The Committee of Chechen Refugees in Georgia told Kavkaz Center news agency
about its plans to conduct a protest rally in front of the UN Refugee Mission
in the capital of Georgia's Akhmet District on January 30. The statement
that has been made for the press and forwarded to Kavkaz Center points out
the reasons that made the refugees come out and protest. (The newsline also
had a special address of the Chechen refugees to the Office of UN High Commissioner
on Refugees in Geneva, Switzerland).
Statement for the press
It has been over two years since we, the refugees from Chechnya, have been living
on the territory of Georgia when we found shelter with the brotherly Georgian
people. Regardless of the cordial welcome and friendly attitude of the Georgian
nation and its leadership, our stay in Georgia has been saddened by unlawful
and illegal claims to the Chechen refugees on behalf of Georgia's power structures.
We mean a number of illegal operations conducted by Georgian authorities under
pressure from Russia. It is the so-called anti-criminal operation conducted in
the Pankisi Gorge where heavy armored vehicles and a large number of troops were
used, which was a direct threat to the lives of the refugees who had already suffered
from the war.
Among these violations there are: disappearance of Hussein Yusupov and his illegal
arrest by Georgian State Security, the extradition of Chechen refugees to the
Russian side, as well as constant threats to conduct special operations and bombings
of the Pankisi Gorge by Russia. All of it would have been enough to satisfy the
request of the refugees to move to other countries, the request that was
brought up by Chechen refugees during a rally last fall. But for today the
situation has not changed positively in the solution of this problem, but
on the contrary, it has gotten even worse.
Especially the position of the UN Refugee Committee is not clear, or the position
of its leadership represented by Tori Berresen and Catherine Bertrand, who do
not only fail to raise their voice in our defense, but who do not even react to
the statements that the Chechen refugees are making about their rights being violated.
Moreover, it is already the third season when the refugees did not get any
firewood and they are living in cold houses with no heat. The distribution of
humanitarian aid is going on with many violations and embezzlement involved, with
the connivance and participation of the UN Refugee Committee. At the present time
the refugees desperately need medical help, as well as help with food and
so on. Proceeding from all the facts of violations of our rights stated
above, on January 9, 2003, new staff of the Committee of Chechen Refugees of Georgia
was elected and a unanimous decision was made to express distrust to the UN Refugee
Committee and to Tori Berresen and Catherine Bertrand personally. At the
same time the central office in Geneva will be notified and the request will be
forwarded to send a commission to Georgia to investigate the activities
of the UN Refugee Committee towards Chechen refugees. We have the grounds
to suspect them in conniving at the embezzlement of humanitarian aid, in
total incompliance with their high title of UN officials, as well as in lobbying
unscrupulous people in the Committee of Chechen Refugees in the UN.
We would like to draw the attention of the public and of international human
rights organizations to this situation and we would like to ask to defend our
rights and to notify the authorities that the Chechens are going to conduct a
number of protest rallies concerning the facts of violations of rights and the
continuing threats from Russia to conduct pre-emptive strikes on the Pankisi Gorge
(where Chechen refugees are living) under the guise of conducting an antiterrorist
operation. This particular issue has become even more aggravated, but after
US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said his word, which would be a
direct threat to the lives of Chechen refugees, we would like to ask you to have
us moved to other [third-party] countries.
Committee of Chechen Refugees of Georgia.
Chairman: S. Elenbayev.
Coordinator: I. Saidayev.
Public Relations Officer: S. Idiyev.
Department of Strategic Information,
Kavkaz-Center