Human rights defenders consider the North Caucasus a gray area in statistics on rapes.

In the North Caucasus, due to fear of conflict with relatives and confrontation with society, victims of rape generally do not report the crime. Dagestan and Chechnya ultimately have a reputation as the "safest" regions. Accounting for such crimes as "honor killings" is practically impossible.

As reported by "Caucasian Knot", the problem of domestic violence in Dagestan, Ingushetia, and Chechnya affects women of different ages, but mainly young girls under 30 try to escape it, human rights defenders from the Ad Rem team noted in their report. The problem of evacuating victims of domestic violence is most acute in these regions, as local authorities and law enforcement take the side of family aggressors. In June 2023, the BBC released a documentary titled "When I Escaped" about girls from the North Caucasus who managed to break free from family control. For victims of domestic violence, escape often becomes the only way to save their lives, human rights defenders emphasized.

The highest number of recorded cases of rape per 100,000 people is in the Republic of Tuva, according to the results of a data study conducted by "Horizontal Russia" (included in the register of foreign agents). Among the southern regions of Russia, Astrakhan Oblast leads in this indicator (177 cases per 100,000 people).

However, the regions of the North Caucasus and Adygea were not included in the ranking compiled by the publication, as there is no reliable statistics for these regions, and local women often fear to file a police report. The study cites the words of journalist and founder of the human rights group "Marem" Svetlana Anokhina. "Women often do not have the physical ability to seek help. Moreover, there is pressure from the public and relatives. It is one thing to protest quietly, another to go into direct confrontation not only with the family but with society as a whole," she noted, emphasizing that police officers are also part of society with the same concepts.

To be fair, there is still some statistics on cases of sexualized violence in the republics of the North Caucasus. But can it be trusted, the human rights group "Marem" noted today in their Telegram channel.

"For example, in 2023, 10 rapes and attempted rapes were registered in Dagestan. And in Chechnya, a stable zero (in 2022, 2023, and 2024). The North Caucasian republics regularly appear in the rankings of the safest places—largely because there is no accounting for certain crimes, as the victim is intimidated or no longer alive," human rights defenders noted.

Accounting for such crimes as honor killings is practically impossible. "The victim is dead, and her relatives are directly involved in her death, so they have no reason to report the murder to the police. Rapes are also considered traumatic events that are not reported to the police: since in the overwhelming majority of cases the perpetrator is a relative, for the victim to report him is a huge risk. The only crimes related to socialized abuse that are partially registered are crimes against the sexual integrity of children," human rights defenders emphasized.

"Honor killings" remain unsolved

Cases of the rape of minors resonate in the information field of the North Caucasus.

An eight-year-old girl from Kaspiysk went to the store on July 29, 2018, and did not return. More than a month later, on September 9, a bag with the child's remains was found in the city. On October 18, 2020, law enforcement detained a 36-year-old resident of the village of Levashi, suspected of murdering and raping the girl. The detainee confessed. In March 2022, a case against two residents of Makhachkala accused of kidnapping and murdering the eight-year-old girl from Kaspiysk was sent to court.

The Supreme Court of Dagestan issued a guilty verdict against two local residents in the case of the kidnapping and murder of an eight-year-old schoolgirl in Kaspiysk in 2018. One man was sentenced to life imprisonment, and his accomplice, a distant relative of the child, received 12 years in prison. This case attracted the attention of society, the media, and investigators.

At the same time, disappearances of girls who could become victims of "honor killings" often remain unsolved.

For example, 25-year-old Zukhra Muzaeva, a resident of the Chechen village of Kurchaloy and mother of three daughters, went missing in April 2026. According to the project "Freedom (not) far away", citing acquaintances of the girl, she may have been killed by her own father due to suspicions of infidelity to her husband, who is participating in a military operation in Ukraine. According to the project's sources, the father first shaved her head, then forced her to dig a grave and shot her. When human rights defenders asked about Zukhra's fate, her father replied by phone that she was "alive and well" and abroad. The girl's relatives did not explain to acquaintances where she had gone. "Honor killings" are a cruel, archaic, and illegal tradition, some social media users noted, commenting on the information about the possible murder of Muzaeva. Some users doubted Muzaeva's death, as there is no documentary evidence of it.

Zukhra was married at no older than 16. By the age of 17, she had given birth to two daughters, and later a third child was born in the family. She had a small business—she sold cosmetics on social media. Information about the alleged murder is spread citing anonymous sources. "Caucasian Knot" cannot confirm or deny it.

The combination of circumstances surrounding Zukhra Muzaeva's disappearance—sudden disappearance, lack of communication, and contradictory explanations from relatives—provides sufficient grounds to investigate the threat to her life. Cases of "honor killings" in Chechnya are extremely difficult to document, and requests for investigations into such crimes often end with refusals to initiate criminal cases.

Born in Chechnya, Seda Suleymanova was detained in St. Petersburg in August 2023 and forcibly taken to her relatives in Chechnya. After that, she has not made any communications. Her friends and human rights defenders fear that she has become a victim of the so-called "honor killing", according to a report by "Caucasian Knot" "The Abduction of Seda Suleymanova". Seda Suleymanova's relatives presented a version that the girl left home again on February 5, 2024. According to Suleymanova's friend Lena Patyaeva, this version does not hold up to scrutiny.