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Ethnic minorities could face deportation from Russia under new decree
News Stories, 5 April 2002
Moscow, April 5 (UNHCR) – More than 13,000 people of Meskhetian ethnicity are facing possible deportation under a new local decree by authorities in the Krasnodar Krai region of the Russian Federation, the UN refugee agency has warned.
The plan sets up "filtration points" to round up "illegal migrants" – mainly Meskhetians and Armenians, according to the authorities – and remove them from the territory of Krasnodar Krai.
In a statement, UNHCR expressed concern about the development, saying it "may lead to the deterioration of the situation and increase discrimination towards the Meskhetian population settled in the region."
The Meskhetians – a largely Muslim group from south-western Georgia – were deported in 1944 to Uzbekistan on Stalin's orders. They faced forced displacement again when, in June 1989, almost the entire ethnic Meskhetian population was driven out of the Uzbekistani part of the Fergana Valley by inter-ethnic violence. Some 90,000 fled, half of them to Azerbaijan and tens of thousands to the Russian Federation.
Most Meskhetians have managed to integrate into the various parts of the Russian Federation where they settled after 1989, and have acquired Russian citizenship.
The exception is the Krasnodar Krai region, where the overwhelming majority of Meskhetians have been unable to obtain permanent legal status. The region is home to between 11,000 and 16,000 Meskhetians, out of a total population of some 5 million inhabitants. Many of the Meskhetians have children who were born in Russia, but only a few thousand Meskhetians have been able to settle legally in Krasnodar Krai.
"Based on the Russian Federation law on citizenship, UNHCR believes the Meskhetians are Russian citizens," said Jean-Paul Cavalieri, a lawyer and senior official with the refugee agency's Moscow office.
"The Meskhetians are former citizens of the USSR who were legally residing on the territory of the Russian Federation at the time of adoption of the 1992 Citizenship Law. On several individual instances the courts of law, including the Russian Federation Supreme Court, have upheld this position," he said.
Without recognition of their citizenship, the Meskhetians live as stateless people. They can face harassment and discrimination, and may not be able to work legally, own land, or even access local health care and schools. The Krasnodar Krai decree now adds another worry – possible deportation from a region where they have resided for more than a decade.
The Meskhetians are one of many different populations displaced within the former Soviet Union after the breakup of the USSR in 1991.
"The Russian Federation has managed to protect and integrate millions of migrants, formerly deported people, refugees and stateless persons, all in accordance with the Constitution and laws of the Federation, and respecting international human rights instruments," said the UNHCR statement. "UNHCR is confident that the situation of Meskhetians in Krasnodar Krai can be similarly addressed."
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Displacement in Georgia
Tens of thousands of civilians are living in precarious conditions, having been driven from their homes by the crisis in the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia.
On the morning of August 12, the first UNHCR-chartered plane carrying emergency aid arrived in the Georgian capital Tbilisi, the first UN assistance to arrive in the country since fighting broke out the previous week. The airlift brought in 34 tonnes of tents, jerry cans, blankets and kitchen sets from UNHCR's central emergency stockpile in Dubai. Items were then loaded onto trucks at the Tbilisi airport for transport and distribution.
A second UNHCR flight landed in Tbilisi on August 14, with a third one expected to arrive the following day. In addition, two UNHCR aid flights are scheduled to leave for Vladikavkaz in the Russian Federation the following week with mattresses, water tanks and other supplies for displaced South Ossetians.
Working with local partners, UNHCR is now providing assistance to the most vulnerable and needy. These include many young children and family members separated from one another. The situation is evolving rapidly and the refugee agency is monitoring the needs of the newly displaced population, which numbered some 115,000 on August 14.
Posted on 15 August 2008
Displacement in Georgia
Ingushetia: Internally Displaced Chechens
When fighting broke out between government troops and rebel forces in Chechnya in 1999, over 200,000 people fled the republic, most of them to the neighbouring republic of Ingushetia. Today, tens of thousands of Chechens remain displaced in Ingushetia, unwilling to go home because of continuing security concerns.
As of early December 2003, some 62,000 displaced Chechens were living in temporary settlements or in private accommodation. Those living in settlements face constant threats of eviction, often by owners who wish to use their buildings again.
Another 7,900 displaced Chechens live in tents in three remaining camps – Satsita, Sputnik, and Bart.
The authorities have repeatedly called for the closure of tent camps and the return of the displaced people to Chechnya. Three camps have been closed in the past year – Iman camp at Aki Yurt, "Bella" or B camp, and "Alina" or A camp. Chechens from the latter two camps who did not wish to go home were allowed to move to Satsita camp or other existing temporary settlements in Ingushetia.
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