Russian Federation

Operational highlights wishing to find employment. The law-enforcement branch of the FMS was instructed to recognize asylum-seekers as foreigners legally staying in the • Resettlement was the durable solution found for some country and consider the certificates issued to them as 660 refugees and asylum-seekers. valid documents for employment purposes. • The Office assisted almost all registered people of concern throughout the Russian Federation. Despite UNHCR’s advocacy, prospects for local • UNHCR’s shelter programme benefited 500 displaced integration are limited, and resettlement remains the households in the northern Caucasus. most viable durable solution for many of the refugees. In • A total of 55 refugees and asylum-seekers repatriated 2007, UNHCR resettled some 660 refugees, primarily voluntarily. victims of sexual and gender-based violence and • All people of concern in the northern Caucasus had single-headed households. Meanwhile, interest in access to free legal advice. voluntary repatriation has steadily decreased. In 2007, only 55 individuals (mainly Afghans) repatriated. This is the lowest voluntary repatriation figure since 2003. The situation was similar with regard to voluntary repatriation Working environment from North Ossetia-Alania to Georgia/South Ossetia; in 2007 no applications were made for the programme. In 2007, the Russian Federation strengthened legislation on migration. Several laws focused on In the northern Caucasus a number of security incidents in regulating the status of foreign workers in the labour Ingushetia in March led to the closure of some UN offices. market, an issue affecting many people of concern to The opening of a UNHCR office in Grozny (in the Republic UNHCR. The Russian Federal Migration Services (FMS) of Chechnya) was not approved. These setbacks forced addressed the concerns of refugees and asylum-seekers UNHCR to rely heavily on implementing partners.

398 UNHCR Global Report 2007 Achievements and impact UNHCR ran a multi-sectoral assistance programme for asylum-seekers and others of concern. Protection and legal counselling were available through the Refugee

Main objectives Reception Centre in Moscow, Refugee Counselling Russian Federation Centre in St. Petersburg and implementing partners working outside these main urban centres. In addition, • Support the development of an asylum system that UNHCR supported four community centres in Moscow meets international standards and ensures full and and nearby regions. It also addressed HIV and AIDS unhindered access to asylum procedures. issues through the preventive health programme in • Promote accession to the conventions on Moscow and St. Petersburg. In coordination with statelessness and help stateless people acquire UNAIDS, the Office identified durable solutions and citizenship. provided assistance to HIV-positive individuals. • Identify and pursue appropriate durable solutions for refugees. In the northern Caucasus, UNHCR’s intervention • Protect and assist internally displaced persons (IDPs) focused on providing legal protection and housing and returnees, work with development actors on assistance to IDPs. Until early 2007 most IDPs cited reintegration and recovery, and build new security concerns and the absence of the rule of law in partnerships with stakeholders specializing in the Chechnya as the major impediments to return. UNHCR protection of human rights. and its implementing partners worked with the judiciary, • Strengthen public information and public awareness legal bodies and the Ombudsman’s office in the region and develop local fund-raising capacities. to build both capacity and trust. As a result, by the end of 2007, the major impediments for return had changed to lack of shelter and employment. Protection and solutions UNHCR-supported legal counseling centres provided In 2007, UNHCR achieved significant progress on two free legal advice and lawyers to accompany major issues: unhindered access to the national asylum complainants to the courts. The Office also worked to procedure and immediate documentation authorizing a find legal remedies for the remaining undocumented stay in the country for every asylum applicant. Both are refugees. now granted by the authorities. Following this significant advance, UNHCR proposed that the Office play an advisory or supervisory function within the national Activities and assistance refugee status determination (RSD) system. Community services: In Moscow and St. Petersburg, UNHCR’s strategy to reduce and prevent statelessness community centres supported by UNHCR assisted focused on reaching out to the general public through 2,000 individuals. Some 730 people regularly public awareness campaigns. It also enhanced the participated in community activities, including capacity of migration officers, judicial officials and Russian-language courses and vocational skills training. judges to quickly process citizenship documents. Rapid In addition, some 40 people with specific needs residing processing is especially crucial in the case of former in the Moscow region received prosthetic devices. USSR nationals who are legally entitled to citizenship through the simplified procedure under the Law on Domestic needs and household support: Close to 3,900 Citizenship. food kits were distributed in Moscow in 2007 to 1,700

Persons of concern Of whom Per cent under Type of population Origin Total assisted by Per cent female 18 UNHCR Refugees Afghanistan 1,300 1,300 - - Various 340 340 - - Asylum-seekers Afghanistan 2,100 - - - Georgia 480 - - - Various 500 - - - IDPs 189,200 104,000 - - Returnees (refugees) 260 260 - - Returnees (IDPs) 1,100 1,100 - - Stateless 50,000 - - - Meskhetians 1,300 - - - Others of concern Various 2,900 2,900 - - Total 249,480 109,900

UNHCR Global Report 2007 399 usa Federation Russian

beneficiaries. An average of 20 individuals per month in protection in Moscow and St. Petersburg were need of international protection in Moscow and St. immunized in accordance with Russian health Petersburg received emergency assistance. All female standards. Some 150 lectures were given in Moscow asylum-seekers in need of international protection (some and 17 in St. Petersburg on preventive medicine. 900 at year end) in Moscow and St. Petersburg had access to sanitary materials. Essential humanitarian aid Legal assistance: By the end of 2007, approximately was distributed to people with special protection needs 2,900 people were registered as in need of international in the northern Caucasus. protection in Moscow and 330 in St. Petersburg. In addition, close to 2,000 asylum-seekers were registered Education: All asylum-seeker and refugee children had by UNHCR. access to education. The Department of Education of Moscow created a network of Russian-language schools As in previous years, UNHCR provided legal counselling in all districts of the city accessible to persons of via a network of more than 40 Legal Counselling concern to UNHCR. Centres. In total, more than 20,000 consultations were recorded. UNHCR gave material support to the families of 180 children over 11 years old to enable the children to go UNHCR monitored returns to Chechnya and assisted to school rather than work. In 2007, UNHCR assisted (where access was possible) some 140 people who had close to 400 pupils by paying school fees. come from Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Border monitors reported that more than Health and nutrition: UNHCR and partners assisted 1,500 IDPs returned from Ingushetia to Chechnya in more than 2,200 people in 2007 through consultations 2007. The true magnitude of return remains unknown in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Some 180 patients were to UNHCR. There are reports of voluntary returns by hospitalized and over 2,000 were referred to medical refugees and rejected asylum-seekers from Western institutions. All children in need of international Europe. UNHCR/O. Kharitonova “Olympic Games” for refugee children and children from the local community were held in the Moscow region.

400 UNHCR Global Report 2007 Operational support (to agencies): The core of activities Financial information implemented by UNHCR under this sector was devoted to various publications including a quarterly newsletter, UNHCR's operation in the northern Caucasus was fully

flyers and posters as well as the organization of World Russian Federation Refugee Day. funded. However, both in that region and in the rest of the Russian Federation, assessed needs generally Shelter and other infrastructure: Since 2003, UNHCR exceed the authorized budget. Nevertheless, most basic has distributed “box-tents” (long-lasting winterized requirements were met. shelters meant to replace cloth tents) to beneficiaries in the northern Caucasus awaiting more permanent Expenditures in 2007 almost equaled those of the housing. In 2007, this programme ended after the previous year, reflecting continuity in programming. The distribution of some 2,600 box-tents; 70 per cent of the year was marked by the end of the Inter-Agency beneficiaries of these tents were in Chechnya. Transitional Work Plan for the northern Caucasus, but at the time of reporting this had not affected donors' Shelter activities focused on long-term solutions through interest in UNHCR's work in the region. the continuation of a self-help project benefiting 20 households in Ingushetia. New houses were provided to In order to achieve the objective of providing durable more than 50 households unable to undertake repairs to housing solutions by 2010 for all those still sheltered in their old dwellings or construct new ones. In 2007, collective centres, UNHCR and its partners will require nominal shelter projects were implemented in two substantially more funds. districts in the city of Grozny (Staropromislovsky and Michurina); some 50 households benefited from this initiative.

A UNHCR survey in collective centres for IDPs in Chechnya and Ingushetia showed that almost all residents’ former homes had either been heavily damaged or completely destroyed. In Ingushetia, 40 per cent of the respondents declared that they did not possess any property; nevertheless, more than half of them wished to return to Chechnya. UNHCR is focused on finding to find durable housing for people still living in collective centres. Success would allow the Office to sharply curtail its shelter activities within two years.

Constraints

The significant improvements in procedural access and documentation for asylum-seekers have not been matched in the area of medical care. UNHCR continued to support a medical assistance programme through implementing partners, but the rising prices of goods and services generally affected the quantity and quality Organization and implementation of assistance. Furthermore, xenophobia and racially motivated attacks against people of concern, as well as harassment by law enforcement officials, remain major Management protection concerns. Still, the situation appears to have improved when compared with what prevailed in In 2007, UNHCR operated through its Representation previous years following more robust responses by the office in Moscow, a sub-office in Vladikavkaz and, until Russian authorities. its closure in March, a field office in Nazran. The workforce comprised 62 staff, 13 UNVs and one Since July 2006, the movement of UNHCR and its secondee. partners has been restricted, making it difficult to monitor programmes and identify people of concern. Repairs to the Refugee Support Centre in Moscow were completed, allowing most protection staff and part of the programme unit to move to the centre. The move helped staff to reach beneficiaries more easily and monitor programme implementation more closely.

UNHCR Global Report 2007 401 usa Federation Russian

Working with others Partners Implementing partners UNHCR cooperated with the Government, other UN NGOs: Association of Media Managers, Caucasian Refugee agencies and international organizations in the Russian Council, Centre for International Cooperation of the St. Federation. In 2007, the Office worked with 20 Petersburg Red Cross, Children’s Fund (North-Ossetia Alania and Stavropol), Civic Assistance, Danish Refugee Council, implementing partners and 12 operational partners. Equilibre Solidarity, Ethnosfera, Faith, Hope, Love, Guild of Russian Filmmakers, Magee Womancare International, Memorial Human Rights Centre, Nizam, Peace to the Close cooperation with the Office of the Chechen Caucasus, Pomosch, Stichting Justice Initiative, St. Ombudsman helped UNHCR coordinate protection Petersburg Society of the Red Cross, Vesta activities in Chechnya. Sector Working Groups attended Others: IOM, UNV by major donors and governmental counterparts were Operational partners instrumental in devising strategic action plans. NGOs: Psychological Support Centre Gratis Government agencies: Central Administration of the Emergency Committee in the Republic of Ingushetia (EMERCOM), Departments of Migration Issues of the FMS in Overall assessment the regions, Federal Migration Service (FMS) of the Ministry of Interior of the Russian Federation, Governments of the Chechen Republic and the Republics of Ingushetia and North, UNHCR made significant progress in 2007 in building Ossetia Alania, Moscow City Education Department, Ombudsman of the Chechen Republic, Ombudsman of the the asylum capacity of Government authorities and other Russian Federation partners in the Russian Federation. In the northern Others: Council of Europe, European Council on Refugees Caucasus, UNHCR expanded its activities to provide and Exiles, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, UNAIDS, UNDP housing to people living in collective centres. The Office also supported efforts to improve the judicial system in the region. Despite a recent deterioration in security in Ingushetia, the general environment has stabilized and may trigger larger returns of Chechen refugees.

Budget, income and expenditure (USD)

Income from Other funds Total funds Total Final budget contributions available available expenditure

Annual budget 13,623,688 6,725,181 6,448,153 13,173,335 13,173,334

Note: Income from contributions includes contributions earmarked at the country level. Other funds available include transfers from unearmarked and broadly earmarked contributions, opening balance and adjustments.

402 UNHCR Global Report 2007 Financial Report (USD)

Current year's projects Previous years' projects Expenditure breakdown

Annual budget Annual and supplementary budgets Russian Federation

Protection, monitoring and 3,490,885 0 coordination Community services 683,617 172,141 Domestic needs and household 308,670 12,967 support Education 316,343 37,964 Health and nutrition 864,428 294,514 Income generation 0 1,575 Legal assistance 3,429,841 857,333 Operational support (to agencies) 611,519 137,526 Shelter and infrastructure 1,546,381 192,299 Instalments with implementing 83,250 (1,706,319) partners Sub-total operational activities 11,334,933 0 Programme support 1,838,401 0 Total expenditure 13,173,334 0

Cancellation on previous years' (32,791) expenditure

Instalments with implementing partners Payments made 5,553,768 Reporting received (5,470,518) Balance 83,250

Previous years' report Instalments with implementing partners Outstanding 1st January 1,780,700 Reporting received (1,706,319) Refunded to UNHCR (73,470) Adjustments 0 Balance 912

UNHCR Global Report 2007 403