EP/Chechnya/Humanitarian Aid: question by Bernd Posselt (Question Times)

Question time - Plenary- Strasbourg, 17 December 2002

The President - Question no. 39 lodged by Bernd Posselt (PPE, Germany) (H-0773/02):

Subject: Chechnya.

Visit by Commissioner Nielson? Has the Commission already decided when Commissioner Nielson will visit Chechnya to find out in person about the humanitarian situation in the country and to improve the distribution of European Union aid?

Poul Nielson, Commission. - Mr Posselt, the short answer to your question is no. The longer answer is as follows.

I follow very closely the developments of the humanitarian situation in Chechnya and in the neighbouring republics where part of the Chechen population is displaced. In the most recent press statements of 27 November and 5 December of this year, I expressed my concerns about the gravity of the humanitarian and human rights situation there, in particular the growing pressures made on internally displaced persons to leave the camps in Ingushetia and return to Chechnya.

As you know, ECHO is the main donor of humanitarian aid to the region. It has supported the victims of the second Chechnya conflict since its very beginning and will continue to do so. The Commission, through ECHO, has so far allocated more than EUR 90 million in humanitarian aid in order to help people survive. In 2002 alone, EUR 25 million have been allocated for this crisis and an additional EUR 3 million is now in the pipeline for more emergency food aid.

In Ingushetia, at this very critical moment, ECHO provides support to internally displaced persons in camps, spontaneous settlements and host families. Most of the aid provided in the Aki Yurt camp had been funded by ECHO, and we will continue to be present in all other camps.

In parallel, ECHO continues to fund a very large part of the humanitarian assistance going to Chechnya proper. This is a very difficult task, as this is one of the locations in the world where working conditions for humanitarian organisations are the worst, both in terms of security and in terms of monitoring. We continue to argue with the Russian authorities on all these points as I have again and again informed this Parliament. The bottom line is that we are able to deliver humanitarian aid both around and inside Chechnya although it is difficult, but we are able to do it and we will continue to do it.

Posselt (PPE-DE). - Mr President! Just two questions for the purpose of clarification. The first: can you guarantee with a fair amount of certainty - it is clearly impossible to do so with absolute certainty - that humanitarian aid really reaches the Chechen refugee population, or are you only relying for this on the Russian administration ?  The second question I would like to ask is this: camps have been set up in Ingushetia, a vast number of people have been deported: do you know
where these people have ended up ?

Nielson, Commission. -  One of the most important activities and one activity that we are very pleased to continue funding is the logistical work provided by the Danish Refugee Council - the only non-Russian operation that delivers food and all other items inside Chechnya. They use local drivers, but the whole organisation is provided by that NGO. This is also recognised by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and by the UN system in general. It is a very important
achievement because it provides access for the humanitarian community.

So the answer to the question of whether we are able to monitor the whole flow is that we are doing it as well as possible.

On a number of occasions over the years I have informed Parliament that we are working on the basis of a so-called 'remote-control' concept, which means that we have to use local implementing partners. However, so far we have not run into problems relating to accountability. We are trying to track every activity as carefully as possible. I would say that, as long as we are able to keep the operation carried out by the Danish Refugee Council up and running, we have some security in terms
of knowing what is going on. The input from the UN organisations is also crucial in this respect and our cooperation with them is quite well developed.

The problem of the people who are more or less willing to go back - and we fear they are fewer in number - is that they go back into all kinds of different situations. This is why we are criticising the pressure that they are under. We are clearly worried.

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Olivier Dupuis
Member of the European Parliament
http://www.radicalparty.org/
tel. +32 2 284 7198
fax +32 2 284 9198