FM Alert, Vol.I, No.58

To: [email protected]
Date: Wed, 10 Dec 1997 18:13:16 -0800
From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Subject: FM Alert, Vol.I, No.58

From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>

Original sender: Allison Mindel <[email protected]>

FM Alert, Vol.I, No.58


FM Alert, Vol. I, No. 58
8 December 1997
 
FMP SEEKS U.S. SUPPORT FOR AN AFRICAN REFUGEE CONFERENCE
 
The Forced Migration Projects have sent a letter to US Secretary of
State Madeline K. Albright, seeking US government support for the
convocation of a conference on forced migration in the Great Lakes
region of Africa. Albright is scheduled to begin an eight-day trip to
Africa on December 8. "Concerted international action is needed to
promote stable governance, fortify refugee protection and establish a
framework for a durable peace in the (Great Lakes) region," FMP Director
Arthur C.Helton said in the letter to Albright, sent on December 4. Any
migration-related conference for Africa could draw upon several
precedents for guidance. In particular, the example of the 1996 CIS
Conference on migration-related issues could help guide a similar effort
in Africa. Additional examples of humane migration management frameworks
include the 1989 Comprehensive Plan of Action for Indo-Chinese Refugees
and the 1989 Central American Refugee Conference. (For background
information see FM Alert of November 26).
 
ARMENIAN MIGRATION-RELATED NGOs COMPETE FOR UNHCR/IOM FUNDS
 
Grants worth $57,000 from the UNHCR NGO Fund to follow up the 1996 CIS
Conference will be distributed in late December to selected Armenian
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that assist refugees. UNHCR's
implementing partner in this project is the Yerevan NGO Training and
Resource Center, run by the Armenian Assembly of America, a Washington
-D.C.-based private voluntary organization. The NGO Training and
Resource Center has received the bulk of its funding since its inception
in 1994 from USAID, under a cooperative agreement with Save the
Children. Overall, the Resource Center received 33 grant proposals from
Armenian NGOs, many of them seeking start-up funding of up to $10,000
for equipment, training and other capacity building assistance.
Meanwhile, the International Organization for Migration and United
Nations Development Program, working in conjunction with the Armenian
Sociological Association's Migration Sector Development Project Center,
will help select NGO recipients for $40,000 in grants. Since 1990, the
Armenian government has registered about 340,000 mostly ethnic Armenian
refugees. The number of internally displaced persons in Armenia, a
country of about 3.5 million people, is estimated to be about 72,000.
(For more information on the IOM program see FM Alert of June 23).
 
YELTSIN ADVISOR GIVES EVALUATION OF CIS MIGRATION SITUATION
 
Emil Payin, an advisor to Russian President Boris Yeltsin on migration
and refugee issues, outlined the current migration situation in the
former Soviet Union during a lecture on November 28 at the Central
European University in Budapest, Hungary. Of the millions of forcibly
displaced persons in former Soviet countries, 97 percent are located in
Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia, said Payin, who is also a
Forced Migration Projects' consultant. He added that more than 10
million people in the former Soviet Union can be considered potential
forced migrants because they live in conflict zones. In examining the
migration potential of individual CIS states, Payin characterized
Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, and Armenia as "unstable democracies"
that are currently not a significant source of forced migration. The
Central Asian states of Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and
Uzbekistan he described as "quasi-stable political regimes" that remain
a source of significant population movements. Azerbaijan, Georgia and
Tajikistan are still trying to overcome the internal strife that
accompanied independence, and thus also remain migration hot spots.
Payin and his colleague Vladmir Mukomel served as editors of the just
published book, "Migration in Post-Soviet Territory: Political Stability
and International Cooperation." (For background information consult FM
Alert of November 7).
 
---------------------------------------------------------------------
For more information contact:
Forced Migration Projects
Open Society Institute
400 West 59th Street, 4th floor
New York, NY 10019
tel: (212) 548-0655
fax: (212) 548-4676
[email protected]
http://www.soros.org/migrate.html
 
========================================================================
MINELRES - a forum for discussion on minorities in Central&Eastern
Europe

Submissions: [email protected]
Subscription/inquiries: [email protected]
List archive: http://www.riga.lv/minelres/archive.htm
========================================================================