Beneficial work of the ‘Danish Refugee Council’ at risk

‘Anything Danish’ was to be expelled from the Chechen war zone, announced the Chechen vice prime minister Ramzan Kadyrov, in connection with the controversial Mohammed caricatures a few days ago. Kadyrov, a protégé of Putin, seized power by means of election fraud and is de facto an autocrat by order of Russia. He has recently expelled the Danish Refugee Council, which was up until now one of the most active international aid organisations, taking care of thousands of orphans, widows, refugees, and displaced persons. The Danish Refugee council has decreased its activities. „Religion is being misemployed by Russia in a highly perfidious fashion and is used to justify the expulsion of one of the last international organisations from Chechnya”, asserts Sarah Reinke, CIS-consultant working for the Society for Threatened Peoples. „The beneficial work of the Danish Refugee Council for Chechnya’s civilians, who are traumatised by war, genocide, violence, and impoverishment, is at risk”, she warns. „Ramzan Kadyrov proves on a daily basis to what extend he violates the Islamic belief system. He and his myrmidons are believed to be responsible for at least two-thirds of the human rights violations, such as kidnappings, torture, rape, and murder. The murder of thousands of Muslim children, women and men, who is employed by Putin, takes advantage of the current dispute in order to achieve his inhumane political aims.”

A war has been raging in Chechnya in the Northern Caucasus since 1999. At least 80 000 of the one million Chechens have lost their lives in this war. The war and genocide that occurred in between 1994 and 1996 also killed around 80 000 people. Russia prevents international observers from entering Chechnya and openly supports the policies of the vice prime minister Kadyrov. Thus, he was elected as the head of Putin’s party ‘United Russia` a few days ago.