Brussels, 10/07/2002 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) condemned the forced transfer of displaced Chechens and Russians towards temporary sites in Groznyï. According to MSF, the closure of the Znamenskoye camp in northern Chechnya, on Sunday, was "the result of a campaign of harassment and coercion on the part of the authorities that constrained displaced persons to leave the place". The organisation, which affirms that the governments of the OSCE Member States were briefed on what is happening, considers "the inaction on the part of the OSCE, the United Nations and the international community is unacceptable given the evident coercion and harassment".
MSF calls on the United Nations investigation mission in Znamenskoye to examine the question of the forced transfer of displaced persons, and on the Russian authorities to put an end to the forced repatriation of Chechen and Russian displaced persons still present in the region. MSF fears that these events will occur in other villages of the Caucasus, where there are currently some 180,000 displaced persons that have fled Chechnya.