World Refugee Day reminds about unsolved problems of forced migrants in the Caucasus

The World Refugee Day is marked at the UN's initiative every year on June 20. This date is intended to remind of the problems of people who have left their country or their region inside the country (temporarily displaced persons) to escape from danger, as well as repatriates and stateless persons, the UN's website reports.

The respect for the rights of refugees and temporarily displaced persons remains a pressing problem in the regions of Southern and Northern Caucasus.

Because of the Karabakh conflict, Azerbaijan is one of the countries with the highest number of internally displaced persons per capita, Khikmet Gadjiev, an official from the country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), has stated today. "At present, the number of forced migrants in Azerbaijan exceeds 1.2 million," the APA quotes Mr Gadjiev as saying today.

Georgia has failed to fully solve the problem of refugees that arose after the Georgian-Abkhaz war of 1992-1993 and the conflict with South Ossetia. The problem escalated after the "five-day war" in August 2008.

The problem of forced migrants from Chechnya, many of whom moved out during the warfare in their republic to Ingushetia, also remains unsolved.

In February, forced migrants from Chechnya to Ingushetia complained about the authorities' refusal to extend their status; and in March they demanded to return their right to housing, accusing the authorities of Ingushetia of lack of intention to address their problems.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’on June 20, 2018 at 11:15 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.