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Nansen Award winner Kanai uses prize to help in Armenia and Azerbaijan
19 Apr 2007 Japanese optometrist Akio Kanai has used all the prize money that came with his Nansen Refugee Award to assist refugees and internally displaced in Azerbaijan and Armenia, countries where he has been helping victims on both sides of the conflict for almost a decade. -
UNHCR struggles to find solutions for Afghan asylum seekers in Russia
17 Apr 2007 Afghans constitute the largest number of asylum seekers in Russia but many have failed to gain refugee status and need other solutions. Unable to return to Afghanistan and denied refugee status in Russia, Afghan asylum seekers see resettlement as their only hope. -
Chechnya announces major housing programme for displaced people
27 Mar 2007 The authorities in the war-ravaged republic of Chechnya have said that, by the end of this year, they will provide apartments to 3,000 displaced families currently living in temporary accommodation centres. UNHCR has welcomed the announcement but warned that the process of allocating the new apartments must be done in a fair and transparent way. -
Q&A: A big mandate for UNHCR office in Georgia, including peace role
23 Mar 2007 Naveed Hussain has been the UN refugee agency's Representative in Georgia for the past three years. The UNHCR operations that he directs help uprooted people in areas controlled by the government as well as in two breakaway regions. He discusses his work. -
Artistic appreciation and tolerance in an Armenian village
17 Jul 2006 The ethnic Azeri population of southern Armenia's Yeghegis village fled the area in 1989, but the local government and population have vowed to protect their cultural legacy and religious sites in a heart-warming gesture of tolerance. -
Fortress Europe: The wall is getting higher
26 Apr 2006 While the number of people trying to enter the European Union via its new eastern border has increased dramatically since EU enlargement in 2004, the number applying for asylum has dropped sharply. In Ukraine, meanwhile, asylum applications are rising but almost none of them are being recognised. UNHCR is concerned that on both sides of the EU border, people seeking asylum are struggling to get a fair hearing. -
UNHCR to open office in Chechnya as soon as security allows, says High Commissioner António Guterres
11 Apr 2006 At the end of his visit to the volatile North Caucasus region of the Russian Federation, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres, reiterated his organisation's commitment to open an office in Chechnya as soon as security conditions allow. -
UNHCR condemns deportation of Uzbek asylum seekers from Ukraine
16 Feb 2006 The UN refugee agency is appalled to discover that Ukraine deported 11 Uzbek asylum seekers back to Uzbekistan following an extradition request from the Uzbek prosecutor's office. UNHCR is seeking urgent clarification and further information on the fate of the deportees, as it is extremely concerned for their safety. -
For Chechens, Poland is not west enough
5 Dec 2005 Although Poland has been a member of the EU for over a year, the Chechen asylum seekers there are still convinced the grass is greener further west - but the EU's Dublin Regulation means using Poland as a transit country is no longer possible, leading to a clash between Chechen hopes and European asylum realities.