Sociopolitical Situation in the Northeast Caucasus: Challenges to Nongovernmental Organizations, Andre Kamenshikov, Vladimir Sukhov, and Mikhail Charaev Abstract casien: la Tchetchenie,l'Ingushetie, et Ie high, especially in Karabakh, Abkhazia, Dagestan, dans la perspective de l' Chechnya and Tadjikistan, where huge The authors provide a general analysis of action pratique en matiere d'intervention problems caused by war remain unsolved the sociopolitical situation in three basic charitable et humanitaire. Ces efforts sont such as the problem of hundreds of regions of the Northeast Caucasus, diriges vers une evaluation de thousands of refugees, for whom the road Chechnya, Ingushetia and Dagestan, from 1'interaction et de la mise sur pied de to their homes remains closed. the perspective of practical action in the programmes constructifs au niveau des When speaking about the reaction area of humanitarian and charitable organisations internationales et non- demonstrated by the global community in activities there. These efforts are directed gouvernementales, autant qu' au niveau reply to the arising problems and crises, it toward assisting the interaction and im- des initiatives individuelles. Les auteurs is important to note the following: plementation of constructive programs on citent donc des exemples d' organisations • First, the rapid development of events the level of international and ayant eu du succes dans la mise en place and the occurrence ofnumerous crises nongovernmental organizations, as well as de telles initiatives. Ils decrivent aussi un in the post-Soviet territory was largely on the level of individual initiatives. Thus, certain nombre de projets en unexpected (despite some predictions the authors cite examples of organizations preparations. by various analysts). There was no which have been successful in these Introduction preliminary plan for a response to initiatives. They also describe projects that these events. As a result, many may be implemented in the nearfuture. Disintegration of the Soviet Union,eco- opportunities for preventive actions Precis nomic crises and the development of against upcoming crises were missed, many ethnic and political conflicts in the though they would certainly have Les auteurs fournissent une analyse ge- territory of the Newly Independent States been better than responding at a later nerale de la situation socio-politique de (NIS), i.e. former republics of the USSR, stage. trois regions cruciales du Nord-Est Cau- have created a new and unexpected • Secondly, today there is at least a challenge to the global community, a formal understanding of the necessity Andre Kamenshikov is Executive Director of challenge, for which it appears to be to react to the arising problems, Nonviolence International-NIS, 4 Luchnikov poorly prepared. The global threat of instead ofletting things "burn out on Lane, Entrance 3, Room 2, Moscow 103982, mutual destruction coming from a nu- their own." And, though the resources Russia. clear arms race has diminished, but it Vladimir Sukhov and Mikhail Charaev are activists selected for these purposes so far are working with Nonviolence International-NIS, 4 was replaced by a whole series of de- rather limited, a certain role of in Luchnikov Lane, Entrance 3, Room 2, Moscow structive processes and crises in many terna tional organizations is felt in 103982, Russia. regions of the former socialist camp. practically all conflict zones of the This article is an excerpt of the "Brochure on These crises take place on a regional post-Soviet countries. Nongovernmental Organizations of the Northeast level, but have an extremely negative Caucasus" reprinted with the permission of the In terna tional reaction to crises in the Forced Migration Projects of the Open Society combined influence on the global scale. Newly Independent States of the former Institute, which published the One of the most serious consequences USSR could be formally divided into . whole document in 1997. Full text of the of these regional crises is the three levels:2 brochure is available free of charge from the multimillion flow of forced migrants- • First, the level of direct interstate re- Forced Migration Projects, Open Society people, whom military conflicts, lations between the various Newly Institute, 400 West 59th Street, New York, NY nationalism, the lack of economic per- 10019, USA, tel.: (212) 548-0655, fax: (212) Independent States and other coun- 548-4676, email: [email protected] spectives, and ecological disasters have tries. forced to leave their homes in search of As the situation in the Northeast Caucasus, • Second, interaction of the NIS with Chechnya in particular, has changed for security and a tolerable future. international and intergovernmental the worse since the article was written, However, we may note certain positi institutes, such as the UN, EC, the authors do not recommend that any ve changes, like the fact tha t 1997 was OSCE,NA TO, 10M, lCRC, and their organization or individuals go to work the first year after the disintegration of various structures (UNHCR, ODIHR, there, because of the high security risk the USSR to begin in a situation when all UNESCO, etc.). involved. military conflicts in the Newly Inde- pendent States have been formally terminated.1 But the probability of re- Refuge, Vol. 17, No.2 (April 1998) newed military actions remain~ quite 21 4) • Third, the activities of non- • operate with a staff of volunteers, organizations directly from the troubled governmental organizations, who often change, creating prob- areas. The former often tend to disregard churches, public initiatives. lems for the continuity of opera- the latter (not least, due to lack of This article is directed to assist the tions. information) and either carry out all interaction and the implementation of 2. Difficulties in communication: rare activities themselves or rely on already constructive programs on the second and and poor phone lines, slow and un- well-known organizations. This is often particularly on the third level, that is, on reliable mail, absence of local pro- quite costly, time consuming and does the level of international and viders of em ail while computers not take full ad vantage of existing nongovernmental organizations, as well remain relatively expensive. opportunities. as on the level of individual initiatives. It 3. Mistrust-organizations which are All these problems result in the fact, includes some general analysis of the based in or have permanent repre- that though over the last years quite a few situation and the prospects for such sentation and work out of the coun- international organizations have gained activities in the Northeast Caucasus-a try's capital are often seen as being considerable experience workingin region in which today probably the most somewhat "in bed" with the govern- theNISand many national NGOs became pain and human suffering of the entire ment, which may be correctly or in- fairly widely known for their work on post-Soviet territory is concentrated. correctly perceived as the main cause problems of refugees and forced Many of these organizations and of the problem in the first place,4 migrants, the activities, of no lesser groups (and in some cases individual especially if the work is going on in a importance, of many local organizations, activists) are "insiders" in the situations region struggling for independence or groups and individuals from the conflict and must be included as essential autonomy. In situations of military zones themselves remain either unknown components in the framework of any conflicts a major problem becomes or overlooked. NGO activities in troubled areas. Without the" spy-mania," that often reaches an This is especially true in regards to the their cooperation various programs of absurd level. This has to do with the Russian Federation with its vast territory, humanitarian assistance,trust building, former "Soviet" upbringing of most complicated ethnic composition, huge conflict prevention, human and minority "modern" NIS politicians as well as problems and serious distinctions rights protection run a high risk of not with the occurrence in conflict between the situations in different re- addressing the most important needs and regions of many "security" structures, gions. concerns of the people and communities which need to somehow justify their With the purpose of helping to over- they are designed to help. Such local existence. Negative experience with come this lack of information about local groups and organizations can also "open NGOs and activists, and in order to doors" for large international other NGOs or international agencies may also contribute to this problem. analyze possible developments that may organizations and enable them to carry cause migration flows in the future, the out their activities in areas, which are 4. Criminality and problems of personal safety. Robberies, kidnappings, and "Northeast Caucasus NGO Networking impossible to reach otherwise due to Project" was carried out. It included three even murders of the employees of bureaucratic obstacles or unacceptably long missions by the representatives of 3 humanitarian missions in conflict high levels of risk. Nonviolence International (Andre zones are unfortunately no rarity and However, even simply developing and Kamenshikov, Vladimir Sukhov, and the situation is getting worse. maintaining contacts with small local Mikhail Charaev) to the regions of the (Chechnya has become especially NGOs, groups and activists,