Humanitarian Action in the Northern Caucasus - 16-31 January 2002 I. HUMANITARIAN HIGHLIGHTS
Ingush Government Forms Coordination Council
On 11 January the Ingush government formed a coordination council that is to facilitate relief efforts of government structures and humanitarian community in Ingushetia. The council, headed by the deputy chairman of the Ingush government, Askhab Goigov, will hold monthly meetings to discuss inter alia humanitarian assistance provided to IDPs and the needy persons in Ingushetia. The meetings will bring together representatives of EMERCOM, the federal security service, the ministry of interior, the ministry of health, and other republican structures, as well as representatives of UN agencies and NGOs.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees Ends Visit
On 18 January the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Ruud Lubbers, wound up his three-day visit to the Russian Federation. In addition to a mission to Ingushetia, the visit included meetings with various officials including the foreign minister and the chairman of the Federation Council Sergei Mironov. The High Commissioner cited the security situation in Chechnya as the main impediment to IDPs return, and called for greater involvement of the Chechen people in strengthening security in the republic. He urged that IDPs have a possibility to obtain proper documents, as soon as possible, and noted the importance of searching for a political solution of the situation in Chechnya. “Humanitarian workers are doing everything they can, but have only limited influence, which makes finding a political settlement all the more essential,” he said.
DFID Assesses Humanitarian Situation in the North Caucasus and its Assistance Programme
From 28 January-1 February the British government’s Department for International Development (DFID) undertook a mission to Moscow to assess the humanitarian situation in the North Caucasus, and the current DFID programme of humanitarian assistance to the region. The DFID team met key officials and organisations, including the federal minister for Chechnya, the permanent representative of Ingushetia to the president of the Russian Federation, UN agencies, ICRC, and international and local NGOs. In 2001, the British government was one of the main donors for humanitarian assistance in the North Caucasus.
II. HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE
Food
From 17-23 January, the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) distributed canned beef to over 46,500 beneficiaries in Itum-Kalinsky, Achkhoi-Martanovsky, and Shalinsky rayons of Chechnya. It delivered more than 482,000 cans of beef to 26 destinations.
Shelter and Non-food Items
The Chechen government has allocated RUR 1,5 billion to clear up the ruins of apartment buildings and rubble in the streets of Grozny to prepare them for future reconstruction. According to Grozny’s mayor, 129 private houses were commissioned in the city. Another 1,424 private houses and 2 apartment buildings are under construction. One of the major tasks is to restore electricity lines, the water supply, and heating systems for these houses. In Grozny, the Polish Humanitarian Organisation (PHO) continued to install stoves in private apartments of disabled persons and old people living alone. In January, it installed 185 stoves, bringing their number to 556 since the beginning of the project in November.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), together with partner NGOs, completed distribution of 10,000 winter jackets to children in IDP and needy families in Chechnya and Ingusheta.
Health
From 21-25 January in Nazran, the World Health Organisation (WHO) held training sessions on TB detection and treatment for 116 doctors, medical assistants and nurses from Chechnya and Ingushetia. The training was part of the joint Russian Federation and Ingushetia ministries of health – WHO project on TB control and prevention in Ingushetia. A separate course on TB control in children was conducted for 34 doctors from the two republics. WHO also distributed material such as games and sport and electronic equipment for psychological therapy to several psychosocial rehabilitation centres in Ingushetia and Chechnya, and a psychiatric hospital in Samashki (Chechnya). Two psychiatric hospitals in Chechnya (in Darbankhi and Samashki), and NGOs in Chechnya and Ingushetia, dealing with psychological rehabilitation, received specialised literature for their psychologists and counsellors.
Water and Sanitation
PHO continued its programme of purification and distribution of potable water in Grozny in collaboration with sanitary epidemiological surveillance service (SES) and Vodokanal of Grozny, UNHCR, UNICEF, and ICRC. In January, it supplied over 309 m3 of water per day, delivered by 13 water trucks to all Grozny districts. PHO, in collaboration with UNICEF, now plans to install 41 water bladders, increasing the number of distribution points to almost 150. At the end of January, PHO conducted a survey of the programme, covering 60 distribution points in Grozny. The purpose was to monitor the efficiency and quality of water distribution in the city, and to estimate the demand for drinking water. The results of the survey are to be issued at the beginning of February.
According to Grozny’s mayor, 4 sewage stations, out of 14 that used to work, are ready to start operating. The remaining ten are being repaired or rebuilt.
Education
UNICEF and its NGO partner, the Centre for Peacemaking and Community Development (CPCD), completed the construction of a new “Omega-6” school in Yandare’s IDP spontaneous settlement in Ingushetia. The school, which has a capacity for 250 children, was opened on 25 January. UNICEF had already provided for the construction of five such schools in IDP camps in the republic.
Mine Action*
UNICEF tested the knowledge and computer skills of 30 teenagers, attending a vocational training course in computing and English in Sleptsovskaya (Ingushetia), and distributed English text books to them. VESTA, a UNICEF implementing partner for the programme, organised this training course for youngsters, who became victims of mine and UXO incidents. The results of the tests were encouraging, and showed that the socio-economic reintegration of these young people within society should now become more feasible.
* Mine action in this report refers to one or a combination of the following activities: mine awareness, victim assistance, and vocational training.
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