Overview

Around 6.5 million people were newly displaced, almost twice as many as the 3.5 million during 2011. The conflicts in Syria and DRC were responsible for around half of the new displacements.

By David Tereshchuk*

April 16, 2013—As Syria’s bloody fighting shows no imminent sign of ending, families who flee the conflict are in desperate need wherever they seek refuge.

And the neighboring countries that provide safe havens are inevitably getting more hard-pressed themselves.

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Geneva (ICRC) – Two Armenian civilians interned in Azerbaijan returned to Armenia today under the auspices of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

The man and the woman were placed in the care of Armenian officials on the road between the Azerbaijani town of Gazakh and the Armenian town of Ijevan, at the international border.

ICRC delegates had visited the civilians prior to their repatriation in order to assess their treatment and conditions of internment.

Risk is inclusive. Fourteen-year-old Margarita portrays a powerful message about disability in a video about disaster risk reduction.

By Chris Schuepp

GYUMRI, Armenia, 14 March 2013 – Margarita Sargsyan, 14, and her classmates at School #1 in Gyumri, the second biggest city of Armenia, are taking part in school lessons that might save their lives. They are learning about disaster risk reduction (DRR).

By Enzo Mangini

STEPANAKERT (Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, Caucasus), Mar 4 2013 (IPS) - A Soviet-era 4×4 snores down the muddy road to the frontline. It’s another foggy day in the flatlands east of the borders of the tiny and once autonomous region Nagorno-Karabakh, sandwiched between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

The capital, Stepanakert (population 50,000), is 30 kilometres west. Azerbaijan capital Baku is 400 km east and Armenian capital Yerevan 350 km west. The region is populated by Armenians.

Key messages

•Agricultural production in 2012 was excellent for all main products: cereals (+3.5% compared to 2011), potatoes (+16%), vegetables (+8%) and fruits and berries (+39%). Prospects for 2013 winter cereal crops are favourable.

•The prevalence of poverty slightly decreased in 2011, from 35.8% in 2010 to 35.0% in 2011 but remained much higher than in 2008 (27.6%).

•Food prices increased by only 2% in 2012 but the price of social bread increased by 11% from January to December 2012 reflecting wheat regional market trends.

Highlights

· In 2012, donors give $45 million in humanitarian aid to the Caucasus and Central Asia ($18 million in 2011)

· Drop in outgoing aid: in 2012, the region gave $1.5 million compared to $13 million in 2011

· Assistance from Azerbaijan makes up the bulk of the region’s outgoing aid in 2012

· Russia emerges as top donor to the region in 2012, while Tajikistan remains the region’s largest aid recipient

Introduction