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Chechen Refugees Demand To Resettle to Europe

May 15, 2007

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Chechen refuges from Pankisi Gorge have been holding protest demonstrations in the yard of the UN High Commissioner’s office in Kazbegi Street # 2. Seven families with thirty people demand the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to draw their attention to their problems and do not intend to stop demonstration.

Chechen refugees from Pankisi Gorge arrived in Tbilisi on May 14. They left the gorge and do not intend to go back. They brought their little children with them, as well as household items, put mattresses in the yard of the UNHCR and started living there. They have petitioned to the UNHCR and demanded to meet with the representatives of the UNHCR. However, nobody could meet them yesterday.

Refugees said that they intend to stay in the area until they receive positive answer on their demands. “I am a refugee from Chechnya. I have resided in Georgia since 1999. Do you know what kind of situation we are living in here? Russia deprived our children from childhood; in Georgia they are deprived from future. We demand the hope of life. We have arrived from Duisi. We cannot live there anymore. There we did not feel ourselves secured. Our boys are killed and disappeared. Our children cannot get education; they do not have normal nutrition and suffer from poor living conditions. We are harassed morally and physically, we are marginal people. Our right to freedom of expression is restricted. We live in extremely unbearable situation and cannot endure it any longer. I have four children and it is impossible to live in such situation with them,” said Iusup, one of the demonstrator women.

The refugees handed the petition with two paragraphs to a representative of the UNHCR-Huseinov. One of the demonstrators, Vakh Arsanukaev, said in his conversation with the Human Rights Center that they are not going to leave the area even if the response takes five months.

Arsanukaev: “We have prepared our demands and handed the petition to the representative of the UNHCR. We demand meeting with their representatives and negotiate with them on several issues. Another demand deals with the Geneva Commission; we want the commission to discuss our problem and resettle us to a third country. We have spent eight years in the Gorge without any occupations and we cannot stand it anymore. We do not care where they will resettle us. We accept any country except Georgia. Our principal demand about the third country is that our children should be able to get education. Our wish is to live in a democratic country. We will remain here until the commission discusses our problem. We do not care whether it will take a month, two or three. We will not go anywhere. We doubt that the Geneva Commission does not have any information about our situation because we think the information is blocked for them.”

The Human Rights Center tried to interview representatives of the UNCHR regarding the situation but they refused to make comment.

With the support of the UN several Chechen refugees could resettle to a third country. However, the UN ceased the process recently and refuses to resettle them any more.

Eka Gulua

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