U.N.-sponsored group urges Russia, Turkey and other OSCE members to help
their internally displaced
AP Worldstream
Nov 05, 2004
SUSANNA LOOF
Russia should stop pressuring displaced people to return to Chechnya,
while Turkey must remove pro-government guards from areas displaced
Kurds have returned to, a U.N.-sponsored group said in a report
released Friday.
Europe has about 3 million internally displaced people _ people who
have fled their homes but not crossed any international borders _ the
Global IDP Project said in a new report.
Turkey’s displaced population is about 1 million, mostly Kurds,
displaced by the conflict in the country’s southeast, said the group,
created by the Norwegian Refugee Council at the request of the United
Nations.
Azerbaijan is home to 575,000 displaced people, while Russia houses
360,000, Bosnia 320,000, Georgia 260,000, Serbia-Montenegro 250,000
and Cyprus 210,000.
“Governments must ensure that the displaced can go back to their homes
in safety and dignity,” Raymond Johansen, secretary general of the
Norwegian Refugee Council, said in a news release.
“But where return is not yet possible or not wished by those affected,
states must do more to ensure that the displaced can freely settle and
integrate elsewhere in the country, without being subjected to
discrimination or other restrictions of their rights.”
The report, to be presented Friday in Vienna at a meeting of the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, urged OSCE’s 55
member countries to “make all necessary efforts to enforce the right
of IDPs to return home voluntarily in safety and dignity.”
However, it also cautioned that “return should not be promoted to
areas where minimum conditions of safety are not met” and called on
governments to ensure that displaced people have the same rights as
other citizens.
In Russia, people who have fled from war-ravaged Chechnya face
increasing insecurity, discrimination and pressure to return although
their home area remains dangerous, the report said. It called on
Russia to stop pressuring people to return to Chechnya “until adequate
conditions of physical, material and legal safety are created.”
The Geneva-based group said the biggest obstacle for Turkey’s
displaced people to return was the about 58,000 armed village guards
the government keeps in the southeast to control Kurdish rebels.
“Village guards hinder return by setting up checkpoints, denying
displaced villagers to access their fields and pastures and attacking
or intimidating those attempting to return to their homes without
official permission,” the report said, adding that some guards had
occupied displaced people’s homes and properties.
Return isn’t an option for the Azerbaijanis displaced following the
country’s 1991-93 conflict with Armenia, the report said, calling on
authorities to improve the dismal living conditions of the displaced.
“IDPs remain significantly more vulnerable to poverty than other
Azerbaijani citizens,” the report said, noting that 63 percent of
displaced people there live below the poverty line, compared to 49
percent of the overall population.