CCTS
Newsletter 12

This article by Chris Hunter summarises the work of the Centre for Peacemaking and Community Development (CPCD), which, since it was founded in 1985, has focussed on conflict prevention, conflict resolution and the support of victims of conflict in Russia, primarily in the North Caucasus region

CPCD supports numerous local organizations, and international organizations without experience of this complex region, in the above fields. It has its own staff in Russia, including three expatriates and almost 200 local staff/ volunteers.

The programmes run by CPCD include psycho-social rehabilitation for children, adolescents and students suffering from the stressful consequences of war, and has a peacebuilding network of youth groups and CPCD representatives in six North Caucasus republics - Chechnya, Dagestan, Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachaevo-Cherkessia, and North Ossetia. The network facilitates several training programmes in conflict resolution, peacebuilding and human rights for people in these republics and other parts of Russia.

CPCD has an educational programme in Ingushetia, running schools for 1000 Chechen refugee children, and is now building more schools with UNICEF support to provide education for a further 3000 refugees. It has its own bakery and grain mill, used to provide bread for Internal Displaced Persons (IDPs) in western Chechnya. As one of the few NGOs with long experience of working in the region and therefore able to function in Chechnya, CPCD distributes food from the World Food Programme to 35,000 IDPs in western Chechnya each month.

It also runs a mines awareness programme in both Chechnya and Ingushetia, and has set up a Chechen section of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. In Moscow and the North West of Russia, it runs a programme to support conscientious objectors and efforts to introduce a fair Russian law on alternative service to correspond to the rights of young men as enshrined in the Constitution.

The North Caucasus

The North Caucasus region of the Russian Federation has experienced several armed conflicts in the last ten years, one of which is still going on today. The war in Chechnya is far from over - many people are fleeing to seek refuge in Ingushetia as the 'cleansing' operations, arbitrary arrests, torture and shootings carried out by Russian soldiers continue. People are still leaving in the hope of finding better shelter during the winter months than the destroyed houses they occupied in the summer. Landmine injuries occur with increasing frequency, and Chechen fighters continue to attack Russian targets.

In addition, ethnic tensions have been rising in Karachaevo-Cherkessia. In Ingushetia, the strain of accommodating over 160,000 refugees is beginning to show, and in Kabardino-Balkaria, although the situation has calmed down to some extent over the last couple of years, there is continued tension between Kabardinians and Balkars and the potential for conflict remains.

In Dagestan, the position of refugees is serious, and tension is high between Ingushetia and N. Ossetia as a result of the Prigorodny conflict of 1992. In short, the whole N. Caucasus region is volatile and vulnerable to conflict. What is more, people in this region feel isolated from, and to a large extent ignored by, the outside world. The precarious security situation often prevents international organisations from working in the region, and local non-governmental organisations struggle to survive, mainly due to lack of funding.

This recent history of war and instability has left many people bereaved, dispossessed and traumatised. Young people have been deeply affected. In many cases, they have lost family members in the fighting, have been deprived of an adequate education and face a future with few prospects. A long-term approach is needed to help develop a civil society and empower young people to play an active role in social reconstruction and rehabilitation.

Training seminars

CPCD is also a partner with Friends House Moscow, the Center for Conflict Management, Norway and the Russian 'Forum of Migrants' Organizations' in running a series of training seminars for 12 Russian and 12 Chechen or other North Caucasian trainers. The trainers chosen - 'middle-level actors' from respected NGOs and community groups with some influence on the leaders of their communities, and grass roots actors - will then be able to hold workshops and train other trainers in conflict resolution skills, human rights and democratic processes.

The course model has been used by the Norwegian Peace Council and the International Association for Humanitarian Cooperation in Belarus and the Balkans. The course explores the nature of human rights, encouraging people to discover their meaning based on their own experience and to link this to everyday situations. Rights and responsibilities, power, law, punishment and ethical norms are studied. The course also covers how to plan and run workshops, and investigates concrete human rights issues relevant to the participants. It aims to empower people to initiate social change and community development work using a rights- based approach.

CPCD tries in a modest way to address the strongly negative view of Chechens in Russian society, deepened by years of propaganda. We are presently in the process of publishing a collection of traditional Chechen fairy tales in Chechen, Russian and English to promote an understanding of the nation's culture and traditions. We are also supporting the Chechen children's dance ensemble 'Daimohk', which plans to visit Russian towns and perform to Russian audiences, promoting personal contact and cultural exchange.

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