Georgia: Right groups say
Chechnya not ready for refugees' safe return
Jean-Christophe Peuch: 6/22/03
A EurasiaNet Partner Post from RFE/RL
Authorities this week began conducting a new census of Chechen migrants living
on Georgian territory. The census, conducted under the supervision of the Georgian
Refugees Ministry, is the third such count in the South Caucasus nation since
the beginning of the second Chechen war in 1999.
Elders from Georgia s Chechen community are helping to monitor the registration
process. Representatives of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR) and local rights groups are also participating. Results are expected by
the end of June.
Aslanbek Abdurzakov is an ethnic Chechen who heads the International Committee
to Protect Human Rights in the Chechen Republic, a nongovernmental organization
based in Georgia. Speaking by telephone from the city of Akhmeta, where the main
census count is being conducted, he said the registration has encountered no major
problems.
"Everything is going normally, without incident. Our organization issued a number
of recommendations for the census, which [Georgian authorities] have taken into
account. There have been no noticeable complications. People are coming here [to
Akhmeta]. Transportation has been arranged for them. They are being carefully
registered and there are almost no problems," Abdurzakov said.
A previous census conducted in April of last year showed that 4,200 Chechen refugees
were living on Georgian territory, down from nearly 8,000 a year before. This
sharp decrease is partly explained by the introduction of tougher, UNHCR-monitored
registration rules, which helped expose a number of cases of fake documentation.
Georgian authorities now believe the number of Chechens may have increased slightly
over the past 14 months.
Abdurzakov said Chechen migrants currently living in Georgia are now believed
to number over 5,000. The Georgian government has issued most of them international
refugee documents. But an estimated 100 to 200 newcomers have yet to gain legal
status.
A handful of Chechen refugees live in the Georgian capital Tbilisi. But the overwhelming
majority of Georgia s Chechen refugees -- 3,800, according to the most recent
available data -- have settled in the Pankisi Gorge, a mountainous area close
to the Russian border.
Pankisi is mainly populated by ethnic Chechens known as Kists. Kists have lived
in the region for over two centuries and are believed to currently number around
7,000.
The new census comes on the heels of a visit by Russian government officials looking
to persuade Chechen refugees to return to Chechnya. But Georgian authorities insist
there is no connection between the two events, and say they are legally bound
to reregister refugees every year.
Russian Deputy Emergency Situations Minister Yurii Brazhnikov met recently with
a group of Chechen refugees near the Pankisi village of Duisi. He said Moscow
was committed to helping them return to their home country. "Helping people return
to their historical motherland is, without a doubt, the right and important thing
to do. [With this in mind], we are in consultation with international organizations.
It is a normal process that, strictly speaking, must inevitably be carried out,"
Brazhnikov said.
Brazhnikov is a member of the commission created last year by Russian President
Vladimir Putin to organize the return of some of the 300,000 civilians believed
to have left Chechnya since the beginning of military operations there in 1994.
The Russian envoy said Moscow had already agreed with Georgian authorities that
candidates for repatriation would be transported by bus to Tbilisi and then flown
back to Chechnya. Brazhnikov also said those refugees who would prefer to go back
on their own would be given passes to cross the border without being arrested.
Moscow s push to return refugees to Chechnya has raised many questions. Regional
experts and rights groups generally believe the move is in line with Russia s
official claim that -- despite continuing clashes with armed separatists - - its
troops are in full control of Chechnya.
Chechen rights activist Abdurzakov does not believe Russia s attempt to lure
refugees back to Chechnya is motivated by humanitarian concerns. He said the Russian
delegation gave him no reason to think the refugees would be returning to a safe
and secure situation.
"Judging by the answers I got from [the Russians], I am inclined to believe this
amounts to a political farce. They want to hide from the international community
what the situation in Chechnya really is. They are trying to conceal the ongoing
chaos that prevails in Chechnya. They need those refugees back to show the international
community that the Chechen case is closed. This is made all the more clear by
the fact that we all know there is an information blackout in Chechnya at the
moment,"
Abdurzakov said.
The Kremlin recently conducted a controversial referendum in the breakaway republic,
in which 96 percent of voters appeared to favor keeping Chechnya as a subject
of the Russian Federation. The vote raised a wave of objections from separatist
leaders, rights groups, and liberal Russian politicians. They say the referendum,
which included votes from federal troops stationed in the republic, was a mockery
and did not represent the views of the population.
Earlier (6 June), the Russia State Duma approved an amnesty for Chechen fighters
who lay down their weapons by 1 September. Three previous amnesties have failed;
it is expected that this one will as well. Moscow says only a few dozen separatists
have surrendered so far.
The amnesty denies pardon to Chechen fighters suspected of committing "serious
crimes" against federal troops. Critics say this stipulation ultimately means
that any separatist guerrilla may be subject to prosecution regardless of his
role during the war.
Rights groups have also denounced the law as a covert attempt to amnesty Russian
soldiers suspected of atrocities committed against civilians. More than 100,000
civilians are believed to have died in Chechnya since 1994.
The refugees in Pankisi are reluctant to return to Chechnya unless Russia can
guarantee their safety. But Abdurzakov said Moscow has offered no such promises.
"I personally asked [the Russian delegation] to have Moscow guarantee the personal
safety of the returnees. Should they do that, I would personally actively support
the return of refugees. But we have received no such guarantees. Brazhnikov, the
head of the delegation, himself said no one is in a position to offer such
guarantees. We received no guarantees and were told it could not be otherwise.
We have people in and around Chechnya and the latest information from them shows
that the situation there remains unstable. Combat operations are under way, notably
in the mountains, and full-scale military operations could resume at any moment
in the 70 percent of Chechen territory that Russia claims is under its control.
People have absolutely no guarantee that they will be safe after they return to
Chechnya," he said.
The UNHCR also believes conditions have not been met to assure Chechen refugees
of a safe return. Catherine Bertrand, the UNHCR representative in Tbilisi, said
that as long as the situation in the war-torn republic does not improve, Georgia
remains bound by the 1951 Geneva Refugee Convention. The convention prohibits
signatories from expelling or returning a refugee who does not pose any threat
to national security to a country "where his life could be threatened on account
of his race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or
political opinion."
"The position of the UNHCR is very clear. The repatriation of refugees should
be made on a voluntary basis and, as we generally say, should be performed in
safety and dignity. And we -- that is, the UNHCR as an institution -- does not
think that the safety of people can be guaranteed in Chechnya at the moment,"
Bertrand said.
Bertrand said only half-a-dozen Chechen refugees last week agreed to meet with
Russian envoy Brazhnikov to discuss the conditions of their possible return. "As
far as I know, none of them has said he wants to return home in the short term.
And as far as the Georgian authorities are concerned, I am pretty sure they have
no plans to repatriate them forcibly," the UNHCR official said.