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United Nations Development Programme |
In
September 2002, at the United Nations Millennium Summit, world leaders agreed
to a set of time-bound and measurable goals and targets for combating poverty,
hunger, disease, environmental degradation and discrimination against women.
They are now called the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs).
In this context the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in co-operation with the Columbia University have conducted a workshop "Millenium Development Goals for the Altai Republic" on 19-20 March in Gorno-Altaisk. This is one of the first efforts to mobilize support for reaching the MDGs at the regional level in Russia and to help regional authorities and communities use the MDGs as tools in establishing their development priorities. The workshop was facilitated by Kate Lapham from the Columbia University who familiarized participants with the MDGs and helped them to translate these goals into local terms.
Representatives of public sector, regional legislative and executive authorities, education institutions and academia participated in the workshop. Altogether they tried to adapt the global goals in the areas of poverty reduction, child and women health, HIV/AIDS prevention, deterioration of environment to the specific socio-economic conditions of the Altai Republic.
The first MDG is to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger. In the opinion of the workshop participants, this goal is extremely relevant for the Altai Republic. It was agreed, that by 2005 the number of people living below the poverty level should be decreased from current 49% down to 45%, and in 2015 this figure should be 25%.
Reduction of child mortality and improvement of maternal health is another MDG, which was considered during the workshop. It is also important for Altai, where it was proposed to reduce infant mortality from 23 per 1,000 live births to the Russian Federation average of 16 per 1,000 live births by 2015, and increase the percentage of healthy pregnant women from 20% to 40% by 2015.
Participants also discussed another MDG, which is combating
HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases. They agreed that
Altai Republic should stabilize the number of people infected with HIV/AIDS,
hepatitis and other epidemiological diseases.
International community has also agreed to join efforts in order to ensure environmental sustainability at the global and local level, which was endorsed as the eighth MDG. Altai population sees the achievement of this goal through creation of efficient and environmentally friendly tourism infrastructure in their Republic. By 2005 it is planned to reduce the number of violations of environmental regulations by 50% and by 10 times by 2015. In addition, recycling and appropriate disposal of solid waste should be improved from 5% to 25% in 2005 and 50% by 2015.
Finally, participants concluded that achievement of the identified goals would require joint practical efforts both from regional authorities and public sector. They also count on further co-operation with UNDP, which already supported implementation of several local-level initiatives in the Altai Republic.
Contact information:
Marina Olshanskaya
UNDP Environment Unit
Tel.: (095) 787-21-42
Fax: (095) 787-21-01
E-mail: marina.olshanskaya@undp.ru
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UNHCR United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees |
In Moscow, 5,113 persons are registered by UNHCR Refugee Reception
Center (RRC) as asylum-seekers. Most of them are currently being assisted by
UNHCR-Moscow and its implementing partners. Services cover the legal, healthcare,
and educational concerns of asylum-seekers with the aim of facilitating local
integration and self-reliance. Education is
promoted through the provision of school kits for every student, and the availability
of special stipends for young people aged 11-19. UNHCR’s implementing partner
Ethnosphera runs a programme helping Afghan children to integrate into Russian
schools. Courses in Russian language and vocational skills are offered by UNHCR
implementing partner Equilibre-Solidarity, and encourage adult asylum-seekers
to adapt to their new circumstances.
As many asylum-seekers continue to suffer psychological difficulties associated with the refugee experience, UNHCR implementing partner Gratis provides individual and group therapy at six community centres around Moscow. Free healthcare is available through UNHCR implementing partner Magee Woman Care International. Moreover, particularly vulnerable cases (such as the elderly, infirm, single mothers, and others with special needs) may be eligible to receive a temporary financial subsidy from UNHCR.
Unfortunately, while the services managed by UNHCR and its implementing partners provide vital support, the legal situation remains extremely difficult for the majority of asylum seekers in Moscow. Despite the fact that the Russian Federation acceded to the 1951 Refugee Convention in 1993 and adopted the Law on Refugees, which was revised in 1997, there remain serious obstacles to the efficient processing of asylum claims. Major problems include a rejection rate of more than 95% in the first instance and delays in granting timely access to the RSD procedure.
Currently the average waiting time before applications are taken in for consideration is about two – three years, and many people who have lived in Russia for almost a decade are still struggling to file their asylum claims with the authorities. The most serious concern for asylum-seekers is that, for as long as they are awaiting access to the Refugee Status Determination Procedure, they have no official identification document affirming that they have lodged an asylum claim. While an official ‘asylum-seeker certificate’ is issued by the Ministry of the Interior, it is only available to those individuals who have already gained access to the RSD procedure. Without this document, asylum-seekers are considered de-facto illegal immigrants by the city’s police force.
In order to address this problem, the UNHCR-Moscow Refugee
Reception Center (RRC) provides all persons of concern 
with
a ‘protection document’ which also serves as a referral letter for use when
approaching the migration authorities about the official submission of asylum
requests. While the UNHCR document has no legal weight and is only rarely recognised
by police officers, it serves as undeniable proof that the bearer had tried
to lodge an asylum claim, and should therefore not be prosecuted as an illegal
migrant.
The RRC holds also capacity-building sessions with police officers, intended primarily to clarify a commonly cited confusion between asylum-seekers and economic migrants. On 25–27 March of this year UNHCR jointly with the Federal Migration Service of the Ministry of Interior of the Russian Federaion organised for staff of migration services a seminar on international protection of refugees in the Russian context.
In order to resolve cases of police harassment of persons of concern to UNCHR, the RRC retains a staff of lawyers who closely monitor the situation. In 2002, the RRC responded to over 750 cases of police harassment, of which 233 were in serious danger of being deported.
Even when their asylum applications are under consideration by the migration authorities, during this time they are in principle properly documented by being issued with an asylum-seeker’s certificate attesting to their lawful presence in the Russian Federation, asylum-seekers continue to face serious difficulties in securing a residence permit from the Ministry of Interior. Without a residency permit, asylum-seekers cannot claim social service benefits or hospital care.
Though
many negative decisions are appealed and the rate of success of judicial review
is pretty high nearing some 65 percent, very few have actually been implemented
by the migration authorities. As a matter of fact, as many as 131 negative decisions
got overturned on appeal to courts of law in 2002, and this was result of considerable
efforts made by UNHCR through private lawyers from bar associations contracted
to ensure legal representation of precedent-setting cases carefully selected
by UNHCR.
Despite UNHCR efforts, a far more restrictive Civil Code, which has been in force since July, 2002, and a new law on foreigners, which has been in force since November, 2002, has made the situation of urban refugees in Moscow even more precarious. Under the new Civil Code the minimum penalty for not possessing documents demonstrating compliance with residence permit requirements is 500 roubles (more than US $15). This figure represents a 500% increase over the earlier maximum penalty of 100 roubles. Many asylum-seekers restrict their movements around the city as they consider the threat of such a high fine too serious.
The law on foreigners, which introduces the requirement that all foreigners carry a specially issued migration card, poses an additional threat to asylum-seekers. According to the new law, any foreigner who fails to produce the migration card can be fined. The Refugee Reception Center has noted an increase in the number of asylum-seekers targeted for document checks since the introduction of the migration card requirement.
