More than two decades after the Soviet Union’s collapse, the three-sided conflict involving breakaway Abkhazia, Georgia and Russia is far from a solution, so all should concentrate on achievable goals, including intensified dialogue on basic security-related and humanitarian issues.

New paper explores the complex relationship between climate change, displacement and indigenous communities in the Arctic region.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Executive Committee of the High Commissioner’s Programme

Sixty-third session

Geneva, 1-5 October 2012

Update on UNHCR’s operations in Europe

A. Situational analysis including new developments

In the first half of 2012, more than 154,000 asylum applications were lodged in the 38 European countries for which UNHCR compiles statistics. Some 122,500 of the applications were made in European Union (EU) member States. Europe continued to receive large numbers of unaccompanied and separated children (UASC).

The Danish Refugee Council (DRC) is the largest Danish non-governmental organization established in 1956 to assist refugees from Hungary integrating in Denmark. DRC is an umbrella organization for 30 member NGO, civic society, human rights and other groups in Denmark, including the broadest spectrum of Danish society representatives. DRC implements programs in 30 countries, leading refugee and displaced populations to durable solutions. DRC has been operating in the Russian Federation since 1997.

24-04-2012 Operational Update

In the North Caucasus, the ICRC has the double aim of helping people recover from the effects of past conflicts and helping those affected by the current armed violence.

According to media reports, almost 1,400 people were killed and wounded in the North Caucasus in 2011, compared to over 1,700 in 2010, and some 400 people were arrested in relation to the current situation. Dagestan registered the highest number of incidents and casualties, followed by Chechnya, Kabardino-Balkaria and Ingushetia.

Situated astride one of the world’s key strategic crossroads, the “Big Caucasus” is increasingly a region in flux. The August 2008 war among Georgia, Russia, and the separatist regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia emphasized the fragility of the territorial status quo that took hold in the years immediately following the collapse of the USSR, but which has failed to establish legitimacy among either local populations or the international community.

The ICRC and the Russian Red Cross (RRC) have just signed an agreement under which the two organizations will carry out joint projects in the Russian Federation, especially in the Northern Caucasus. Juan Luis Coderque Galligo heads the ICRC regional delegation that covers the Russian Federation, Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine. He talked to us about these joint projects.

PACE's Committee on Migration today said that addressing the situations of protracted displacement of populations in the North Caucasus will require "will demand sustained political will and allocation of resources, and may require capacity strengthening of some state institutions".

According to the text adopted on the basis of proposals by the rapporteur (Nikolaos Dendias, EPP / CD), a process based on human rights, more transparent procedures, better communication with IDPs and increased participation of the latter will also be essential.