PINF Humanitarian operations in Chechnya and Ingushetia Jan - Feb 2002

1. Introduction
   The People in Need Foundation is a Prague-based non-governmental, non-profit organization founded shortly after the fall of communism in then Czechoslovakia. PINF is the largest indigenous NGO in the post-communist part of Europe. PINF has operated in Chechnya in 1994-95 and again since January 2000.

2. General situation

After the blast on December 27 that destroyed the main building of the Chechen administration, the security checks intensified in Grozny, with more checkpoints added around the governmental complex. Also, repeated rumors that the Chechen fighters were about to descend to the lowland areas, temporarily brought federal soldiers back to those checkpoints in Chechnya, which had earlier been fully manned by local militia. The overall situation has otherwise not changed, although a change of procedures during federal special operations has been noted in some Chechnya settlements. With the approach of a referendum on new Chechen constitution, the situation has become denser.

Chechnya

As a consequence of the blast the Chechen administration has been partly dysfunctional, its functionality further decreasing after the head of the pro-Russian Chechen administration, Akhmad Kadyrov, and the recently appointed Chechen prime minister Michail Babich, entered into dispute about the appointment of a new Chechen minister of finance. The disagreement ended with Babich's resignation.

On February 10, Anatoly Popov was appointed new Prime Minister of Chechnya. Popov had acted as the head of Directorate for building and restoration works in Chechnya, a federal state enterprise, and the deputy chairman of the governmental committee for restoration of Chechnya.

The work of the Chechen administration moved to prefabricated houses placed in the administration compound and to a neighboring oil company building. Working contacts between the republican administration and relief agencies have however been virtually impossible.

In January, the date of the long talked-about referendum on the new Chechen constitution was set for March 23. Since then the pressure has been stepping up on the Chechen population, including those living as IDPs in neighboring Ingushetia, to take part in the upcoming referendum. According to the October all-Russian census, around 500,000 voters should participate in the referendum, including some 38,000 Russian troops permanently stationed in Chechnya.

On January 16, the European Court of Human Rights agreed for the first time to hear lawsuits brought up by Chechens accusing the Russian army of illegal conduct in Chechnya during the second military campaign.

On February 1, the head of Grozny's Oktyabrski police department was assassinated in Grozny.

New approach to special operations by the federal units was noted in several villages south of Grozny. The operations conducted during the period of several weeks did not interfere with the lives of the civilians and led to capture or killing of over twenty criminals and disclosure of several arms and food caches.

Russian Interior Ministry informed in February that in 2002, 657 kidnappings were registered in the North Caucasus, 565 of those in Chechnya. At the same time, Chechnya's Prosecutor's Office informed that some 1,660 people are believed missing in Chechnya since 1999.

The Council of Europe human rights commissioner Alvaro Gil-Robles, visited the North Caucasus February 13-15.

On February 25, Russian president Vladimir Putin, pointed at a too high a number of checkpoints in Chechnya, during a federal Security Council meeting. Consequently the decision was taken to decrease the number of checkpoints in Grozny by 20%, the implementation of which started almost immediately.

On February 26, a Chechen militia employee, working on a long-term assignment in PINF's security unit as an office guard and convoy escort, was abducted in Chechnya by unknown perpetrators.

Ingushetia

After the closure of the Iman camp in Aki Yurt, the process of forced repatriation of IDPs back to Chechnya was stopped, it however being understood that as soon as the climatic conditions allow and once the constitutional referendum in Chechnya is over, more IDPs will have to return to Chechnya. Still, some IDPs leave the big tented camps and register for repatriation with the hope of being the first to be included into governmental assistance schemes, should there be any. The security situation in Ingushetia has also been slowly deteriorating, with several killings of local militia, IDPs and special military operations in IDP settlements. This is generally interpreted as the reaction to more targeted special operations in Chechnya in the result of which some criminals seek cover in Ingushetia.

3. Humanitarian response

On January 9, Nina Davidovich, head of Russian NGO Druzhba, abducted in Chechnya on July 23, was released after 168 days in captivity. The international humanitarian community welcomed the release of the humanitarian still reminding that another colleague, head of Swiss branch of the Medecins sans Frontiers, Dutch national Arjan Erkel, abducted in Dagestan on August 12, remains incommunicado. On February 13, the UN and its implementing partners suspended their activities in the North Caucasus, to commemorate six months since the abduction of Arjan.

The access of the international humanitarian organizations to Chechnya was limited in January due to changes in the military authorities and paralysis of the civilian administration. All NGOs had been asked to provide necessary documents for re-registration for the work on the Chechen territory and although many organizations did so, they were not granted access as there was no one in the Chechen administration to sign the permission. PINF was one of very few organizations to receive the access permits for Chechnya both in January (on a working permission granted earlier) and February and was able to continue its operations without major adjustments.

4. PINF activities in Chechnya and Ingushetia

Highlights

Complex monitoring of shelter program revealed that 685 private shelters supported by UNHCR and PINF were completed in Chechnya in the last quarter of 2002

Youth festival organized in Argun in the framework of HIV prophylaxis campaign

Rehabilitation of school kitchens and dining rooms in Grozny started

Food distribution to schools in Oktyabrski district of Grozny implemented in the framework of WFP/ECHO funded school-feeding program

IDP children dancing ensemble Marsho toured the Czech Republic in January

Chechnya

Food distribution in Grozny

In early January PINF finished December relief distribution of WFP commodities, while January relief distribution cycle took place in February, because of the late end of the December distribution and clarification of new division of responsibilities among NGOs distributing food on the Chechen territory. The beneficiaries, assessed by the field staff of the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) are divided into five categories on the basis of their household economy status. Since mid-2002 two most vulnerable categories of inhabitants ("very poor", "poor") had been included in the relief distribution. Since the beginning of 2003, with the January distribution cycle carried out in February, further step towards targeting the beneficiaries was taken by distributing only half a ration to the beneficiaries from the second, "poor" category. February distribution cycle was postponed till March.

For other than relief distribution schemes, in January, PINF distribution was carried out according to previous arrangements, i.e. PINF has distributed food commodities to kindergartens in Grozny. In February, with a new division of responsibilities in non-relief distribution, PINF distributed for the first time food commodities to schools in Oktyabrski district of Grozny (School feeding program), previously assisted by DRC, and kindergartens in Grozny-rural district while continuing distribution to kindergartens in Grozny (pre-School feeding program).