OCHA Situation Report
North Caucasus
16 - 31 March 2003


Source: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)

I  HIGHLIGHTS
A Referendum on the Republican Constitution Takes Place in Chechnya

A referendum on the draft of the Chechen constitution and the draft laws
on the presidential and parliamentary elections took place in the Republic
of Chechnya on 23 March. The Chechen electoral commission reported that
nearly 96% of those who voted supported the constitution, 95.4% backed the
law on the election of the president, and 96.05% - the law on the election
of the parliament. About 90% (510,000 people) of nearly 580,000 eligible
voters took part in the referendum. IDPs from Chechnya accommodated in the
neighbouring Ingushetia could vote at ballot stations set up in this
republic. According to the head of the Central Electoral Commission,
Alexandre Veshnyakov, the presidential election will be held not earlier
than six months after the referendum and is expected to coincide with the
federal election to the State Duma in December 2003. The republic will
elect its new parliament at least three months after the presidential
election. The event is likely to coincide with the federal presidential
election in March 2004.

FAO Supports Food Production in Chechnya and Ingushetia

The UN Food and Agriculture Oranization's (FAO) Emergency Coordinator for
North Caucasus completed his first mission to the Russian Federation in
March. As a result of the mission, FAO procured locally and delivered to
Nazran, Ingushetia, maize, beans, and vegetable seeds for further
distribution by NGOs to IDP and affected households in Chechnya and
Ingushetia. The seeds will support food production on household plots and
cash generation through marketing of vegetables for 13,700 households.



II HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE

Protection

According to the Danish Refugee Council (DRC), a UN High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) implementing partner, as of 31 March, about 92,000 IDPs
from Chechnya were registered in its database for assistance in
Ingushetia. Of them, about 15,000 were registered in five tent camps, over
27,000 in temporary settlements, and nearly 50,000 in private
accommodation. In March, the Chechen Forced Migrant Committee, a
government structure, reported the organised return to Chechnya of 63 IDP
families (346 persons). Vesta, a UNHCR implementing partner, which
monitors population movements at two checkpoints on the administrative
border between Chechnya and Ingushetia, reported that 219 persons returned
to Chechnya on their own while 254 arrived in Ingushetia. In Ingushetia,
UNHCR was interviewing IDPs in temporary settlements, who had been
de-registered by the migration service from the lists qualifying them for
government assistance. When de-registered IDPs become vulnerable to
eviction since the authorities stop to reimburse the owners of temporary
settlements premises for the accommodation and utilities provided. UNHCR
will use the results of the interviews to follow up with the authorities
on the matter, and, if necessary, to provide legal counselling to IDPs on
the protection of their rights in local courts.


Food

In Chechnya, the World Food Programme (WFP) allocated about 1,700 MTs of
basic food commodities for the next round of distribution in April. Under
the WFP school-feeding project, about 43,800 primary and pre-school
children received sweet buns on a daily basis. About 630 persons (3,150
beneficiaries) received food assistance under the WFP food-for-work
project in Grozny. Of them, 550 were involved in street cleaning and
assistance to the elderly and sick persons, 40 in rehabilitation of
housing, and 40 in repair woks of kitchen facilities at schools covered by
the school-feeding project. In Ingushetia, WFP allocated 1,900 MTs of food
commodities for the current round of distribution, which started in
mid-March. The food basket for relief distributions in Chechnya and
Ingushetia consisted of 10 kg of wheat flour and 0.15 kg of iodised salt.


Shelter and Non-food Items

Twenty IDP families from Chechnya (93 persons), who were allocated plots
of land by the Ingush government, were completing the construction of
houses with materials provided by DRC under the UNHCR's 2002 local
integration project. In 2003, UNHCR will support another 20 IDP families
in constructing houses in Ingushetia. Under the same project, UNHCR
supported the construction of a carpentry workshop, providing IDPs with
jobs, which is essential for a sustainable local integration.  In
Ingushetia, Help, a German NGO, continued providing non-food items to IDPs
from Chechnya, accommodated in tent camps, host families, and temporary
settlements. It finished the distribution of firewood and stoves and
continued distributing bed items.


Health

In Ingushetia, The World Health Organization (WHO) marked the World TB Day
on 24 March by various events and activities, including a TB awareness
campaign in local newspapers, TV presentations, a distribution of
education materials to the population, and lectures in state educational
and health institutions. The chief mufti of the republic made a special
address on the topic in the central mosque. In addition, the agency
conducted a conference on the World TB Day and the WHO TB programme for
about 100 Ingush medical workers. WHO, together with the Ingush ministries
of health and education, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), and a local NGO,
organised a competition of posters on the TB topic among children of local
and IDP schools, and patients of a TB children's sanatorium. Five Chechen
psychiatrists completed a WHO-sponsored praxis-oriented on-the-job
training at the Moscow research Institute for Psychiatry. In Chechnya,
UNICEF continued promoting safe immunisation practices by providing cold
chain equipment to Samashki, Shatoi, and Dolinsk hospitals. Under its
Mother and Child Health Care programme, UNICEF continued supplying
essential drugs, medical expendables, and mother and child health care
kits to Chechen inpatient and outpatient medical facilities.


Education

In Ingushetia, UNICEF, in cooperation with the Centre for Peacemaking and
Community Development (CPCD), organised six open lessons at a CPCD-run IDP
school to train teachers working in IDP schools in new teaching
methodologies. UNICEF completed the distribution of jackets to 900
children and jackets and shoes to about 23,000 school children in Chechnya
and Ingushetia. The agency, together with its NGO partner, Caritas
Internationalis (CI), continued implementing a kindergarten programme in
Ingushetia covering 700 pre-school children. It provided CI with over
4,000 toys, games, sports and recreational materials, as well as with
about 7,000 items of stationary for young children's development. In
addition, the kindergartens received 290 kg of chloramines for sanitation
purposes.


Water and Sanitation

In Chechnya, UNICEF, together with the Polish Humanitarian Organisation
(PHO), continued producing and distributing potable water to Grozny
residents in both public and private housing sectors, using 13 trucks and
150 water bladders. The water distribution points are set up in medical
institutions, schools and residential areas, allowing to increase the
efficiency of water provision and to facilitate the access to water for
women and children. UNICEF/PHO sanitation activities in Grozny included
garbage collection from 25 schools and hospitals and sewage collection
from 4 schools and 12 hospitals. Medical incinerators built in 9 hospitals
in Grozny helped to reduce public health hazards.


Mine Action*

Voice of the Mountains, a UNICEF partner, conducted mine risk education
sessions for about 1,300 school children in Chechnya and IDP children in
Ingushetia. Following the interactive lessons it disseminated 120 posters
on the topic, as well as notebooks and pens. In addition, Let's Save the
Generation NGO distributed 250 posters in Grozny and Groznensky raion near
polling stations in order to convey the mine risk education messages to
people coming to vote at the constitutional referendum in Chechnya on 23
March. The UNICEF/WHO-supported prosthetic centre in Vladikavkaz completed
the treatment of 9 children affected by mines and unexploded ordinance.
All the children received group and individual counselling by
psychologists from the New Education NGO, another UNICEF partner.

* 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)
Tel: (7095) 956-6405; Fax: (7095) 956-6355; e-mail: Zotikova@un.org


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