Today.Az » Politics » Office of UN High Commissioner for Refugees thanks Azerbaijan
02 November 2019 [14:36] - Today.Az
By Trend
On November 1, a round table meeting was held in Baku on the topic
“Assistance by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to
IDPs in Azerbaijan”, Trend reports November 2.
Speaking at the event, the Office representative in Azerbaijan Guido
Ambroso said that over a million people in Azerbaijan became refugees
and IDPs and thanked the government handling this situation.
It was a miracle that, despite such a great number of resettled
people, there was no serious epidemic or terrible famine, Ambroso noted.
In those days, the UN resettled people in factories, buildings, camps
and even railcars in Azerbaijan, the Office representative said.
In 1993-1994, the Office provided about 700,000 IPDs with tents,
bedding and other accessories for equipping camps, Ambroso noted, adding
that at the same time, 30,000 ill people were provided with various
medical supplies in Azerbaijan.
From the very first days, it was clear that the situation of people
who live in inappropriate places should be improved, in particular,
these people should be provided with drinking water, and sanitary
conditions need to be improved, the UN representative said.
Ambroso noted that the Office of the UN High Commissioner for
Refugees in 1993-2000 spent about $50 million on the implementation of
programs and administrative expenses in Azerbaijan.
Since 2001, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees has
directed its efforts at enhancing the potential of people wishing to
obtain refugee status and improving the situation of people who have
arrived from countries such as Afghanistan, the UN representative added.
Along with this, given the vulnerability of the group, the UN Office continues to work with IDPs, Ambroso said.
During the year, about 2,000 IDPs, refugees and other persons
belonging to vulnerable groups receive glasses from the Japanese
organization, the UN representative noted, adding that Fuji Optical
company spent $2.8 million for implementing this mission in Azerbaijan
in 2005-2019.
To date, 33,800 people have been examined and 57,000 pairs of glasses and 434 hearing aids have been issued, Ambroso said.
In turn, Azerbaijani Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsman) Elmira
Suleymanova said that the ratio of the number of refugees and IDPs in
the country to the total population is big.
“The country has a million refugees per 10 million people,”
Suleymanova noted. “There is no such ratio in any country in the world.
The difference between refugees and IDPs in Azerbaijan from refugees in
the world is that we faced this unexpectedly and in very difficult
conditions.”
The Azerbaijani ombudsman said that the occupied Azerbaijani lands
are very fertile, and they could have been used effectively in
agriculture.
In turn, Deputy Chairman of Azerbaijan’s State Committee for Family,
Women and Children Affairs Sadagat Gahramanova said that the conditions
of IDPs should be improved. They should be rendered maximum assistance
so that they can get rid of the stress resulting from the loss of their
land, the deputy chairman noted.
“However, we all know that this is impossible,” Gahramanova added.
“Although settlements and buildings are being constructed for refugees
and IDPs in Azerbaijan, there are still people of this category who have
housing problems. Children who were born after the [Armenia-Azerbaijan
Nagorno-Karabakh] conflict are already 26-27 years old. They feel
themselves in these apartments as temporary residents. This itself is a
psychological stress.”
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of
the ensuing war, Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of
Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding
districts.
The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on
withdrawal of its armed forces from Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding
districts.
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