December 23, 2009 | admin

The picturesque Pankisi Gorge in north-east Georgia has long been known as a haven for Chechen refugees. That should change soon as the remaining Chechens take Georgian citizenship and commit themselves to a permanent life in the sprawling valley.

November 21, 2009 | admin

Three weeks ago Alexander Bortnikov, the head of Russia’s federal security service, accused Georgia of harbouring Al Qaeda extremists in Pankisi. No terrorists have been discovered either by the numerous reporters who have travelled to the area or the delegation of journalists and foreign diplomats whose trip was organised by the Christian Democrat opposition party. But all the media attention aside, Pankisi remains an underreported region, home to people who have experienced the devastating power of both war and rhetoric.

November 11, 2009 | admin

A group of well-known human rights defenders appealed to Antonio Guterres, the head of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees; UNCHR office in Azerbaijan; and Micheal Posner, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor of U.S. State Department, on the special situation of a Chechen family and Chechen refugees in Azerbaijan.

August 16, 2009 | admin

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) criticized that Austrian authorities declining to granting refugee status of asylum seekers from Chechnya.