Reigniting of frozen conflicts on the brink of Europe leaves peoples endangered – new global survey
2 July 2009
Embargo until 1100 GMT/1200 in Hungary
More than a decade of simmering tensions left from the disintegration of the former Soviet Union is now erupting in increased violence and conflict - as in Abkhazia and South Ossetia in Georgia - putting large civilian populations at greater risk, MRG says as it launches its annual global ‘Peoples Under Threat’ rankings.
Countries leading the table in Europe are the Russian Federation, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Georgia. Globally, Somalia, Iraq, Sudan and Afghanistan top the list of countries where people are most under threat.
“The tensions resulting from unresolved territorial disputes puts peoples such as ethnic Georgians, Ossetians and the Abkhaz at continuous risk,” says Snjezana Bokulic, MRG’s Director of Programmes.
“Unless the rights of minorities are protected in Georgia and its breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, attempts to resolve the status of these territories may be accompanied by bloody conflicts”, she adds.
Georgia has shot up 19 places in the table this year. After tension escalated between Georgia and South Ossetia by August 2008, armed conflict erupted with detrimental consequences for minorities.
“Ethnic Ossetians and ethnic Abkhaz living outside the disputed territories have long been suffering from the tensions between Tbilisi and separatists. Abkhaz authorities have closed the administrative border and sought to impose Abkhazian ‘citizenship’ on ethnic Georgians. Civilian protection must become the priority in settling this conflict”, adds Bokulic.
The rankings show lurking tensions in the Russian Federation, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. The Russian Federation has risen again in the table this year, as the conflict in Ingushetia escalates. Repeated bombings and attacks by rebel forces have been met with rising militarisation in the republic, raising fears that it will go the way of its neighbour, Chechnya.
In the Western Balkans, ethnic tension is manifested in relations between the three constituent peoples, the Bosniaks, the Croats and the Serbs. Following the declaration of independence of Kosovo in February 2008, there were also signs of heightened tension in both Serbia and Kosovo, when ethnic Albanians or smaller minorities such as Gorani or Roma were threatened.
“Ethnic tension is not past history in South-East Europe. Smaller minority groups such as the Roma also suffer from drawbacks in many fields of life. Their social and security situation has deteriorated in the whole of Europe, and their extreme and continuing marginalization and exclusion may turn into a cause of conflict in the future.”
Notes to the Editor
i. The Peoples Under Threat survey will be launched at a press conference in Hungary:
Date: 2 July 2009
Time: 11 a.m. (GMT+1)
Location: Centre for Independent Journalism, Budapest
ii. The Peoples Under Threat survey seeks to identify those peoples or groups that are most under threat of genocide, mass killing or other systematic violent repression in 2008.
iii. For an embargoed copy of the survey please contact Bernadett Sebály at or at +36 1 279 5768.
iv. Snjezana Bokulic, MRG Director of Programmes and Nadir Redjepi, Executive Director of Roma Democratic Development Association Sonce, Macedonia will be present at the press conference.
v. This is the fourth year MRG has compiled the rankings. 2008 rankings can be found http://www.minorityrights.org/837/peoples-under-threat/peoples-under-threat-2008.html.
vi. Minority Rights Group International (MRG) is a non governmental organisation working to secure the rights of ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities and indigenous peoples worldwide.
For more information and to arrange interviews contact the MRG Europe Regional Information Officer:
Bernadett Sebály
T: + 36 1 279 5768
m: +36 702 172 601
E: