A ROOF OVER THEIR HEADS

We are writing about our private pain again - one million refugees and internally displaced people (IDPs). They mark their tragic day on 20 June. The UN General Assembly passed a resolution in 2000 to mark this day, but Azerbaijan faced the problem well before this. In 1988, when more than 250,000 Azerbaijanis were forced to flee Armenia, we did not have any experience of dealing with these problems. Later, Azerbaijani land was occupied by the aggressor. As a result, 686,586 people were forced to leave their native land. We lived through war, anxiety and despair. The refugees and IDPs lost their loved ones and the roofs over their heads. International organizations helped our country in tackling the problems of refugees and IDPs, but this was much later. Nevertheless, these people withstood and survived everything - poverty and disease, fear and cold. They lived in inhuman conditions until our country got on its feet after a deep economic crisis and a time of transition. The authorities did their utmost to improve the fate of people driven out of their homes and land. The UN web site says that on 20 June we pay due respect to the resilience of spirit and the courage of refugees throughout the world. This means that international organizations and national governments should do their utmost to ensure that there are more international agreements underpinning the protection of refugees, as the presence of refugees is a fact that is here to stay: there is no end to war on Earth. Eighty per cent of all refugees in the world are women and children. On this day we honour the strength of character of millions of mothers and wives who try to maintain and have maintained their families in the hardest times. Today refugees are one of the most pressing problems of the modern world. Some 20 million refugees and 25 million IDPs are now registered on the planet. One million of them are in Azerbaijan, the second highest figure in the world. 

Houses not tents 

Today Azerbaijani refugees and IDPs have fewer problems with their living conditions. All the tent camps in the country have been closed down and a good number of settlements have been built, complete with the necessary infrastructure, while hostels and other buildings housing the victims of Armenian aggression are being refurbished. However, the refugees still complain of a lack of work and low wages. Commenting on their current situation, the head of the information department at the State Committee for Refugees and Forced Migrants, Sanan Huseynov, said that today the government of Azerbaijan allocates a fair chunk of budget funds to tackling the problems of those left homeless in their home country. The last tent camps were closed down in 2007 as part of the work to carry out the decree of President Ilham Aliyev on addenda to the State Programme to Increase Employment and Improve Living Conditions for Refugees and Forced Migrants. Last year the Cabinet of Ministers confirmed an action plan to construct new settlements and multi-storey buildings. The Fund for the Social Development of Forced Migrants acts as the commissioner of this work and decided through a tender process the companies that are at present designing and building the new settlements complete with the necessary infrastructure. "The lifespan of the wooden houses in 15 settlements, where more than 6,000 IDP families are temporarily housed, is over. New houses will be built in Imisli, Agcabadi, Saki, Yevlax and other districts for which some 600 hectares of space have been allocated." In addition, the government is determined to solve the housing problems of IDPs who live in schools, guest houses, former Pioneer camps and Defence Ministry facilities. There are some 3,000 such families.

Jobs and infrastructure 

"It wouldn't be right to say that all the refugees' and IDP's employment problems have been fully resolved, but the government is working hard on this at the moment," Huseynov said. "Since all families in this category of the population have been allocated plots of land, many of them are working in the agricultural sector. In the new settlements they have been able to find work in the service sector - in medical establishments, schools, kindergartens, businesses and the local branches of our state committee and of other departments. More than 11,000 IDPs were provided with jobs in this way in 2008." 

The state spent 336.9 million manats in all in 2008 on tackling the social problems of refugees and IDPs, of which 145 million manats were provided by the State Oil Fund. This is 310 per cent more than five years ago. "These funds have paid for the construction of five new settlements, in which 4,500 people have been housed, and for infrastructure facilities - five schools, two kindergartens, two medical establishments, two communications facilities, administrative buildings, clubs, etc.," Huseynov said. "We are very proud to state that in 2008 the state put into commission 52,000 square metres of housing for IDPs. These funds also paid for water pipelines, power transmission lines and new roads. Transformer substations have been set up and water reservoirs and artesian wells dug. All this has been done to make the living conditions of refugees and IDPs better and more comfortable." 

There are also international projects that are continuing today. The IDP Economic Development Support Project, signed in May last year with the World Bank, runs from 2009 to 2011. The project is costing $24.19 million of which $15m are a loan from the International Development Associ-ation and the remaining $9.19m are paid by the state. A programme of the UN Food and Agriculture Association has been extended over this period too. The aim of the programme is to provide assistance to IDPs living in the new settlements in Agdam District to grow and sell agricultural produce. Last year the Swiss government allocated $300,000 to expand the project. The government has also reached agreement with the International Development Association on the Azerbaijan: Support for Young IDPs Project under which the right conditions will be created in the new settlements for young IDPs to enjoy their free time. The Japanese Social Development Fund has allocated an additional $2m grant to the project which will pay for the construction of sports and health centres, cultural centres and computer centres.

The Azerbaijani government has no intention of letting up in tackling the social problems of refugees and IDPs. "A great deal has been done, but it is difficult to solve all their problems," Huseynov explained. "It should not be forgotten that international humanitarian organizations reduce their aid in long-drawn out conflicts, if they do not stop it altogether. There really are a great many refugees and IDPs in the country. Not every state can cope with such a burden. Azerbaijan is coping though. It is not happening immediately, but problems are being solved."

The most important problem of refugees and IDPs is the liberation of Azerbaijani occupied land and the return of IDPs to their homes.