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TITLE: Czech Republic Offers Asylum to Chechens |
AUTHOR: Artyom Vernidub |
PUB: gazeta ru |
DATE: April 19, 2001 |
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The Czech government has decided to grant Chechen refugees "temporary asylum." A group of 6000 Chechen refugees, who have for three weeks been starving in a cold refugee camp in Ingushetia now have the prospect of relatively luxurious European conditions with three meals a day, hot showers and medical care. Many government officials in Moscow still don't know about the Czech decision, but when they find out, it's doubtful they'll be overjoyed. NATO's Kosovo operation began with a similar development. The Czech government took the decision late on Wednesday night thus the news did not appear in the Czech papers on Thursday. Radio Svoboda's Prague office was the first source to report the news. "The Czech government has resolved to receive refugees from Chechnya. Chechen refugees will be given temporary asylum and provided with accommodation and medical care." Svoboda reported. "Only when the conflict is resolved and conditions in the republic are deemed safe will measures to return the refuges home be considered." Thus it follows from the announcement that the Chechen refugees who are now literarily starving in camps in Ingushetia (due to the lack of cash from the federal budget and huge debts to local companies there have been chronic food shortages in the camps for three weeks now), now have the possibility to move to Europe. Until now they have had only had one offer ? to return to Chechnya. And with each announcement by Chechen officials, this offer is sounding more and more like an order. On his last visit to the Kremlin, the head of the Chechen Civil Administration Akhmad Kadyrov promised President Putin that all the refugees in Ingushetia would be returned to their homeland before the end of the year. But those same pro-Moscow officials are constantly complaining that the funds allocated for the reconstruction of housing in the republic are insufficient. In the Czech Republic there are several camps for foreign citizens which can accommodate up to 10 thousand refugees. The Chechens can expect hot food, showers and generally bearable comforts. The Czech embassy in Moscow told Gazeta.Ru that a flood of Chechen refugees into the Czech Republic should not be expected. "This case only concerns the Chechens who some way or another have found their way to our country and have applied for political asylum," an embassy spokesperson told us. In any case, they said that that was all that they had heard from Prague. According to the UN's Geneva Convention, unless people displaced by war can prove that they were victims of oppression, they don't officially qualify as refugees. Therefore, the Czechs are to give the Chechens so-called temporary asylum. As soon as the Czech government considers that the situation is safe, that status will be removed. That decision will be taken by the country's interior and foreign ministries. The same procedure was applied to the refugees from Bosnia and Kosovo who applied for refugee status in the Czech Republic, the majority of whom have now being repatriated. According to the Czech Interior Ministry's figures, of the 1024 people from Kosovo granted temporary asylum, 826 were repatriated. However, the Russian authorities are seeing to it that the number of Chechens in Europe doesn't rise. Whether it was a coincidence or not, on the same day as the Czechs decided to grant Chechens temporary asylum, the Russian authorities announced that for the time being foreign travel passports would not be issued to Chechens. Obviously the news about the Czechs decision to grant temporary asylum to Chechen refugees is causing great annoyance to Russian official figures. The Czech embassy in Moscow has yet to receive any official complaint, but the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affaires is well known for its intolerance. The office of Sergei Yastrzhebsky, President Putin's aide on Chechen affaires refused to comment to us on the issue. As for Kadyrov's administration, they found out about the Czech hospitality from us. Why should the Czech's move annoy Moscow? Firstly it is a polite way of stating that after a year and a half since Putin initiated the second campaign, there has been absolutely no political progress and that Russian citizens have been forced to take refuge in Europe. Secondly, Chechen refugees , many of whom are opposed to Kadyrov and his administration and insist on talks with Maskhadov, will become more accessible for the extremely influential CNN. Western reporters try and find out what's going on in Chechnya and film protests in neighbouring Ingushetia but the Russian authorities get in the way. Just a few days ago Kadyrov banned protest meetings. Thirdly, having received temporary exile status the Chechens will be more active, and interest in their accounts and declarations has not subsided in Europe. For example, today (Thursday), one of the major news items is a Agence France Press interview with Aslan Maskhadov in which he claims that the Russian forces killed four teenagers. All this could have the same effect on Europeans as did the stream of refugees from Kosovo. In the eyes of all of European countries and their governments, Russia will become a country violating the human rights of a whole people and the Chechens will become humanitarian heroes. Now the main thing for the Chechens is to somehow get to Prague where they'll help. END |