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UNICEF calls on all parties in North Caucasus conflict to protect children and women |
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| Tuesday, 2 November 1999: News reports coming from
the Northern Caucasus have made it alarmingly clear that in the midst of this
terrible armed conflict innocent children and women are being killed. The United
Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) is enormously concerned by these reports. Today, UNICEF calls on all parties to the conflict to fully and consciously respect the rights of all innocent civilians and to prevent further harm to civilian populations; to ensure the protection of their human rights; and to take necessary action to avoid loss of life among the innocent civilian populations caught in this conflict. Further, UNICEF calls on all parties to ensure the free movement of civilian populations, especially children and women, seeking to escape the conflict. Internally displaced persons have the right to seek safety in another part of the country and the right to be protected against forcible return to, or resettlement in, any place where their life, safety, liberty or health would be at risk. Additionally, UNICEF calls on all parties to make humanitarian access a priority and to ensure safety of national and international aid workers whose mission is to provide urgent assistance to children and women. UNICEF, in co-operation with the United Nations High Commisioner for Refugees (UNHCR), has been able to deliver some medical supplies and other basic relief items to the Ingushetia region, where thousands of displaced people are located. However, we are concerned that humanitarian access to many thousands of children remains severely limited due to ongoing military activities and the local security situation. As winter approaches, their need for humanitarian assistance -- blankets, clothing, food essential drugs and shelter -- will only increase. In this regard, UNICEF, in conjunction with sister UN agencies and other humanitarian organizations, will continue to work with federal and local officials to gain access to displaced populations, deliver needed relief items and assess additional needs. Finally, UNICEF asks all members of the international community to join us in urging the parties to this tragic conflict in the Northern Caucasus to fully protect the rights, the general well-being and the lives of children and women. It is truly urgent that warring parties around the world, guided by basic humanitarian principles, break from the persistent pattern in which the political dimensions of conflict claim precedence over the sufferings and deaths of innocent civilians. |
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| Please email media@unicef.org with comments or requests for more information, quoting CF/DOC/PR/1999/49 |
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