There Should Be no Forced Migrants in Chechnya?
17.05.2006
The Government of the Chechen Republic Launched a Campaign against Temporary Residence Centers for Internally Displaced People
In May 2006 the chair of the Chechen government Ramzan Kadyrov announced that temporary residence centers for IDPs in Chechnya were to be closed. Should this happen, almost 50,000 people will be deprived of their basic human need - shelter.
“Memorial” and the “Civic Assistance” Committee have repeatedly reported that the authorities significantly decreased their attention to the problem of internal displacement after all major IDP camps were closed in Ingushetia. Concealed from the outsiders, at least 250.000 IDPs continue to struggle for survival in Chechnya, now with virtually with no assistance from the state.
After the authorities announced the military actions to be over in Chechnya, new flows of forced migration continued to emerge, usually as a result of illegal actions by security services, related to abductions of people. Some of them headed outside the republic: thus, in 2005 around 90 families (about 700 people) left the village of Borozdinovskaja, Shelkovskoj district of Chechnya and resettled to Dagestan. This flow of forced migration was caused by a mop-up operation, carried out in this village by representatives of Chechen Security Services on June 4 2005, when 11 people were abducted and afterwards “disappeared” without a trace.
However, the main streams of migration remain inside the republic. Thus, in the summer of 2005 all residents of the village Zumsoj, Itum-Kalinsky discrict of Chechnya left their village as a result of a series of violent actions: in January 2005 four villagers (including a teenage boy) were abducted by Russian military servicemen and remain missing, in June 2005 the head of the village administration was killed by “unidentified men in masks”. In 2006 the neighboring village of Bugaroy was virtually completely neglected by its residents. Under similar conditions in 2002 around 2,500 residents of mountainous Vedensky, Kurchaloyevsky an Nozaj-Yurtovsky districts became internally displaced to the plain. As of today, they remain forced migrants, the problems of their resettlement are not being resolved, the fact of their forced migration is not recognized by the authorities, i.e. they are not registered as IDPs by migration services.
However, compared to the previous years, the situation of IDPs has deteriorated in 2006. If previously the authorities simply left them without attention, failed to provide for adequate shelter and special needs of IDPs, in the spring of 2006, there was launched a campaign for “liquidation” of the very problem of IDPs in the Chechen Republic.
Probably, the authorities have decided that there should be no IDPs in Chechnya anymore. Obviously, in the framework of the large-scale PR campaign, organized by the government of the Russian Federation together with the authorities of the Chechen Republic aimed at creating the illusion of “normalization” of the situation in Chechnya, there is no place for IDPs, a conspicuous symbol of continuing trouble. Moreover, getting rid of the IDP problem will help the government control the international presence in the region: when there are no IDPs in the republic, there will be no need for the presence of international organizations providing for their needs.
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The problem of IDPs has been very acute in Chechnya since the beginning of the military actions.
Due to shortage of living spaces in state-sponsored centers for temporary residence, the majority of IDPs (132, 000) had to provide for their shelter themselves. The only assistance they received from the state was a daily supply of bread (for 6 rubles/20 cents/per person per day). In November 2005 this category of IDPs was deregistered by the federal migration services and they are no more counted as forced migrants.
The second category of IDPs, who have returned from tent camps in Ingushetia (1. 295 families) were renting premises in the private sector and used to receive subsidies for rent from the state (14 rubles a day per person) and bread (6 rubles a day per person). In 2006 the Executive Resolution of the Federal Government, which allocated budget resources for this category of IDPs was not prolonged. This way, the government relieved itself from the duty also in respect of this category of IDPs.
In May 2006 the turn came of the third category of IDPs in Chechnya, residents of temporary residence centers (TRCs), who used to be in the best position compared to others. As of March of 2006 their numbers amount to 48. 326 people (32 TRCs (ÏÂÐ) and 14 places of compact settlements (ÌÊÏ)). In spring 2006 the republican authorities launched a campaign aimed at liquidation of TRCs. In the media the republican officials announced that the refugee environment had a degrading impact on the Chechen culture. Thus, the Chair of the Chechen government, Ramzan Kadyrov made it clear that all TRCs should be liquidated in the nearest future, since TRCs were “the nest of crime, drug addiction and prostitution”. The majority of the residents of TRCs have their houses intact, thus they have the opportunity to return home. “The people have become lazy, they do not want to work, and women living there have forgotten what household chores mean”, - said Ramzan Kadyrov. It does not suit Chechens to live in such places, all Chechens have relatives, who should host the IDPs - considers the Chechen prime-minister.
Such announcements were received by the local authorities as a directive to action. Thus, Mr. Astamirov, the head of administration of Staropromyslovky district in Grozny, where most of the TRCs are located, declared that the temporary residence centers had to be cleared, since they were needed for schools and polyclinics. In order to implement this decision Astamirov created a special “commission”, which carries out night checking raids in TRCs. Those IDPs who are not present during the checks are being issued acts of eviction. Being absent for medical treatment is not taken as an excuse by the commission.
On the directive of Ramzan Kadyrov, in May 2006 all the commandants of the TRCs have been replaced. The change of commandants was justified by the necessity to rid of corrupt administration which made money on humanitarian aid for IDPs. Nonetheless, IDPs themselves understand that the change of commandants was aimed at installing administration loyal to Ramzan Kadyrov, and prepared to liquidate the TRCs.
The general anxiety is intensified by visits by representatives of district administrations and personnel of militia who come and try to persuade people to return to their places of permanent residence, but do not promise them anything in return.
Thus, Khizrieva Eliza, a resident of TRC at Chajkovskogo street in Grozny, was tricked into signing an application asking to take her and her family (5 persons) off the IDP database, on the grounds of her agreement to resettle from the TRC. The woman has strong sight deficiency and she was unable to make out what she was signing.
In order to influence the public opinion that TRC are, indeed, places of drug dealing and low morale, militiamen carried out an operation in TRC at Koltsova street, 1 in Grozny. On April 20, 2006 at 5:30 pm the personnel of military kommendatura and ministry of internal affairs units of Staropromyslovsky district carried out a check-up, which violated the due procedures (representatives of prosecution were absent during the check, the commandant of the TRC was not notified)
During the illegal operation two women were detained: a resident of TRC Zulfiya Avtorkhanova, born in 1974, and her cousin Malka Lorsanova, born in 1975. As a result of unsanctioned search without witnesses, which was shot on the camera, marihuana was allegedly found in the women's room. Both ladies were brought to Staropromyslovsky district militia.
The same day the defense lawyer of HRC “Memorial” managed to release the women, but they signed a recognizance not to leave. The administration of the TRC as well as its residents consider that illegal actions of the militiamen, attempts at fabrication of a criminal case against the two women were part of the campaign for liquidation of TRCs in Staropromyslovsky district of Grozny.
Along with campaign for closing temporary residence centers in Chechnya, the authorities invest consistent efforts in returning Chechen forced migrants remaining in the neighboring regions: Ingushetia, Georgia, Dagestan back to the Chechen Republic.
According to migration services of the Republic of Ingushetia, 31, 178 Chechen IDPs remain in Ingushetia. According to the migration services of Georgia, there are 1,500 Chechen refugees in their country. The Chechen Committee for IDPs claims that the latter figures are significantly inflated. At the same time the Committee acknowledges that in Georgia reside a significant number of unregistered Chechens, who do not want to return to Chechnya for political reasons or considerations of security.
Thus, in 2005-2006 several tendencies, characteristic of the federal policy towards Chechen forced migrants in the region can be identified:
1. Chechen IDPs are squeezed out of the neighboring regions (Ingushetia, Dagestan, Georgia) to Chechnya;
2. In Chechnya IDPs are insistently induced to move from the administrative centers to the regions of their origin, where they cease being regarded as IDPs (even through they do not live in their houses and oftentimes in their villages).
3. Under various pretexts IDPs are en masse deregistered (deprived registration according to form -7)
4. A campaign is unfold for closure of temporary residence centers for IDPs in Chechnya.
The above described developments indicate that unless adequate attention is attributed to the problem of enforced closure of TRCs in Chechnya and to consistent efforts by the authorities to take the issue of internal displacement in Chechnya off the agenda, over of the population of the republic will become long term socially marginalized citizens, without their basic need in shelter being provided for. In the unstable conditions of the Chechen Republic the problem of their accommodation is not only the issue of justice, but also of security: recruiting young people into armed and criminal activity is most probable from such socially underprivileged environments.
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