Refugee camps fail to meet standards

A special commission set up as ordered by Chechnya's leader to check temporary accommodation points (TAP) for forced migrants in Chechnya has come to a conclusion that living conditions in such points fail to meet any standards.

The commission inspected a number of TAPs in Grozny, a source with the staff for the Chechen president and government told Caucasian Knot. The living conditions there were found to be very poor.

"As a matter of fact, there are not any conditions for normal living in the TAPs. People are not given food for months, the sewage system is not operated, there is no water, and power is supplied with interruptions," says the interlocutor. "The blame for what is happening is first of all on officials in pertinent agencies that handle refugee issues. Their treatment of people can be called just heartless."

He said temporary accommodation points for forced migrants in Chechnya were turning into centres of social tension. Unless the government is able to overcome the situation soon and provide people with more or less tolerable living conditions, the situation may become uncontrollable.

"Refugees living in Azerbaijan and Dagestan have currently expressed a wish to return to their homeland. Their numbers, respectively, are 12,000 and 8,000. Besides, there are forced migrants from Chechnya in Georgia, Ingushetia and other areas. With such treatment of those who are coming back and who have come back already, we will not be able to remove the refugee problem," believes the interlocutor.

In the next few days, the governmental commission is to prepare a report on its inspection and submit it to the Chechen president. More than 37,000 people, including 16,000 children, currently live in temporary accommodation points for forced migrants in Chechnya, according to official information.

• Deceived and forgotten