UN refugee agency deplores the treatment of displaced Chechens

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has protested against the “unacceptable treatment” of displaced Chechens in Ingushetia, Russian Federation, as authorities there recently forced some refugees to relocate and live in decrepit buildings.

UNHCR said 20 to 30 Ingush policemen removed 200 internally displaced people (IDPs) on 10 August from the Askanovskie Garazhi temporary settlement back to Bella camp, where they had been living for three years before being evicted earlier last week.

Since their return, they have been prevented from returning to their old accommodations and are currently placed in decrepit buildings. The refugee agency said it, and other international humanitarian organizations, have offered to help authorities develop alternative shelter, but the offer has not yet been accepted.

“UNHCR strongly objects to the aggressive and unacceptable manner in which IDPs from the camp were treated,” a spokesman for the agency, Kris Janowski, said Friday in Geneva. “The recent evictions challenge the validity of official statements that all IDPs in Ingushetia may stay in Ingushetia until they wish to return in full safety and dignity, and indicates that these statements may be without political commitment.”

Many of the estimated 80,000 displaced Chechens in Ingushetia – 12,000 of whom live in five tented camps – have expressed fears about returning to Chechnya because of insecurity there.