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Georgia: Treatment of Doukhobors (Dukhobors) and state protection available to them

Information on the treatment of Doukhobors in Georgia and the state protection available to them is scarce among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate. In telephone interviews with the Research Directorate, officials from two Canadian Doukhobor organizations stated that since 1991 Doukhobors have suffered discrimination in Georgia on the basis of their religion - as a Christian minority sect - and on the basis of language and ethnicity - because they are viewed as Russians (22 Jan. 1999; 25 Jan. 1999).  These tensions have led significant numbers of Doukhobors to relocate to Russia, reportedly with the assistance of the Russian government and the UNHCR (ibid.). For information on the treatment of Doukhobors in Russia, please consult RUS31027.E of 26 January 1999.

An ethnographer who specializes on the Doukhobors and is in contact with persons working with Doukhobor groups in the former Soviet Union corroborated this information in a telephone interview and added that the tensions involving Doukhobor communities in Georgia frequently involve land issues as well (26 Jan. 1999).

In 1995, the report of Georgia submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Committee under Article 40 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights stated:

The fact that such cultural and religious minorities as the Molokane and Dukhobors are on the point of disappearing from Georgia is causing the Government special concern.  There has recently been a considerable exodus of the most able-bodied and well-off members of these communities to the Russian Federation.  Surveys carried out by the Committee for Human Rights and Ethnic Relations among Molokane and Dukhobor communities in the villages of Ul'yanovka (Signakh raion), Krasnogorka (Sagaredzhoi raion) and Gorelovka, Spassovka and Orlovka (Ninotsmind raion) have shown that members of the community are leaving because of the deterioration of the economic situation in the Republic, and not because of any cultural or religious discrimination.

At the Committee's recommendation, Parliament is considering the questions of legislative consolidation of community ownership of the land and community self-government, which should lead to stabilization of the situation in these communities.

The situation of the Dukhobors will be improved by the issuing of Order No. 42 of the Head of State, dated 28 March 1995, "On improving the social conditions of the Dukhobor community", in which a number of ministries are given instructions concerning the adoption of emergency measures (5 Nov. 1996).

In its consideration of the report, the Human Rights Committee made no comments on the section of the report cited above (1 Apr. 1997).

An ITAR-TASS article of 28 January 1998 describes one migration involving 56 Doukhobors in January 1999. According to an article in the Russian daily Segodnia, the Georgian Doukhobor population, which reportedly numbered 6,000 members prior to independence, had by January 1999 dropped to 2,000, with the departure of over 4,000 members to Canada and Russia in recent years (27 Jan. 1999). AFP, citing the Segodnia report, states that the exodus of Doukhobors from Georgia is attributable to "the deterioration of the economic situation and an increase in what they call anti-Russian sentiment" (28 Jan. 1999).

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.

References

Agence France Presse (AFP). 28 January 1999. "Dukhobor Sect Members Emigrate to Russia and Canada." (2 Feb. 1999/MINELRES- Forum for discussion on minoriities in Central and Eastern Europe)

Canadian Doukhobor Society, Castlegar, B.C. 25 January 1999. Telephone interview with Secretary.

Ethnographer, Ottawa. 26 January 1999. Telephone interview.

ITAR-TASS. 28 Jan. 1999. Boris Fedorov. "Dukhobor Sect Members Emigrate from Georgia to Russia." (FBIS-SOV-99-028 28 Jan. 1999/WNC)

Segodnia. 27 January 1999. Mikhail Vignansky. "Dukhobors Quit the Transcaucasian Republic." (2 Feb. 1999/MINELRES - Forum for discussion on minoriities in Central and Eastern Europe)

Union of Spiritual Communities of Christ, Grand Forks, B.C. 22 January 1999. Telephone interview with Honourary Chairman of the Executive Committee.

United Nations Human Rights Committee. 1 April 1997. (CCPR/C/79/Add.75) Concluding Observations/Comments. [Internet] <http://www.unhchr.ch> [Accessed 03 Jan. 1999]

_____. 5 November 1996. (CCPR/C/100/Add.1). State Party Report. [Internet] <http://www.unhchr.ch> [Accessed 03 Jan. 1999]

Additional Sources Consulted

Human Rights Watch. 1999. World Report 1999. [Internet] <http://www.hrw.org> [Accessed 26 Jan. 1999]

United States Department of State. 22 July 1997. "United States Policies in Support of Religious Freedom: Focus on Christians." [Internet] <http://www.state.gov/> [Accessed 22 Jan. 1999]

Electronic Sources: IRB Databases, LEXIS/NEXIS, RFE/RL, REFWORLD, Internet, and WNC.