Humanitarian Action in the Northern Caucasus: 1 - 15 April 2001
Humanitarian Action in the Northern Caucasus
Information Bulletin: 1 - 15 April 2001
HIGHLIGHTS
International community explores aid strategy in the northern Caucasus
The UN is taking a fresh look at humanitarian action in the northern Caucasus as described in its 2001 Consolidated Inter-agency Appeal for the Northern Caucasus, in particular organisations’ strategic approach to aid in Chechnya and Ingushetia. The process has promoted a discussion among some of the donor states, UN agencies, the ICRC, and NGOs aimed at sharing views on the situation in the region and developing a more coherent approach to protection, and to alleviating suffering and improving livelihoods. The discussions will be summarised in a brief paper, which will be presented to donors in Moscow in mid-May.
UN conducts security assessment in the northern Caucasus
From 7-12 April, representatives from UNSECOORD, UNHCR, UNICEF, and WFP undertook a staff safety assessment mission to the northern Caucasus. Following visits to Grozny, Gudermes, Nalchik, Nazran, and Vladikavkaz, the mission concluded that the level of insecurity remains high. The mission’s recommendations included: maintain current UN security phases in Chechnya, Ingushetia, and North Ossetia; hire more field security officers; conduct more regular missions to Chechnya; and stay overnight in Nazran, when protection has been increased. The recommendations mirror the UN’s willingness to provide more assistance to civilians in need in Chechnya and to improve coordination in Ingushetia.
HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE
Food Aid
The World Food Programme (WFP) started a food distribution in Ingushetia by providing sugar and salt to the 33,000 IDPs who had received only wheat flour in March. The remaining 124,000 beneficiaries will receive wheat flour, sugar, and salt. WFP conducted a survey among 164 IDP households in Ingushetia to find out the effect of non-distribution of food in March. All the respondents had to sell some of their belongings or borrow money to buy food.
Islamic Relief (IR) provided 133 MTs of food and 223 MTs of meat in A, Sputnik, and Yandare camps. IR carries out weekly food distribution for more than 15,000 IDPs living in these camps. The NGO intends to start a bakery project in Gudermes, Chechnya. WFP will provide wheat flour and salt for the project. The People in Need Foundation (PINF) distributed 11,000 baby food kits consisting of pap, baby juice, fruit puree, and three kinds of dried nutrition milk in three districts of Grozny.
The Danish Refugee Council (DRC) started a seed programme in Chechnya at the end of March. As part of the programme, each beneficiary family living in the northern and central areas will receive a seed package consisting of maize, kidney beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, and onions, whereas the beneficiaries residing in the mountainous areas will receive potatoes. DRC has already distributed 189,028.7 kg of seeds in the districts of Achkhoy-Martan, Grozny, Kurchaloy, Shali, and Urus-Martan.
Shelter & Non-food Items
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UHHCR) continues assisting IDPs living in the spontaneous settlements. During the reporting period, the agency provided shelter materials to 162 spontaneous settlements throughout Ingushetia. By the end of the first week of April, all IDPs from Karabulak wagons moved to the camp B constructed by UNHCR. Now the camp accommodates 5,000 IDPs. Camp C, constructed by EMERCOM Ingushetia with support from the Saudi Arabian Red Crescent Society, now holds 1,800 IDPs who use to live in the spontaneous settlements.
Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) – Belgium distributed plastic sheeting, as well as jerry cans and hygienic kits to all IDPs living with host families and in the spontaneous settlements in the Malgobek district.
Health & Nutrition
The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) delivered operation-theatre equipment and surgical consumables to hospital 9 in Grozny. UNICEF also supplied the hospital with six refrigerators for the new central storage facility for vaccines built with the support from the agency.
A committee on mental health for IDPs in Ingushetia and Chechnya was set up in Ingushetia. Members of the committee, which is run by the World Health Organization (WHO), include the Ingush health ministry, UNICEF, and international and national NGOs operating in the area. The first meeting of the committee took place on 10 April in Nazran. The participants approved the tasks and terms of reference for the committee, which are as follows: collect information on mental health activities; coordinate activities to avoid overlapping and gaps in assistance; identify and find solutions to problems faced by aid agencies; facilitate capacity building in the region; function as a facilitator between the authorities and aid agencies; WHO to provide technical assistance to NGOs and to keep a library on mental health issues.
Water & Sanitation
The Polish Humanitarian Organisation (PHO) manages a UNICEF-provided water purification system in Grozny, producing 120 cubic metres of clean water per day and distributing it to health centres, schools, and other general distribution sites in the city. UNICEF provided the NGO with another water-purification unit, which will further increase water distribution in the city.
Education
UNICEF and various NGOs continue signing partnership agreements for the construction of schools in Ingushetia, as well as in Chechnya. During the reporting period, the Centre for Peacemaking and Community Development (CPCD) opened a wooden school in the Bart camp. The International Rescue Committee (IRC) in partnership with UNICEF set up a new tent-school in Sleptsovskaya, and plans to establish another five. In Chechnya, the Agency for Rehabilitation and Development (ARD) is building three wooden schools in the villages of Duba-Yurt and Elistanzhi. These schools will provide enrolment for about 1,400 children.
Mine Action*
UNICEF has signed agreements with the Danish Demining Group (DDG), Voice of Mountains (VoM), and Vesta as part of the implementation strategy for its mine action programme. Within the framework of the agreement with DDG, ‘training of trainers’ courses on mine awareness education are being undertaken in Ingushetia for Chechen teachers for 40 weeks. VoM will assist UNICEF with the transport of children injured by mines and UXO from Chechnya to the Vladikavkaz prosthetic and rehabilitation centre for treatment. Under the Vesta agreement, mine injured youth, widows, and single mothers will receive training on computers and accountancy in the Sleptsovskaya technical college. UNICEF continues organising mine awareness puppet theatre performances in Vladikavkaz. So far more than 6,000 children from the IDP camps in Ingushetia have had opportunity to view these puppet shows.
* Mine action in this report refers to one or a combination of the following activities: mine awareness, victim assistance, and vocational training.
Produced by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
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