Doc. 9348

1 February 2002

Humanitarian situation of refugee women and children in Azerbaijan

Motion for a recommendation

presented by Ms Gultekin Hajiyeva and others

      The military conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan has resulted in more than a million innocent people becoming refugees or internally displaced persons (IDPs), and this has had a severe impact on the humanitarian situation in Azerbaijan. The scale of the problem is so large (with refugees and IDPs making up 15 per cent of the country’s population) that, all the efforts of the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan notwithstanding, it is proving impossible to solve it through internal means alone.

      People from mountainous areas have difficulty adapting to a hot lowland climate, and they experience serious health and psychological problems as a result.

      For 9 years already, over 50 000 IDPs have been living in camps, 33 000 in prefabricated housing, 34 000 in earthen dugouts, 10 000 in railway wagons and the rest in dormitories without communal facilities, in public buildings, in unfinished buildings or in other intolerable and inhumane conditions. 52.3% of the people living in such conditions are women, and 34.6% children.

      The low level of living standards creates fertile ground for the spread of diseases among the refugees and IDPs. Forty thousand women have already been afflicted by various illnesses (infectious diseases, gastro-enteritis, viruses, skin diseases, malaria, diphtheria, typhoid, depression, tuberculosis, anaemia, diabetes, etc). Poor living conditions have resulted in 6 000 women becoming infertile or having gynaecological diseases, 4 000 suffering from anaemia, 7 000 having internal diseases and 3 500 suffering from stomatitis. There is a need for women’s and children’s health to be protected through periodical medical examinations and vaccinations against infectious diseases, and family planning and reproductive health services need to be provided.

      Most health facilities in the territories concerned are located in unsuitable buildings, and the lack of modern medical equipment and of medicines mean that it is impossible to improve the health service and the protection offered to refugees and IDPs. The grave humanitarian situation has a serious adverse effect both on natural population growth and in the genetic sphere. Population growth has halved since 1990, a problem particularly acute among the refugees and IDPs. The child mortality figures are twice as high among them as in the general population. Particular concern is felt about the health and psychological condition of the one- to twelve-year-old children of displaced parents.

      The Assembly expresses its concern at the situation of refugee women and children in Azerbaijan and asks all concerned to contribute to solving this major humanitarian problem.

Signed (see overleaf)

Signed : ¹

Hajiyeva, Azerbaijan, EPP/CD

Aliyev B, Azerbaijan, SOC

Aliyev G, Azerbaijan, EDG

Aliyev I, Azerbaijan, EDG

Arzilli, San Marino, EPP/CD

Braun, Hungary, EPP/CD

Büchel, Liechtenstein, EPP/CD

Bušić, Croatia, EPP/CD

Chikhradze, Georgia, EPP/CD

Clerfayt, Belgium, LDR

Diaz de Mera, Spain, EPP/CD

Duka-Zòlyomi, Slovakia, EPP/CD

Engeset, Norway, EDG

von der Esch, Sweden, EPP/CD

Fernandez Aguilar, Spain, EPP/CD

Glesener, Luxembourg, EPP/CD

Gönül, Turkey, EPP/CD

Gürkan, Turkey, SOC

Høie, Norway, EPP/CD

Hornung, Germany, EPP/CD

Kilclooney, United Kingdom, PPE/CD

Laakso, Finland, UEL

Lintner, Germany, EPP/CD

Magnusson, Sweden, SOC

Michels, Germany, EPP/CD

Mintas-Hodak, Croatia, EPP/CD

Patarkalishvili, Georgia, EPP/CD

Sağlam, Turkey, EPP/CD

Seyidov, Azerbaijan, EPP/CD

Skarbøvik, Norway, EPP/CD

Surjan, Hungary, EPP/CD

Szinyei, Hungary, EPP/CD

Vella, Malta, EPP/CD

Wohlwend, Liechtenstein, EPP/CD

Zierer, Germany, EPP/CD

¹        SOC: Socialist Group

      EPP/CD: Group of the European People’s Party

      EDG: European Democratic Group

      LDR : Liberal, Democratic and Reformers’ Group

      UEL: Group of the Unified European Left

      NR: not registered in a group