On 21 June, the United Nations presented the extension of the UN Consolidated Inter-agency Appeal, 1 December 1999 - 31 December 2000, to the donor community in Moscow. The official launch of this appeal extension took place on 23 June in Geneva. The appeal consolidates the requirements outlined in the two previous appeals, and those projected through to the end of the year. It outlines the current humanitarian situation in the region and describes the emergency programmes required to address the critical needs of IDPs and vulnerable residents of Chechnya, Dagestan, and Ingushetia for food, shelter & relief, health & nutrition, water & sanitation, emergency education, psychosocial support, protection, mine awareness, as well as income generation & preparatory rehabilitation sectors. While this appeal lasts from 1 December 1999 to 31 December 2000, it highlights the UN agencies' remaining requirements from 1 July until the end of the year. UN agencies now appeal for US$ 21,765,440.

United Nations Increase Partnerships with NGOs

For its humanitarian action inside Chechnya, the UN will continue the three-step approach, i.e. security assessment-needs assessment-delivery of aid via local authorities and NGOs, which will now be increasingly supplemented by two initiatives: the establishment of partnerships with experienced international NGOs, whereby the UN and NGOs work together on assessment, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation; and paying increased attention to capacity building of local staff so that the provision of assistance can continue if international staff has to step back from the region.

United Nations Strengthen Monitoring of Assistance

The UN is taking steps to strengthen monitoring of assistance by increasing the number of staff in the region and improving the reporting system. The UN Humanitarian Coordinator will chair a special monitoring group, which will meet once a month to review the UN programme's overall goals. The UN agencies have assumed responsibility for monitoring the goals and objectives that are relevant to their sectors. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is creating a comprehensive database to manage output and beneficiary based information, and based on this information, the Humanitarian Coordinator will issue monthly UN Monitoring reports.

ICRC Extends its Activities to Chechnya

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which suspended its operations in Chechnya for security reasons last November, extended its activities to the republic at the end of March 2000, first assessing the needs and then responding accordingly. To date, ten assessments have been undertaken to Grozny, Achkoy-Martan, Urus-Martan, and Gudermes. The most urgent needs of the population have been identified as lack of food, medicines, and clean drinking water. ICRC delivered emergency medical assistance to local hospitals after each assessment. Since beginning of May 2000, joint ICRC/Russian Red Cross programme of free bread distribution and of home-visiting nurses have been reactivated in Chechnya. 3,500 people in Shali, Gudermes, Argun, and Urus-Martan have received bread, and 650 beneficiaries in Grozny have benefited from the home-visiting nurses programme. In future, ICRC hopes to assist on a regular basis about 30,000 persons in Chechnya.

HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE

Food Aid

The Action Contre la Faim (ACF) is wrapping up its first cycle of food distribution in the villages of Shami-Yurt, Zakan-Yurt, and Samashki, and Achkoy-Martan town of the Achkhoy-Martan region of Chechnya. IDPs and people whose houses have been destroyed have received assistance. In July, ACF will begin to cover Shatoiskiy and Itum-Kalinskiy regions. In these two regions the NGO will provide food to all inhabitants.

The Benevolence International Foundation (BIF-US) has been sending relief convoys for IDPs living in camps and spontaneous settlements in Ingushetia since November 1999. The last convoy of food parcels arrived in Ingushetia in June. A total of 7,745 people in two settlements and the Kantishevo, Nasir-Kort villages of the Nazran region benefited from this distribution. Each food parcel is sufficient for a family of four for ten days, and are distributed three times a month.

ICRC has launched its annual appeal in February for more than $25 million to support its activities in the Russian Federation in 2000, of which 75 percent is designated for response to the humanitarian emergency in the northern Caucasus. Since October 1999, ICRC has been assisting IDPs throughout Ingushetia providing them food parcels, wheat flour, relief and hygienic items. IDPs living in other republics of the northern Caucasus and outside the region also received ICRC food and relief items.

A German NGO, HELP, started its operations in the region in April 2000. From April to mid-June 2000, the NGO has distributed 4,890 food parcels to IDPs in the Achkoy-Martan region of Chechnya, and in the regions of Malgobek and Nazran of Ingushetia.

Health & Nutrition

The World Health Organization (WHO) organised a workshop, "TB management on regional level" from 13 to 17 June in Kislovodsk. The workshop aimed at improving the skills in early case detection of TB by using direct microscopy, and promoting TB management strategy at the regional level. 80 health care workers from Chechnya and Ingushetia attended the workshop.

Water & Sanitation

ICRC has been providing drinking water for more than 31,700 IDPs in Ingushetia since November 1999. Eight water cistern trucks continue to deliver water to 66 distribution points both in IDP camps and spontaneous settlements in the republic, where 22 bladders and 4 shower facilities have been installed.

Emergency Education & Psychosocial Support

The Polish Humanitarian Organisation (PHO) will be establishing a child-friendly space in one of the hospitals in Grozny. The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) will support this initiative. The plan will include the loan of a water purification unit to PHO, which will be installed in the vicinity of the hospital, adjacent to the safe area for children. PHO intends to approach other agencies, including the World Food Programme (WFP) to see if they can mobilise other needed inputs. The area will also serve to provide medical screening for children as well as educational and recreational activities. Both the NGO and UNICEF indicated that care for pre-school age children remains one of the most neglected components of the emergency education programme.

Since January 2000, the Chechen Association of Psychiatrists and Neurologists has been carrying out research and rehabilitation activities in IDP camps in Chechnya and Ingushetia. They have examined 500 children and teenagers and found out that the number of stress disorders with children and teenager IDPs inside Chechnya is three times higher than with children from Ingushetia (87 percent in Chechnya compared to 26 percent in Ingushetia). The number of children suffering from post-traumatic stress disorders is 58 percent and 15 percent respectively. The Association works in IDP camps and spontaneous settlements in Pravoberezhnoe and Tolstoy-Yurt in Chechnya, and in Troitskaya, Ingushetia. 103 young patients are presently undergoing rehabilitation. 124 children with mild symptoms of stress disorders receive assistance from the teachers working at the Association. Most commonly used methods of treatment are: art therapy and acupuncture, combined with child festivals and establishing contacts with children from other countries through exchange of correspondence.

Produced by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Moscow
Tel: 956-6405; Fax: 956-6355; email: Kamalyan@ocha.ru

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