation centre for women was created and is now actively working. 

The Women's Dignity Centre is actively working at the moment in Grozny, fulfilling projects for the protection of women's rights and other charitable projects. At the moment, as one of its initiators, Lipkhan is participating in the realisation of a wide project - a Forum of Chechen civil society, the aim of which is to initiate in Chechnya a civil process and to stimulate the development of democratic institutions.

Lipkhan has been awarded several human rights prizes, including the Victor Golants International award for active human rights work.