18 June 2002 00:00
CONCERNING RUSSIAN COOPERATION WITH UN ON QUESTION OF RENDERING HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE TO THE POPULATION OF CHECHNYA
2002-06-17-003
The Russian Government is ready for a constructive dialogue with the United Nations on the question of rendering humanitarian assistance to the population of Chechnya, Deputy Prime Minister Valentina Matviyenko said at a meeting with Olar Otunu, the UN Secretary General's special envoy for child victims of armed conflict.
"We are grateful to the UN for the assistance to the civilian population, including children, which is an important addition to the efforts by federal authorities and helps to stabilize the situation in the region," Matviyenko said, noting that in the position of children in the North Caucasus "substantial progress is evident, due to the efforts by the leadership of Russia to organize a normal life in the Chechen Republic as a whole."
2002, she said, is to pass under the banner of a voluntary return by residents of Chechnya to their places of permanent residence from refugee camps on the territory of Ingushetia. She said there are about 400 schools operating in Chechnya at present, in which about 200,000 children are studying. In addition, there function twelve vocational technical schools and 18 institutions of higher learning. More than 100 health care institutions have been repaired. "There operate 52 hospitals, 32 polyclinics, and 46 out-patients departments," Matviyenko specified.
She also noted Moscow hopes the approximately 32 million dollars of humanitarian assistance for the North Caucasus pledged by international organizations in 2002 will be financed. These funds, Matviyenko said, will be used to improve the humanitarian situation in Chechnya.
During the talk, the Deputy Prime Minister also gave a high assessment to the activities of the UN special envoy in the study of every aspect of the adverse impact of conflicts on children. She said it is largely thanks to his efforts that the component of the protection of children is included in the mandates of peacekeeping operations and is used in the peace agreements between conflicting parties.
Matviyenko particularly noted that proof of the preparedness of Russia to counter the involvement of children in armed conflict had been the signing of the related Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. "Work is currently under way on preparing for the ratification of the document," she added. All the same, she went on to say, there should be no relegating to second-rate cares any of the other global problems of ensuring the rights and interests of children. Thus, she said, such social ailments as child neglect, the trade in children, the growth of child crime and the spread of child drug addiction require urgent action.
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