"Together" For the Benefit of Refugees

In 2002 jointly with the Alliance of Regional Media Managers (ARS-Press) UNHCR held an annual contest "Together" on the best publication on refugee-related issues in regional press. Some 150 journalists from various regions of Russia took part in the contest this year. Four years running, the contest now gained considerable interest and popularity among local press professionals in the country.

Fifteen journalists were awarded at the ceremony of summing up the results of the contest at the Central Hall of Journalists in Moscow. They represented editions from Krasnoyarsk, Kurchatov, Vladikavkaz, Volgograd, Perm, Mozdok, Rostov-on-Don, St. Petersburg, etc., i.e. the areas where the majority of refugees and other persons of concern to UNHCR reside.

The UNHCR Regional Representative Mr Jozsef Gyorke made an introductory speech drawing particular attention of journalists to the alarmingly increasing xenophobia and ethnic intolerance in Russia, and particularly in Moscow. "These occurrences must be stopped by all means, and mass media is expected to figure prominently in all these developments", Gyorke noted. The members of the jury, including Ms Anna Politkovskaya, a staff writer for "Novaya gazeta", and Ms Svetlana Ganushkina, Head of the NGO "Civic Assistance", also supported this notion.

Appointments

Mr Jozsef Gyorke was appointed a new UNHCR Regional Representative in the Russian Federation in November 2002.

Before joining UNHCR in 1995, Jozsef Gyorke worked as a professional diplomat at the Embassies of Hungary in Ethiopia, Tanzania and in 1989 was the Ambassador of Hungary to the United Kingdom. From 1995 until 1999 Jozsef Gyorke was the UNHCR Representative in Ukraine. For his successful work in Ukraine, Mr Gyorke was awarded by the President of Ukraine Kuchma with the highest award of the Ukrainian Republic "For Merit". The UNHCR Office in Ukraine headed by Jozsef Gyorke facilitated the process of receiving Ukrainian citizenship to tens thousands of the Crimea Tatars.

In 2000 Mr Gyorke joined the UNHCR Regional Office in the Russian Federation as a Deputy Regional Representative. During the two years of his work in Russia, he has mounted an impressive record of personal commitment and professional dedication to the plight of refugees in Russia and other persons of concern to UNHCR.

Mr Jozsef Gyorke graduated from the Moscow Institute of International Relations in 1967. He speaks fluent Russian, English, Swahili and Hungarian (native). Married with three children.

Refugees’ NGO Was Set up

The Regional charitable public organization "OPORA" was set up to unite representatives of Afghan, Iraqi, Angolan, Somali, Ethiopian, Sudanese, Cameroon and Congolese communities. The opening ceremony was held on 28 November 2002 at one of the community centers for refugees and asylum-seekers. The main aim of the organization is to assist refugees and asylum-seekers in Russia, to provide durable solutions to their problems, including assistance in local integration. "OPORA" will facilitate and implement the charitable projects on improving social conditions for refugees’ life, liasing with all the parties concerned, including human rights organizations, to protect rights of refugees. According to Mohammed Hassan, Director of "OPORA", the legislation on refugees in Russia is not always implemented properly and it causes refugees many problems related to accommodation, legal status, education, medical assistance, etc. He said that the newly set up organization would try to provide jobs to refugees as their work could benefit themselves and the local population. In his greeting remarks Jean-Paul Cavalieri, Senior Protection Officer at the Regional Office of UNHCR in Russia, emphasised the importance of the new organization, the first NGO ever created by refugees themselves in Moscow, and expressed hope that "OPORA" (translation from Russian: support) will become fully adequate to its name.

The representatives of local press, the international organisations and embassies, as well as migration services of Moscow and the Moscow region, attended the opening ceremony. Besides the official part of the ceremony, the guests were offered to taste Asian and African cuisine and to enjoy a concert of ethnic music. The supportive and joint spirit was a good start for "OPORA".

A Message to Young People

By 2015 all United Nations Member States have pledged to halt and begin to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS

(from UN Millennium Development Goals)

The report "Young People and HIV/AIDS", prepared by experts from UNICEF, the WHO, and the UNAIDS, was presented in Moscow in anticipation of the World AIDS Day.

Around the world, more than half of those infected with HIV are young men and women aged 15 to 24. Their number is now approaching 12 million. In the words of Anatolii Korsunskii, Director of the RF Ministry of Health’s Department for the Medical Problems of Maternity and Childhood, out of the 220,500 individuals in Russia infected with HIV, almost two-thirds are young people between the ages of 20 and 30.

Aleksandr Tsekhanovich, President of the St.Petersburg-based Humanitarian Action Foundation (a long-time partner of UNICEF in supporting street children) devoted his speech to the situation regarding the spread of HIV infection among the city’s street children. This problem has been studied very little. Social and medical workers have been researching it since 1999; in that time, they have tracked 836 street children and adolescents. The research has shown that one out of every six is HIV positive. Among this high-risk group, so-called HIV-heroism is growing: those infected actually brag about their illness, and go all out without taking any sort of precautions– thereby posing a serious threat to those around them, and to the public at large.

Igor Pchyolin, Coordinator of the regional NGO SPID Infosvyaz ("AIDS Infosphere") Program for people living with HIV/AIDS, spoke on the public stigma attached to the disease, and about the support needed by those who are aware of their diagnosis. In Moscow, there are seven support groups for different categories of people infected with HIV: these include young people, family groups, and parents. Support for the HIV-infected in Russia’s provinces, where such a diagnosis can make a person a virtual outcast, is another major problem.

Opening her report, Rosemary McCreery, UNICEF Representative in the RF and Belarus, said: "I would like for people to understand that the epidemic is growing very rapidly, and it already is not the problem of certain minority groups. In Russia, many people to this day continue to believe themselves outside the high-risk zone if they do not use drugs, are not homosexuals, and are not prostitutes, and prefer not to speak about the problem. Government representatives do the same. However, everyone who has sex today is already in the high-risk zone. Since young people engage in sexual relations more often than members of other age groups, our message is addressed primarily to them".

In working in the area of preventing HIV/AIDS among teenagers and young adults, UNICEF is counting heavily on the participation of young people themselves. It is no secret that youngsters listen to the opinions of their peers more than those of the older generation. The Youth Information Centers now operating in eleven of Russia’s regions, at which the efforts of professionals and volunteers are combined, are of great importance.

At the same time, one cannot discount the influence of the celebrities and authority figures popular among young people. The well-known Russian singer and songwriter Oleg Gazmanov has begun working with the UN Children’s Fund to help prevent HIV/AIDS. In Kaliningrad in 2002, Mr.Gazmanov, working in cooperation with UNICEF, conducted a massive publicity campaign titled "Don’t Even Try It!", targeted at drugs and HIV/AIDS. Over a period of five days, experts in narcology and physicians spread out to work across the city, volunteers underwent training, and round table discussions were held. Mr Gazmanov visited a kindergarten for 29 children born of HIV-infected mothers. The children and staff eagerly joined in with the songwriter to sing his hit song Moryachka ("The Girl from the Fishing Village").

The highlight of the week-long event was a concert for 10,000 people at the city’s stadium, featuring Mr Gazmanov and his son Rodion, Alsu, Natasha Korolyova, and other popular Russian performers. Ludmila Putin, the wife of RF President Vladimir Putin, greeted the artists and guests at the opening of the concert.

Mr. Gazmanov had his $20,000 fee for the concert transferred to the account of the kindergarten for children born of HIV-mothers, and to that of the Kaliningrad Hospital for Infectious Diseases No. 4, where there is also a ward for such children.

A Special Birthday Celebration

It is customary to give presents to someone celebrating a birthday. Sometimes, however, things are different. It was decided that United Nations Day 2002 would be celebrated in a special way – by giving presents to those who truly need them.

By joint agreement, the UN agencies in Russia decided to buy and send books to the internally displaced children of the North Caucasus.

Information points and libraries are being operated in the tent camps of Ingushetiya, the temporary holding areas of Chechnya, and in the schools of that breakaway republic. People uprooted from their previous life need information no less than their daily bread. In any weather, whether electricity is available or not, people gather in Camp Sputnik’s more than modest tent library to read the latest newspapers and magazines – or, absorbed in one novel or another, take a short break from their day-to-day reality. In many schools, libraries have been opened that contain not just textbooks, but works of fiction and other educational materials.

Around 400 children’s books were purchased by UNICEF, the UNDP, UNHCR, OCHA, WHO, ILO, ODCCP, UNIC, and UNSECOORD. The wives of UN workers in Moscow made their own contribution of books as well.

Many of the books turned out to be from the world’s best-selling series, Harry Potter. The list also included encyclopedias, picture books for the very young, and Russian and world classics.

The load of books was delivered to the North Caucasus along with other UNICEF cargoes. Workers at the UNICEF office in Narzan distributed the books to their partner organizations in Ingushetiya and Chechnya, which have already delivered them to the appropriate libraries and information centers.

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