Press conference on Ingush refugees in North Osetia

The press conference Forgotten People: Social and Humanitarian Consequences of the 1992 Osetian-Ingush Conflict was held at the Independent Press Center in Moscow today. Activists of the Human Rights Center Memorial have been working in Ingushetia since 1992. Then it was only the beginning of the Osetian-Ingush conflict, and, according to executive director of the center Tatyana Kasatkina, "it seemed that people would not be able to live in such conditions more than one month." However Ingush families live in the Prigorodny district of the Republic of North Osetia - Alania now as before. The majority of them are settled in the camp for displaced persons Maisky, which is situated on the border with Ingushetia. It was created in 1994 under the instruction of Ruslan Aushev, who hold the post of president of Ingushetia at that time. Human rights activists call the Maisky settlement a God forgotten place: "the authorities devote no attention to it, and people receive no humanitarian aid there."

The human rights activists from Memorial conducted researches, results of which they announced at the press conference today. According to them, 236 families, 1,235 people from 15 settlements of North Osetia, live in the Maisky settlement in North Osetia's Prigorodny district, as of December 1, 2004. 584 of them are children: 387 schoolchildren and 197 children of pre-school age. 66 children with one parent, 11 children who have lost both parents, 11 singles, and 62 aged people live in Maisky. People live in wooden and iron trailers, many of which are situated right under wires of high-voltage power supply lines. Living conditions are minimal. The supply of electric power, water and gas is often cut off. A spontaneous dump has arisen around the settlement for ten years since there are no containers and refuse is not collected. It aggravates insanitariness in Maisky. There is no bath-house, school, first-aid post, and eating establishments there.
 
The activists of Memorial gathered information about the state of health of Ingushetians living in Maisky. The widespread deceases are acute respiratory illnesses, tonsillitis, tuberculosis, sick headache, hair shedding, eyesight deterioration, inflammatory gynecological and urological disorders. People do not consult doctors for years as they have money neither for diagnostics nor medicines. 98% of Maisky residents live below the poverty line, benefits and pensions being their source of revenue. Only the Ingush authorities provide aid to the settlement giving people 10 kilograms of flour and 10 kilograms of sugar once a year.

The Prigorodny district of North Osetia is often referred to in the press as a center of the Osetian-Ingush conflict. But according to Ekaterina Sokiryanskaya, a representative of the Ingush office of the Human Rights Center Memorial, there are no mass clashes their. Only cases of taking revenge for a killed family member happen. "Relations between Osetins and Ingushetians are tense of course, but an armed conflict is not a case in point," Ms Sokiryanskaya said.