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UNHCR United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees |
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Office has in place a system of legal counselling and protection monitoring in Ingushetia.
Two non-governmental organization (NGO) partners, the Caucasian Refugee Council and Vesta, assist UNHCR to monitor the situation among internally displaced persons (IDPs) and any retrurns to Chechnya are voluntary.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Office also works with the Federal and Ingush migration services to ensure that a safe haven and appropriate assistance is available for those who do not yet want to return to Chechnya.
To provide durable shelter for the winter, and eventual return
to Chechnya, as well as job opportunities in Ingushetia,
UNHCR is funding the local production of pre-fabricated "box tents", and more
than 100 have been already produced.
Improvement of living conditions in temporary settlements is also underway, and new rooms are being winterized. UNHCR partners continue to upgrade sanitation facilities for IDPs.
The integration of IDPs from Chechnya at Berd Yurt in Ingushetia proceeded, with individual house construction and income generation activities funded by both DRC and UNHCR. Construction was also started of the UNHCR-funded carpentry workshop where skilled internally displaced persons will produce box tents, beds, etc.
In Chechnya, UNHCR through its partner the "People in Need Foundation" (PINF) continued distributing shelter materials to provide "one dry room" for vulnerable local families and returnees. For more than 1,500 houses assessed by PINF in 2002, roofing sheets have been delivered to beneficiaries covering the needs for approximately 530 houses.
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From 12–13 September, the Deputy Director for Europe of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Mr. Robert Robinson, visited the Republic of Ingushetia as part of his mission to the Russian Federation, to meet local authorities, representatives of UN agencies, NGOs, and IDPs accommodated in tent camps, temporary settlements, and host families. The President of Ingushetia, Mr. Murat Zyazikov, and other officials, reconfirmed to Mr Robinson the government’s commitment to the principle of voluntary return with regard to internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Chechnya. Mr. Robinson thanked the people and government of Ingushetia for their generous hospitality to IDPs, and Mr Zyazikov, in particular, for his assurances that those unsure of the security situation in Chechnya could always find a safe haven in Ingushetia. In addition, Mr. Robinson met the First Deputy Head of the Federal Migration Service, Mr. Yunash, who briefed him on the government’s plans to improve conditions for IDPs staying in Ingushetia for another winter. In announcing the government’s objective to close the tent camp in Aki-Yurt, Mr. Yunash assured Mr. Robinson that conditions at any new locations in Ingushetia would be better than in the camp.
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UNICEF United Nations Children's Fund |
A two-day national conference of the Russian Federation’s producers and distributors of iodized salt took place at the Chamber of Commerce in Moscow. The conference was held at the initiative of the Salt Producers’ Association’s Center for Scientific and Technical Cooperation Between Enterprises and the Union of Producers and Exporters of Calcium and Salt, with the support of the RF Ministry of Health, the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences (RAMS), and the Office of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Russia.
Illnesses caused by iodine deficiency are a serious problem for Russia: around 100,000 people suffer from such maladies. A lack of iodine in the body lowers the IQ of children by 10%–15%, and reduces their learning capacity. Iodized salt is the safest, most readily available and effective source of iodine – a microelement that helps to avoid these, and other, serious illnesses.
In
spite of all of the efforts undertaken so far, the quantity of iodized salt
in Russia still meets only one-fourth of the country’s potential needs. In recent
years, Russia’s salt producers have created the production capacity for turning
out around 700,000 tonnes of iodized salt per year. The lack of sufficient consumer
demand, and a set of basic standards for controlling the production of iodine-enriched
salt, prevent them from fully reaching this target.
The aim of the conference was the joint discussion of the role and responsibility of salt manufacturers and their domestic and international partners in implementing the national program of universal iodized salt. Issues connected with perfecting the legislative and normative bases for eliminating iodine deficiency, raising the public’s level of awareness on the consequences of iodine deficiency, and for its prevention with iodized salt, were debated at the conference.
Speaking at the conference, sixteen-time World Chess Champion and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Anatoly Karpov drew attention to the latest data from the joint research of the RAMS Endocrinological Science Center and the US Academy of Education for Development. According to these data, Russia’s economic losses from iodine deficiency will total 44 milliard rubles in the period of next 5 years. Eliminating the shortage will protect 200,000 future newborns from the negative effects of iodine deficiency on the development of the brain.
Mr. Karpov was deeply concerned about Russia’s iodine deficiency problem. He was convinced that inertia in solving it might prove too costly to society. The problem is no longer a purely medical one, and is now becoming a national security issue. To guarantee the universal iodization of salt, the actions of the government, the producers and suppliers of salt, and the average consumer must be coordinated.
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The final Conference on Young People’s Health and Development Program of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) was held at Moscow’s Financial Academy October 23-25, 2002. Taking part in the conference were around 200 representatives of governmental, public, and international organizations from 13 regions of Russia, and from Ukraine and Belarus.
UNICEF’s Young People’s Health and Development Program was first introduced to Russia in 1998, in 13 cities from Kaliningrad to Barnaul. Its task was to coordinate practical measures in the areas of protecting young people’s rights to health care and development, as stated in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and to actively involve youth in actual projects aimed at achieving these goals.
In the course of the program, youth information centers were set up with UNICEF support in ten Russian regions, and continue to actively operate today. More than 150 programs were drawn up and implemented in the area of preventing high-risk behavior and creating models of a healthy lifestyle. Behind these figures stand hundreds of thousands of children and adolescents who have come to believe in themselves and who have changed their way of living; hundreds of young adults who found free, skilled medical help in youth-friendly clinics; and hundreds of young men and women who have become energetic, outspoken advocates of a healthy lifestyle. During the life of the program, several hundred seminars were held to swap experiences; resource centers were opened; brochures and handbooks were issued; and professional training was given to thousands of medical workers, psychologists, social workers, and teachers. An active network was set up of professionals who care about the fate of Russia’s younger generation. A communications system was created between project organizers and participants, exchanges of information were begun, and permanent master classes and seminars are now underway. The resource centers, which were originally created for the compilation and exchange of information on youth-oriented topics, have now largely created a youth-friendly environment on their premises where the most varied of organizations involved in the area of young people’s health and development can and do come together.
The results of joint efforts and summaries of information compiled were presented at the conference. Presentations, discussions, and presentations by young people and of methodologies developed during the program were held at the conference, along with a project fair.
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The famous Dutch footballer Ruud Gullit has changed his hairstyle, dropping dreadlocks and becoming more respectable. This is why he wasn’t immediately recognized during his recent visit to St. Petersburg, but real football fans weren’t put off at all by his new image. The sports star was asked for his autograph on Nevsky Prospect, at the Hermitage, in the Republic Hospital for Infectious Diseases, and during a visit to a boys’ shelter. The truth is, he spent practically all his time in St. Petersburg at the hospital and the shelter. Mr. Gullit came to Russia on the invitation of the Dutch National Committee of UNICEF, the Netherlands’ National Lottery, and UNICEF in the Russian Federation, in order to see how the UNICEF projects in the areas of HIV/AIDS and street children were going, and to take part in the filming of a documentary segment for one of Holland’s most popular television programs, The Stars Play Back Show. The ultimate goal was to raise money from private donors for UN Children’s Fund programs (the Netherlands’ National Lottery donates up to 60% of its profits to charity, including UNICEF programs).
The guests arrived at the HIV-positive children’s department (which houses 30 babies, ranging in age from several months to five years) of the Hospital for Infectious Diseases in time for breakfast. Mr. Gullit headed to the cafeteria to feed the children their hot cereal. Well-fed and happy, they then danced and sang together at a music lesson. Especially lucky was four-year-old Andrusha, with whom the world-famous football player played a match right in the middle of the wide corridor.
"I’d never thought about what difficulties the hospital’s Head Physician, Dr. Voronin, and his colleagues have to put up with", said Mr. Gullit, at the end of his day at the clinic. "There are all these medicines, all these different methods of treatment, but I simply can’t imagine what damage is done to these children in the first three or four years of their lives, when they’re provided with all the medicine they need, but are deprived of tenderness and loving care. I saw how the social workers and the music teacher who work in the department now, thanks to UNICEF’s help, take care of the children, and it’s simply wonderful. They’re so devoted to the children..."
There are twelve youngsters, aged 7 to 17, at the Nadezhda ("Hope") Shelter for boys. Dima Lebedev, who is now 13, has lived at the shelter for more than a year. Before this, he spent 6 months living in the streets, mostly at the Finland Railway Station, until the social workers brought him to the shelter.
"It’s
a lot better at the shelter than at home or on the street", Dima says. "They
used to bully me at home. Sleeping in doorways is no treat, either, and I didn’t
like roaming the streets in bad weather at all. Here at the shelter, I go to
school, they buy me clothes, we’ve been to the museum, we play football..."
Dima showed Ruud Gullit his bedroom, the modest exercise corner, the lounge, and the kitchen. There is no cleaning woman or cook on the staff of the shelter. The youngsters clean and cook themselves, under the supervision of the houseparent on duty. On this occasion, Gullit helped them cook lunch. He joked that his wife would be very surprised when she learned about it; at home, he doesn’t often help out in the kitchen.
Afterwards, they all headed to the athletic field to play a bit of football. The boys did their best to make a good showing, while the world football star managed not to land face-first in the mud. The match ended in a draw.
"It seems to me that the boys from Nadezhda will do all right in life", Mr. Gullit said, appraising the shelter’s warm, homey atmosphere. "They’re in good, professional hands. A psychologist is working with them, which is very important".
Mr. Gullit saw something in St. Petersburg that famous guests and tourists aren’t usually shown.
"The world is full of people who, entirely consciously, pay no attention to what’s going on around them. They’re afraid of it. I see my job as being to show people what the world is really like".
