This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR
spokeswoman Millicent Mutuli - to whom quoted text may be attributed -
at today's press briefing at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.
1. Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
Around 900 refugees went back from Kosovo to the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) yesterday (Monday) in the largest return in recent days. Their return coincided with the start of NATO's arms collection programme. In all, nearly 30,000 refugees have now returned from Kosovo, including some 5,600 since the signing of a peace agreement on 13 August. Most of those who have returned since the agreement crossed at the Jazince border post northwest of Skopje. Most have gone back to urban centres, indicating a lack of confidence in the security situation in their home villages, where the situation remains unstable.
UNHCR is concerned about returns to insecure areas and is worried that NATO's temporary presence may be giving a false sense of security. NATO has a very specific mission in FYROM -- to collect arms from the Albanian rebels within a 30 day-period. The required pullback of ethnic Albanian rebels and the Macedonian security forces creates a security vacuum. This may pose a real danger for the civilian population, particularly the returning refugees and displaced people.
Despite the signing of the peace agreement two weeks ago, security incidents occur almost daily in the Skopje and Tetovo areas. UNHCR considers that under such a volatile situation, the conditions are not yet safe for the return of the displaced people, particularly the ethnic Macedonians who fled from areas where they were in a minority.
In the meantime, UNHCR this week stepped up the field presence to help build confidence in war-affected areas. Eight teams were deployed on Monday to the Skopje area, and Tetovo, Kumanovo, Aracinovo and Lipkovo municipalities to identify needs to improve the conditions for safe returns.
UNHCR has dispatched more mobile field teams in a stepped-up effort to help the government build confidence in war-affected areas in FYROM. Eight teams, which include government and NGO partners, were fielded Monday around the Skopje area and in Tetovo, Kumanovo, Aracinovo and Lipkovo municipalities. UNHCR is also continuing an ongoing assessment of damage and assistance needs of internally displaced people and refugees who have returned from Kosovo and southern Serbia.
As of Sunday, 29,595 refugees had returned to FYROM, staying mainly in Skopje and other urban centres. A total of 51,880 remain in Kosovo, most of them living with relatives and friends. The Macedonian Red Cross said that since the conflict in FYROM started in February, it had registered 70,728 internally displaced persons - 66,871 in host families and 3,857 in collective centres.
2. Angolan refugees in Democratic Republic of Congo
UNHCR began this morning the transfer of nearly 10,000 Angolan refugees from border areas south of the Democratic Republic of Congo's capital, Kinshasa, to existing villages 50 kms away from the frontier. Because of poor road conditions in the area, a first group of 600 refugees is scheduled to depart on foot this morning for the villages of Zulu and Zomfi. They will stop briefly, later today, at a rest station set up by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) 17 kms away and are scheduled to spend the night at a transit centre more than 30 kms from the border. The refugees are expected to make their way tomorrow morning to the villages of settlement where each family is expected to receive half a hectare of land.
The plan is to move an average of 600 refugees daily. Vulnerable refugees such as young children, the sick, the handicapped and the elderly will be transported by truck. The transfer is expected to be completed by 5 or 6 September.
A total of eight villages have been prepared for the more than 10,000 new Angolan refugees currently at two locations along the DRC border - nearly 8,000 in Kidompolo and another 2,000 in Kimvula, 120 kms east of Kidompolo. The refugees fled an August 3 UNITA offensive on the town of Beu in northern Angola and have been living in makeshift shelters in difficult conditions for the past two to three weeks.
3. Pakistan
The second phase of the joint UNHCR/Pakistan screening programme, which will determine the refugee status of thousands of Afghans who have fled to north-west Pakistan in recent months as result of renewed fighting and severe drought in Afghanistan, is scheduled to begin tomorrow (29 August). Afghans have responded favourably to the exercise, turning out in big numbers to register and provide general information on their families and places of origin. During the first phase, some 21,029 families were processed at the two screening centres in Jalozai and Nasir Bagh near Peshawar city in North-west Pakistan in just less than three weeks. A total of 14,564 families have registered and will go to the next phase of the screening exercise, while 6,465 families have opted for voluntary repatriation. Afghans who have registered will be called for interviews to determine their status while those who have expressed the wish to return home will receive an aid package.
UNHCR and Pakistan reached an agreement to establish a joint screening programme on 3 August. Fifty-five joint teams are on standby to begin interviewing all Afghans who have registered. Those found to be in need of protection will be granted a temporary legal status in Pakistan. All those accepted will be transferred from Jalozai and Nasir Bagh to the camp at New Shamshatoo, where they will be provided assistance by UNHCR and its partners. Negotiations are continuing between UNHCR and Pakistani authorities to identify further sites.
Afghans whose case is rejected will have the right to appeal, but once a final decision is made, they would have to return home. Especially vulnerable people from drought-affected areas would be given a temporary humanitarian stay until conditions improve in their villages.
4. Colombia
UNHCR has seen a significant increase in the number of asylum seekers from Colombia around the world this year. The increase is attributed to the deterioration of the conflict in Colombia over the past 12 months. In Europe and North America, over 6,000 Colombian asylum applications were received in the first half of 2001, more than twice the number received over the same period in 2000. In these regions combined, Colombians now represent the 12th largest nationality requesting asylum, up from a ranking of 21st for the first six months of 2000.
Colombians are also increasingly seeking asylum in neighboring countries and other states in the region. Costa Rica has seen a sharp increase in Colombian asylum applications this year - over 2,500 new arrivals from Colombia were registered from January through June 2001, compared to 333 arrivals over the same period in 2000. The trend has continued in July and the first half of August, with a record high of over 1,000 new Colombian arrivals in less than six weeks. UNHCR has dispatched a refugee status determination team to Costa Rica to help the government deal with the growing backlog of asylum claims. The team is interviewing asylum seekers, reviewing pending cases, and providing advice, training and equipment to the government. UNHCR provides some assistance to the most vulnerable asylum seekers in Costa Rica, who make up approximately one-fourth of the new arrivals. Asylum seekers in Costa Rica do not have the right to work until their refugee claims are approved. In contrast to earlier groups of mostly middle class, urban Colombians seeking asylum in Costa Rica, an increasing number of the new arrivals are from rural areas.
Reports indicate that Colombians also continue to cross into Venezuela and other neighboring countries. Ecuador has received over 1,800 requests for asylum from Colombians so far this year, compared to less than 30 such requests in the first six months of 2000. A UNHCR refugee status determination team, similar to the team in Costa Rica, has been working with the government in Ecuador since June. In addition, an estimated 1,000 Colombians, most of whom arrived in the past year, remain in Panama's Darien region bordering on Colombia.
The number of Colombians seeking asylum in the region and further abroad likely represents only a small percentage of those Colombians currently outside their country, many of whom may not have asked for asylum. Hundreds of thousands have been displaced within Colombia itself.
5. Ingushetia
Another large group of displaced persons from Chechnya has been evicted from their settlement in Ingushetia. Some 80 displaced persons, including women, children and elderly people, were left without shelter last week in Malgobek, Ingushetia, when the building they had been staying in was torn down. The group had been living at the site since 1999, but the building was bought by a new owner who wanted to set up a new structure on the site. UNHCR, in coordination with local authorities, provided 17 tents for the displaced people in a nearby settlement which had already been selected by UNHCR and the Ingushetia authorities for improvement work. Eighteen families have now moved into the new tents, and currently flooring and other facilities are being provided. UNHCR expects to provide tents to a few more families in this site in the coming days. Gas, electricity and sanitation facilities will be installed with support from UNHCR before winter.
This eviction comes just a week after a similar group of 100 persons was evicted from their settlement near Nazran. UNHCR is also aware of several other group settlements under immediate threat of eviction, including one building in the Nazran area which houses more than 120 people. UNHCR is concerned that these group evictions could be a new trend, as owners of the various spontaneous settlement sites realize that the displaced people will not be returning to Chechnya before the winter, and they will therefore remain in the sites for the third winter in a row. In an effort to avoid such evictions, UNHCR has provided a number of settlements with building materials to improve the facilities, which benefits both the displaced persons living there as well as the owner of the site.
Meanwhile, evictions of individual families from private accommodation also continue on an almost daily basis. Some evicted families are able to find other places to stay on their own. UNHCR also tries to help negotiate with host families or find alternative accommodation, particularly when vulnerable people are facing eviction. Alternative accommodation can be somewhat easier to identify for individuals than for the larger groups evicted at once.
UNHCR is continuing the winterization process to prepare for the third winter the displaced people will spend in Ingushetia. Some 20 settlements have been selected by UNHCR and the Ingushetia authorities for upgrading. Depending on the needs of each settlement, UNHCR, local authorities and NGOs provide shelter materials to upgrade the structures, make them easier to heat, and improve the flooring or roofing of the housing. Since last year, UNHCR has upgraded and winterized more than 60 settlemsents in Ingushetia. In all, Ingushetia continues to host some 150,000 displaced people from Chechnya.
This document is intended for public information purposes only. It is not an official UN document.
