Originally published on the CGS blog on June 17, 2010.
The United Nations (UN) announced today that approximately 400,000 have been displaced by the unyielding violence in Southern Kyrgyzstan. The UN has also reported that roughly 300,000 people have fled their homes and another 75,000-100,000 people (not counting children) are thought to have taken refuge in Uzbekistan. Many of the people that have fled to Uzbekistan are women and children who are now living in makeshift camps where many are reporting instances of rape and severe beatings.
The effect of the violence on Uzbekistan
This is the first time that Uzbekistan has opened its doors to refugees but Uzbek Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Aripov said Uzbekistan would stop accepting refugees because they could not be accommodated. Additionally, Uzbekistan has called for international aid to assist them in their ability to admit and accommodate refugees.
What about aid?
Shortages of food, water, clothing, medicine and shelter are additional issues that plague those who had to run from their homes in an effort to save their lives but some aid has begun to arrive. The Red Cross (ICRC) has been on the scene in the city of Osh and has reported that the unsettling calm in fighting between the ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbeks had allowed its workers to reach refugees in the areas around Osh. A true humanitarian crisis has unfolded in the region and the lack of much needed aid has caused some, such as, a baker from an Uzbek district of Osh who had fled to the border with his wife and five children on Sunday to return to their now unsafe home in Southern Kyrgyzstan because all supplies had run out when they reached the border.
