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| Chechnya’s Lost Refugees |
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The civil war in Chechnya has been devastating for the civilian population and gone largely unreported in the West. Since the war erupted in 1994, more than 75,000 people, mostly Chechen civilians, have been killed. A further half a million have either been displaced or forced to become refugees. These Chechen refugee families found sanctuary in a former Soviet military camp in the Pankisi Gorge in Georgia. Having fled the fighting around Chechnya’s capital Grozny they walked across country to Georgia. Many of the men were detained by Russian forces, who have been accused of severe human rights violations against the Chechen civilian population. The men have not been seen since and the refugee families remain waiting. |
 The grim military barracks – once occupied by the Soviet military - where the Chechen refugees found refuge. Pankisi Gorge, Georgia 2003 |
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