 |
|
|
UNHCR United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees |
In 2001 UNHCR marked the 50th anniversary of the 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, and for the first time the World Refugee Day.
In co-operation with the Government of the Russian Federation, international organisations, and local non-governmental organisations UNHCR’s protection and assistance activities have been concerned with four groups of beneficiaries. The persons of concern to UNHCR are:
asylum seekers and refugees; involuntarily relocating persons (IRPs), they also called forced migrants in Russia; stateless persons; internally displaced persons (IDPs).
Activities carried out in 2001 included a broad range of advocacy, training and capacity building interventions on issues of asylum in the context of migration management, access to refugee status determination procedures, refugee and human rights. These activities reached a broad range of government officials and NGO staff in several different regions of Russia. Seven hundred thirty representatives of governmental and non-governmental organisations attended training. Because of major gaps still in the protection regime and the vulnerability of asylum seekers during a lengthy pre-registration period, direct protection assistance was provided to non-CIS asylum seekers in Moscow and the Moscow region. Legal counselling was also provided in St Petersburg. A multi-sectoral assistance programme (material, education and medical) for non-CIS asylum seekers in Moscow and the Moscow region was continued because of their lack of access to any social services or employment.
Advocacy and capacity building efforts on the part of UNHCR contributed to the implementation of Article 12 in the refugee law on temporary asylum. During 2001, the first 113 persons, mainly Afghans, received temporary asylum in 12 regions of Russia. UNHCR’s increased efforts to work with lawyers through the courts produced good results: 68 positive decisions were taken on appeals including 48 on non-CIS asylum-seekers. The UNHCR Resettlement Programme considered and submitted increased numbers of the most vulnerable cases among the asylum seekers. In 2001, UNHCR supported 23 counselling points in the Memorial legal network out of 47 in 44 regions maintained by the NGO throughout Russia.
Assisting in integration in North Ossetia vulnerable families of refugees from Georgia, UNHCR allocated funds for the construction of houses. During 2001, 36 houses were constructed and 12 apartments renovated.
UNHCR further streamlined its assistance to involuntary relocating persons (forced migrants) in the regions. The self-sustainability of microcredit projects (no longer requiring investment from UNHCR) and various training and NGO capacity-building initiatives should be mentioned.
There
are three groups of concern to UNHCR among stateless persons: Meskhetians in
Krasnodar Krai, Afghan orphans and Baku Armenians. The main activities were
advocacy and provision of technical expertise on citizenship legislation at
the federal level, and legal counselling at the individual level. UNHCR had
contributed considerable effort in providing expertise and advice to the draft
law on citizenship, which was submitted to the Duma and approved. Legal assistance
for Meskhetians has resulted in over 300 positive court decisions on property
rights and registration over the last 3 years. Afghan orphans constitute a population
diluted across the Russian Federation and thus difficult for UNHCR to identify.
Individual cases were resolved in various ways – obtaining refugee status, citizenship,
or being resettled. A few dozen Baku Armenian families obtained citizenship
through the courts but unfortunately these decisions were not enforced.
As a part of its on-going participation in the UN inter-agency relief programme in the Northern Caucasus, UNHCR was focal point for protection, shelter and non-food items, water and sanitation. Through systematic and timely protection interventions in Ingushetia, UNHCR made efforts to prevent evictions of IDPs from temporarily shelter, and to ensure access of all internally displaced persons (IDPs) to assistance. Two new camps were constructed, which accommodate 10,400 IDPs previously staying in railway cars. UNHCR winterised 60 IDPs spontaneous settlements and distributed construction materials in 180 spontaneous settlements, replaced 500 and repaired 250 tents in tented camps. Monitoring, legal counselling, and small-scale education and community services activities help to meet the psychological needs of IDPs, raise awareness of rights, and provide legal remedies in individual cases.
Security constraints limited access to IDPs in Chechnya. UNHCR distributed there non-food items. Shelter kits were provided to assist returning families to have basic accommodation while repairing damaged houses, prefabricated houses.
UNHCR support to legal NGOs inside Chechnya, assisted in strengthening the court system.
UNHCR carried out several projects aimed at developing more tolerant attitude of local population towards refugees and other persons of concern to UNHCR including “A Lesson of Tolerance” in schools, the contest for regional media on refugees’ issues, etc.
UNHCR cooperates closely with other UN agencies. At field level, weekly inter-agency co-ordination meetings are held in Nazran and Vladikavkaz, where ICRC and international and local NGOs are represented.
Over sixty various projects were implemented by UNHCR in the Russian Federation in 2001. The total budget made up US $ 10,2 million. Some of the planned activities were not implemented due to financial constraints.
