FM Alert, Vol II, No. 38
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Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1998 08:49:53 +0300 (EET DST)
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Subject: FM Alert, Vol II, No. 38
From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Original sender: Paulette Layton <[email protected]>
FM Alert, Vol II, No. 38
FM Alert, Vol. II, No. 38
September 25, 1998
DISCONTENT BREWING AMONG MESKHETIANS LIVING IN GEORGIA
A demonstration in Georgia staged by disgruntled Meskhetians
underscored the need for implementation of a recently concluded
framework document on solving issues related to human rights,
repatriation and regularization of status. About 80 Meskhetians from
Azerbaijan, the Russian Federation and Georgia staged a protest on
September 17 in front of the State Chancellery in central Tbilisi,
calling on Georgian authorities to rehabilitate the formerly deported
people, and take steps to facilitate their return their homeland along
Georgia's border with Turkey. Georgian authorities subsequently
deported about 40 of the demonstrators to Russia. Frustration in the
Meskhetian community in Georgia, numbering in the hundreds, has been
building in recent months. Many lack proper residency permits, and
Georgian officials have been slow to address status issues. The
framework document, adopted at a meeting September 7-10 in The Hague,
The Netherlands, aims to defuse tensions before they spill over into
confrontation. The non-binding document was approved by officials from
Azerbaijan, Russia and Georgia, along with representatives of
Meskhetian public organizations and international organizations.
Participants at The Hague meeting acknowledged that the Program of
Action, adopted at the 1996 CIS Conference on migration-related
issues, provides a proper framework for addressing Meskhetian issues.
The participation of donor governments and international
nongovernmental organizations will be a major factor in the
realization of the principles elaborated in the framework document, in
which the participants pledged to formulate follow-up activities that
address Meskhetian issues. The Hague meeting was co-sponsored by the
Forced Migration Projects, the OSCE High Commissioner for national
Minorities and UNHCR. Meskhetians were forcibly deported from their
homeland in 1944. About 200,000 Meskhetians now live throughout the
CIS.
(For background information see FM Alert of September 18).
KOSOVO APPEAL MEETS WITH QUICK RESPONSE
Donor governments have been positive in their response to a United
Nations appeal to address the forced migration emergency in the
separatist Yugoslav republic of Kosovo. The 1998 UN Consolidated
Inter-Agency Appeal for Humanitarian Assistance Related to the Crisis
in Kosovo, issued in August, seeks a total of $54.3 million. As of
September 21, $27.2 million - or just over 50 percent of the appeal
total - had been received in either contributions or pledges. Donors
include the governments of Austria, Canada, Denmark, Germany Israel,
Japan, Luxembourg, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States. Fighting
in Kosovo has already created upwards of 300,000 refugees and
displaced persons, most of them ethnic Albanians. More than half of
the total sought in the appeal - $27.9 million - would go to the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to fund programs
in Albania, Macedonia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The
World Food Program would receive $18.6 million to help feed the
displaced. Other agencies that would received money under the appeal
include UNICEF, the World Health Organization, the UN Development
Program and the International Organization for Migration.
(For additional information see FM Alerts of September 11 and August
28).
NGO REPRESENTATIVES DISCUSS LEGISLATION DURING KYIV MEETING
Over 50 representatives from international organizations and local
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) discussed ways to improve the
regional legislative framework governing third-sector activity at a
meeting held in Kyiv on September 8-9. Speakers identified taxation
and registration as the two most important spheres for NGO
legislation. Also attending were 10 government officials from Belarus,
Moldova, the Russian Federation and Ukraine. Participants reviewed the
World Bank Handbook on Good Practices for Laws Relating to
Nongovernmental Organizations, focusing on the issues of transparency
and confidentiality. The meeting was co-sponsored by the Forced
Migration Projects (FMP), the Council of Europe, UNHCR and the
International Center on Not-for-Profit Law. The FMP led a side meeting
to discuss a local NGO survey that will lead to a report on
implementation of the Program of Action, adopted at the 1996 CIS
Conference on migration-related issues. It may also provide the basis
for the formation of an local NGO association in CIS countries.
(For additional information see FM Alert of July 2, June 26 and June
19).
For more information contact:
The Forced Migration Projects
400 West 59th Street, 4th floor
New York, NY 10019
tel: (212)548-0655
fax: (212) 548-4676
e-mail: [email protected]
website: www.soros.org/migrate.html
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