Chechnya Population

The Labor Code states that the monthly minimum wage, which was approximately $20 (600 rubles), should not be less than the monthly official subsistence level of $67 (2,010 rubles), which was not sufficient to provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family. Average wages rose to $182 (5,460 rubles) per month, compared with $141 (4,230 rubles) per month in 2002. Separate legislation was needed to determine the timeframe for raising the monthly minimum wage to the monthly subsistence level. Approximately 26 percent of the population had incomes below the official subsistence minimum; however, most workers received several times the monthly minimum wage, and the monthly minimum wage was essentially an accounting reference for calculating university stipends, pensions, civil service wages, and social benefits; it was not a number used for real salaries. Enterprises often used this number to avoid taxation by reporting the number of employees paid at the monthly min ... [Read More]

FY 2005 NGO Guidelines for North Caucasus Programs
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Russia

Authorities attributed bombing incidents in Dagestan and several cities in southern areas of the country to Chechen rebels.Government forces and Chechen fighters have used landmines extensively in Chechnya and Dagestan since August 1999 (see Section 1.g.); there were many civilian landmine casualties in Chechnya during the year. b. Disappearance There were reports of government involvement in politically motivated disappearances in Chechnya; however, there were fewer reports of kidnapings than in previous years. The NGO Memorial claimed that federal military forces detained thousands of persons from Chechnya. Some of these persons disappeared, but most were released, often after their relatives paid a bribe. Memorial estimated that the number of individuals unaccounted for was somewhere between several hundred and a thousand. Former Presidential Representative for Human Rights in C ... [Read More]

Guidelines for Submission of Proposals for Activities in the North Caucasus

The Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM) values its cooperation with non-governmental organization (NGO) partners for the implementation of humanitarian assistance activities worldwide. PRM recognizes the importance of explaining its objectives to ensure that NGOs clearly understand the program requirements for preparing detailed plans for responding to the identified needs of the targeted populations. ...

Proposals should be consistent with the activities described in the United Nations Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeal for the Northern Caucasus (January-December 2003) and should be coordinated with the appropriate UN agency. Targeted populations are IDPs in Chechnya and Ingushetiya, as well as some 120,000 vulnerables in Chechnya (defined according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees' (UNHCR) criteria: pregnant or lactating women, children 0-36 months, those with physical or mental disability or disease, elderly over 65 without adequate social support, children up to 14 without adequate social support, and single-parent families). However, the majority of the beneficiaries of each project should be IDPs. PRM supports UNHCR guidelines, including those on the protection of refugee women and children. Proposals should describe measures that ensure that women and children will have access to the program, and that the needs of the vulnerable will be met. Proposals should include details ... [Read More]

2004 Country Report on Human Rights Practices in Russia

The country had a population of approximately 144 million. The annual gross domestic product grew by 6.9 percent as of October, slightly less than in 2003. Industrial production grew by 4 percent, and real income increased by 5 percent; however, approximately 19 percent of the population continued to live below the official monthly subsistence level of $82 (2,296 rubles). As of October, official unemployment was 7.5 percent, down from 8.4 percent at the end of 2003. Corruption continued to be a negative factor in the development of the economy and commercial relations. ... [Read More]

Russia

The country's penal institutions remained extremely overcrowded. The GUIN stated that the system of SIZO's was at 151.2 percent of capacity at year's end. Many of the facilities were in urgent need of renovation and upgrading. According to the PCPR, between January and September 2000, the prison population fell from approximately 728,000 persons to approximately 675,000 persons, mainly due to amnesties; however, the population has risen since that time. According to GUIN statistics as of September 1, there were 991,156 persons in penitentiary institutions, 671,401; were in correctional colonies (including 39,470 women); 18,910 were in educational colonies (including approximately 1,000 girls); and 244,773 were in SIZO's or prisons. By law inmates must be provided with adequate space, food, and medical attention; however, the authorities were not able to ensure compliance with the law, due in part to lack of funds, and in part to the judiciary's often arbitrary decisions to order suspec ... [Read More]

Russia (05/05)

Russia's population of 143.8 million (2003 census) is falling. Lower birth rates and higher death rates have reduced Russia's population at a nearly 0.5% annual rate since the early 1990s. Russia is one of few countries with a declining population (although birth rates in many developed countries have dropped below the long-term population replacement). Population decline is particularly drastic in Russia, with higher death rates, especially among working-age males due to poverty, abuse of alcohol and other substances, disease, stress, and other afflictions. Russians generally disapprove of permanent or temporary immigration of workers from countries other than the Russian-speaking former Soviet states that might help solve economic problems brought on by its declining population. ... [Read More]

August

Released by the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, September 4, 2002 ... [Read More]

Russia

Inmates in the prison system often suffer from inadequate medical care.  Detention facilities have infection rates of tuberculosis far higher than in the population at large.  Tuberculosis in the general population and especially in prisons is considered by health and human rights experts to be not only a national, but an international health threat.  PCPR estimates that 96,000 prisoners suffer from infectious tuberculosis--approximately 42 to 43 percent of all tuberculosis patients in Russia.  A total of 25,000 of these prisoners are infected with a drug-resistant form of the disease.  Some 90,000 of the overall patients, mostly under 30 years of age, are incarcerated in SIZO's.  Of these, 26,000 are in special prison hospital wards for tuberculosis, 42,000 in medical facilities, and 17,000 in isolation in prison facilities, with the rest being held among the healthy prison population.  The Saratov oblast administration, concerned with the tuberculos ... [Read More]