Parliamentary questions
WRITTEN QUESTION E-2373/01
by Olivier Dupuis (TDI) to the Commission
(8 August 2001)

Subject: Extraordinary operation to receive Chechen refugees living in inhuman conditions in both Chechnya and Ingushetia

In the wake of a recent decision by the German authorities on Chechen refugees requesting political asylum in Germany, all refugees who have been refused asylum-seeker status are to be deported to their country of origin. That decision follows a statement by the German Minister for the Interior considering fears of reprisals by Russian military and paramilitary forces against deportees to be unfounded. Consequently, the repatriation of people seeking political asylum is no longer to be deemed an anti-humanitarian act.

Nevertheless, numerous reports from Chechnya point to an extremely worrying humanitarian situation with a growing shortage of supplies and drugs, a lack of hospitals and outbreaks of epidemics. Even more seriously, a number of reports by the media and by NGOs speak of systematic and extremely severe acts of violence committed by Russian occupation forces, both military and paramilitary, and in particular the constant harassment of civilians living in the area, a large number of summary executions, widespread use of torture and abduction of civilians, including for purposes of extortion.

Can the Commission provide information on the number of Chechens granted refugee status in each of the 15 EU member countries? Does the Commission not believe that, in the face of the tragic humanitarian situation in Chechnya, the Union should launch an extraordinary operation - along the lines of the action taken for Bosnia - to receive all Chechen refugees living in inhuman conditions in both Chechnya and Ingushetia, who would be distributed fairly among the 15 Member States?

E-2373/01
Answer given by Mr Vitorino
on behalf of the Commission
(22 October 2001)

The asylum statistics made available to the Commission indicate only nationality without specifying ethnic origin.

Russians were not listed among the top 10 nationalities requesting asylum in EU Member States in 1999, whilst in 2000 they were ranked eighth. Neither in 1999 nor 2000 were they among the top 10 nationalities to receive a favourable response to their applications for international protection. In the first quarter of 2001, incomplete data showed that Russians were the seventh largest national group of applicants for asylum in the European Union.

EU Member States are bound by international agreements on asylum, particularly the 1951 Geneva Convention and the 1967 Protocol relating to the status of refugees and the European Convention on Human Rights. At the Tampere European Council of 15 and 16 October 1999 they also gave political undertakings to implement new European asylum provisions. Since spring 1999, the Commission has submitted a series of initiatives to the Council and to Parliament to put these undertakings and provisions into practice by introducing Community legislation. Until such legislation is adopted, it is up to Member States to determine asylum status in accordance with policy whilst also complying with existing Community legislation. On 20 July 2001, the Council adopted Directive 2001/55/EC on minimum standards for giving temporary protection in the event of a mass influx of displaced persons and on measures promoting a balance of efforts between Member States in receiving such persons and bearing the consequences thereof(1). The directive must be transposed into the national legislation of the Member States by the end of December 2002.

The present circumstances do not justify an extraordinary EU operation to receive refugees. This is not to say that persons of Chechen origin do not have valid individual reasons why they should receive international protection in Member States in accordance with international obligations. In these circumstances, persons denied international protection in a Member State must have access to the means to challenge such decisions or to substantiate claims that forced repatriation would put their lives at risk or would not be practicable.

The Commission has systematically made its concerns clear to its Russian interlocutors, at all including the highest levels, both on the humanitarian situation in the Northern Caucasus in general and on the operating conditions for non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in particular. The European Community, through the Commission Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO), is by far the largest donor of humanitarian aid to the civilians affected by the war in Chechnya. To date, the total ECHO contribution to the international relief effort in the Northern Caucasus is 44 million. The aim is to meet the basic humanitarian needs of displaced persons and the most vulnerable elements of the population in Chechnya, as well as in neighbouring republics, particularly Ingushetia and Dagestan where there are up to 170 000 displaced civilians from Chechnya. This aid concentrates in particular on food and food security, medical care, relief items, shelter and water sanitation.