Chechnya - OCHA: 21-Sep-05
OCHA Situation Report
Chechnya and Neighbouring Republics (Russian Federation)
Report for August 2005
21 September 2005
Source: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
HIGHLIGHTS
Workshop on Building a Strategic Framework for Economic Recovery
On August 29-30 representatives of the international humanitarian
community took part in a workshop on economic recovery in the city of
Rostov-on-Don. The conference was attended by high-level officials from
federal and local North Caucasus governments, UN agencies, NGOs and
donor representatives. Discussions included such topics as establishing
a common vision for the economic recovery process, components for an
economic recovery strategy and how best the international community can
complement the recovery process.
Government of Chechnya Revises Humanitarian Assistance Priorities
On August 25 the Humanitarian Coordinator for the Russian Federation and
OCHA received a revised package of assistance priorities of the
Government of the Chechen Republic for 2006. Earlier this year the UN
asked the Government to inform the humanitarian community on their
short-term and middle-term priorities and plans in the area of
humanitarian and recovery/development assistance. The Government
responded then with a package of proposals of various ministries. This
package was revised in late July-early August and was re-submitted to
the UN. The humanitarian community appreciates the Government's efforts
in this area and believes the document will help humanitarian
organizations better understand the needs of the Republic and plan their
activities for 2006 accordingly. As a follow-up, the package has already
been distributed to the Sector Working Groups for their consideration in
humanitarian planning for 2006.
HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE
Protection
As of 31 August 2005, a total of 29,173 internally displaced persons
(IDPs) from Chechnya (6, 558 families) were registered for assistance in
Ingushetia in the database of UNHCR's implementing partner, the Danish
Refugee Council (DRC). Of this total, 10, 692 persons (2, 339 families)
were in temporary settlements, and 18,481 persons (4,219 families) in
private accommodation. From 1-31 August, Vesta, who monitors the Adler
and Spartak checkpoints, reported individual returns of 100 persons (22
families) from Ingushetia to Chechnya and new arrivals of 52 persons (10
families) from Chechnya to Ingushetia. During August, 437 persons (83
families) were de-registered by DRC in Ingushetia and registered for
assistance in Chechnya.
For a number of IDPs the return to Chechnya remains largely motivated by
economic difficulties that IDPs residing in the private housing sector
in Ingushetia encounter having to pay rents, by lack of sustainable
livelihood opportunities in their current areas of displacement in
Ingushetia as well as by the de-registration from the lists of the
Migration Service in Ingushetia due to the receipt of compensation for
destroyed housing and lost property in Chechnya.
The practice of IDPs documentation checks from law enforcement
structures continued in August in both republics, without provoking any
major incidents.
During August, the legal counseling centers (LCCs) of UNHCR's partners
provided 270 consultations to IDPs in Chechnya and 172 consultations in
Ingushetia. LCC lawyers prepared 119 referrals to the administrative
and law-enforcement bodies in Chechnya and 60 in Ingushetia. In
Chechnya, these related primarily to land and housing disputes,
compensation payments, illegal detentions, pensions and other
allowances. In Ingushetia, the primary concern was illegitimate
de-registration from the Migration Service beneficiaries lists.
Food
In August, WFP continued providing assistance to vulnerable populations
in Chechnya and Ingushetia through food aid and associated activities.
Current food aid activities were implemented through relief
distribution, school feeding and food fund projects such as food for
work (FFW) and food for training (FFT), TB and Dining Hall. During
August under the three programs WFP provided and distributed through
Caritas Internationalis, Center for the Prevention of Humanitarian
Catastrophes, Danish Refugee Council, International Medical Corps,
Islamic Relief, MSF-Holland, Open Continent, Serlo, WHO, WVRF some 3,223
tons of food commodities to target beneficiaries. School feeding program
resumed only at the end of August with the distribution of food
commodities organized jointly with the Chechen Ministry of Education.
Some 393 tons were distributed to 411 schools of Chechnya, including 69
schools of the three northern districts of the republic newly included
into the program. A workshop was conducted in Nazran by WFP jointly with
IR and WV for principals of the newly included schools to familiarize
them with the program objectives and facilitate the program
implementation through 2005/2006 school year. In some districts of
Chechnya in August some food fund projects included, apart from usual
repairs, coaching children in soccer and boxing, as well as dancing
lessons for which coaches and dance-masters received food.
To date the contributions for the operation have made up 78% of the
total requirement. Within the next six months WFP expect shortfalls in
wheat flour, vegetable oil, sugar, salt, and high-energy biscuits.
Efforts should be undertaken by WFP to mobilize the remaining 22% of the
resources required for the successful implementation of the 2005
program.
In August, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO)
continued the implementation of a pilot project aimed at supporting
household poultry production. Implemented through two national NGOs
(Open Continent and Center for Humanitarian Assistance), the project
targets 88 households in Kurchaloi and in 3 other smaller settlements
around Grozny. The objectives of the project include improved household
nutrition and mitigation of unemployment, primarily for females. Its
primary objective is to reduce dependence on aid through increased
household income from marketing of eggs and, later on, poultry meat.
At the inception of the project each eligible household was given free
choice to participate in it. FAO designed the project so that the
receipts from marketing of poultry products should slightly surpass the
market value of food aid items hitherto received by the households.
Consequently, food aid deliveries may eventually be withheld from the
target households. By the end of August the beneficiary households had
all constructed themselves their chicken houses with materials delivered
by FAO and had received chicken feed and live poultry. A poultry
production training program is an integral part of the project. Until
project completion by the end of 2005 FAO will concentrate on monitoring
of the project's impact. It is anticipated that the lessons learned will
be used for the design of a similar larger project for 2006.
Shelter
UNHCR continued to provide box tents to returnees in Chechnya and
vulnerable IDP families that are evicted or under threat of eviction in
Ingushetia. In August 35 box tents were delivered to Chechnya and 33 to
Ingushetia, bringing the total since the beginning of the program to
1,587 units, 1,044 in Chechnya and 543 in Ingushetia.
UNHCR plans to implement more Quick Impact Projects (QIPs) both in
Ingushetia and Chechnya, directed at supporting small community
rehabilitation undertakings or vulnerable families in their efforts to
boost their livelihood conditions. New projects were approved in both
republics. Currently, UNHCR foreseen investment in QIPs for the year
2005 has reached a level of 3.6 million RR for Chechnya and 0.9 million
RR for Ingushetia.
In the Republic of Ingushetia the International Rescue Committee (IRC)
continued rehabilitation works in 10 temporary settlements. The
maintenance of gas pipeline and other rehabilitation works in temporary
settlement AOZT "Sunzha" in Sleptsovskaya were finished. In September
2005, according to the information from UNHCR, temporary settlements in
Ingushetia will probably be consolidated. Therefore, the main
rehabilitation works will start in the middle of September 2005 to
render assistance to beneficiaries more effectively in case of
consolidation.
In Chechnya the assessment of the houses for a new housing
rehabilitation project is continuing. About 100 houses falling into the
2nd category of destruction will be rehabilitated.
The works on rehabilitation of houses of 3rd category were started. 1200
metal roofing sheets, other roofing materials and 30,000 bricks were
distributed in Oktyabrsky district. The next distribution will be
conducted in Leninsky and Zavodskoy districts of Grozny.
Health
On 11 August the World Health Organization (WHO) carried out a mission
to Kurchaloi district of Chechnya and visited: the ambulatories in
Bachi-Yurt and Yalkhoi-Mohk villages and feldsher-obstetrician points
(FAPs) in Dzhigurti and Belti villages. The overall situation on
district levels, including FAPs and ambulatories is critical, with no
basic equipment, instruments and/or drug supplies from the Ministry of
Health. There is a strong need for reconstruction and rehabilitation of
at least a few central and the largest by population coverage
facilities.
In the Chechen republic, IRC continued to work towards improving the
health status of war-affected mothers and children in Grozny by
providing pregnant women with psychosocial counselling, health education
and safe motherhood kits. The IRC provided weekly training and
psychosocial counselling for a total of 40 pregnant women at schools
Nos. 23 and 53, and began to recruit additional pregnant women for
training scheduled for September. In Grozny, the IRC conducted
psychosocial counselling in closed and open group sessions to 50 and 125
children, respectively. Individual counselling was provided to 30 of the
most vulnerable children, 32 parents and 31 teachers. In addition, 100
copies of the newly designed poster to promote IRC's psychosocial
program were distributed in all schools where IRC works in Chechnya. The
preventive educational health program started its activities at the
beginning of August in the Sakhali and Alkhalzuro in Chechnya and in
Psedakh in Ingushetia. IRC's public health staff met with the respective
community committees to select 10 community health workers (CHW) in each
community. The CHWs will participate in various trainings throughout the
next 12 months and will deliver preventive health information to their
community members.
In Ingushetia, the IRC also provided counselling in closed and open
groups for 156 and 94 children, respectively. 29 children, 23 parents
and 13 teachers attended individual counselling sessions.
Within its Expanded Program of Immunization, which is aimed at
increasing the coverage and quality of the immunization services for
children, UNICEF procured over 148,000 disposable syringes (1 ml.) for
distribution both in Chechnya and Ingushetia. Some 103,000 of them will
be distributed to paediatric and mother-and-child health facilities
(children's polyclinics, maternity wards, vaccination centres and health
posts) located in 17 district hospitals in Chechnya, while another
45,000 syringes will be distributed to vaccination rooms and vaccination
centres located in 8 mother and child health care facilities in
Ingushetia.
Education
On 30 August, an annual conference was convened by the Ingush Ministry
of Education (MoE) to discuss the results of the 2004-05 academic year,
with the participation of teachers, school administrations, regional
departments of education, Ministry of Education (MoE) experts and heads
of local administrations. The President of Ingushetia, Mr. Zyazikov, and
various Government officials also attended the conference. UNICEF
presented its work in the Education sector. A special assessment
conducted by the Ingush MoE revealed that 5 schools in the republic are
considered dangerous (as their physical status is below standards),
while 70% of the school buildings are not complying with fire security
requirements. During the conference, the Ingush MoE also reported its
urgent need for special teaching classrooms (mainly for physics,
chemistry, biology, mathematics, literature and foreign languages) as
well as school libraries for the 82 secondary schools of the republic.
The MoE also noted that only 7% of pre-school age children in Ingushetia
had access to pre-school education services (through 15 functional
kindergartens). Primary school teachers, in particular, are concerned
about the low level of Russian spoken by most of the children upon
joining primary school. UNICEF is already supporting 4 kindergartens for
590 IDP children in Ingushetia. In 2006 the organization is planning,
financial resources permitting, to open some Early Childhood Education
(ECE) Centres and rehabilitate at least one kindergarten and one school
in Ingushetia.
On 1 September, 12 'parallel' schools for IDP children in Ingushetia -
which are supported by UNICEF through IRC, Center for Peacemaking and
Community Development (CPCD) and Hillfswerk Austria - resumed their
operation, with a population of some 1,700 students.
With a view to meeting the needs of IDPs and other categories of
vulnerable children for the 2005-2006 academic year, and upon request of
the Ministries of Education of Chechnya, Ingushetia and Dagestan, UNICEF
procured and distributed 598 sets of school furniture, 100 blackboards,
455,600 items of stationery, 4,000 schoolbags and 10,864 reading books
for kindergartens.
Water and Sanitation
Within the framework of the water purification and distribution project,
which is implemented by UNICEF in cooperation with the Polish
Humanitarian Organization (PHO) the total water delivery capacity in
Grozny reached 638.4 cubic metres per day. About 105,000 residents of
Grozny have thus been regularly served with safe drinking water, which
has been delivered by 20 trucks to 250 water distribution points, which
are located in 34 medical facilities, 51 educational facilities, 7 TACs
as well as in residential areas and near administrative buildings.
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) also continued to deliver water
and sanitation services to the war-affected population of Chechnya. A
total of 6,273 cubic meters of water was delivered to 107 water points
in Grozny using 8 rental water trucks. 25% of all water storage tanks
were checked daily. 1,560 cubic meters of garbage was collected using 3
rental garbage trucks.
In Ingushetia, the IRC delivered 5154 cubic meters of water to 62
temporary IDP settlements, 3 points in the private housing sector and 2
public institutions using 6 UNHCR water trucks and 2 rental water
trucks. 2,582 cubic meters of garbage was removed from 100 temporary
settlements, 9 public institutions using 6 UNHCR garbage trucks. 1,720
cubic meters of sewage was removed from 100 temporary settlements. 2
water points were maintained.
Mine Action
According to the information gathered by the 15 'letter-boxes'
established by UNICEF in 2005 in each district of Chechnya, no new
mine/UXO-related incidents involving civilians were reported in August.
The total of mine/UXO civilians victims recorded by UNICEF since 1995
stands at 3,031 (2,340 wounded and 641 killed), including 737 children
(612 wounded and 125 killed).
UNICEF continued to provide assistance to disabled children through its
main governmental and NGO partners. During the reporting period, the
Republican Clinical Hospital completed the treatment of 27
mine/UXO-affected children. The quality of the services provided was
improved through the provision of additional medical equipment.
During its recent monitoring mission to Grozny (19 August) UNICEF
assessed additional training needs of the medical staff involved in the
project. All additional training will be delivered by specialized staff
from Medical Centres of Moscow and St. Petersburg. Meanwhile, some 18
mine/UXO-affected children started a new academic year with new
prosthetic appliances provided by Grozny's Prosthetic Workshop. Children
with more severe cases will still be referred to Vladikavkaz's
Prosthetic Workshop, where the technical capacity remains higher.
Funding of the Humanitarian Operation
>From the date of the last Information Bulletin until the date of this
Bulletin donors recorded the following new contributions in the
Financial Tracking System (FTS):
|---------------------------------+-------------+------------------------+-------------------------+--------------|
| Description |Decision date| Donor Country | Appealing Agency |Amount in USD |
|---------------------------------+-------------+------------------------+-------------------------+--------------|
|Assistance and protection | 12.08.2005 | Germany | International Committee | $604,595|
|activities | | | of the Red Cross | |
|(Health, Food, NFIs and | | | | |
|Coordination) | | | | |
|---------------------------------+-------------+------------------------+-------------------------+--------------|
|Food aid | 11.08.2005 | ECHO (European | World Food Program | $2,412,545|
| | | Commission) | | |
|---------------------------------+-------------+------------------------+-------------------------+--------------|
|Awaiting allocation to specific | 08.08.2005 | Private |United Nations Children's| $309,801|
|sector/project | | | Fund | |
|---------------------------------+-------------+------------------------+-------------------------+--------------|
|Awaiting allocation to specific | 08.08.2005 | Private |United Nations Children's| $120,482|
|sector/project | | | Fund | |
|---------------------------------+-------------+------------------------+-------------------------+--------------|
|Awaiting allocation to specific | 08.08.2005 | Private |United Nations Children's| $619,944|
|sector/project | | | Fund | |
|---------------------------------+-------------+------------------------+-------------------------+--------------|
| | | | TOTAL: | $ 4,067,367|
|---------------------------------+-------------+------------------------+-------------------------+--------------|
Readers requiring more detailed information on funding of the
humanitarian operation in the North Caucasus are encouraged to visit the
FTS using the following link:
http://ocha.unog.ch/fts/reports/reportlist.asp?section=CE&record_ID=656.
FTS is an on-line, real-time, searchable database of humanitarian needs
and contributions and an instrument for analysis of humanitarian aid
flows.
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(OCHA)
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