Chechnya

A Displaced Population

Approximately 350,000 people fled Chechnya during the height of violence in the early 1990s.

Those who fled were crowded into refugee camps, while those who remained were forced to tolerate unbearable conditions.

The Chechen government responded by constructing camps in Chechnya’s capital city of Grozny and in the neighboring villages.

Refugee camps were called Temporary Accommodation Centers (TAC) and consisted of hundreds of crowded tents that could not protect refugees from harsh winter conditions or woodland predators.

Today, many of the TACs have been closed, but Chechens who rely on the remaining camps for shelter fear having to return to their destroyed homes with no means of survival.

Islamic Relief has been collaborating with the Chechen government in the reconstruction effort in order to help restore a sense of normalcy amongst the Chechen refugees.

Please donate now to support Islamic Relief’s efforts in Chechnya. Your donation could help save lives.

Enduring Poverty

Chechnya is one of Russia’s poorest regions.

Unemployment in Chechnya runs as high as 85% and the vast majority of the population lives below the poverty line.

With the ailing republic's infrastructure still in ruins, health and education services are limited.

Islamic Relief responded by constructing numerous schools and community centers, providing war-battered families and orphans with education and social services.

Please donate today. Your donation could help make sure Chechen schoolchildren have the necessary supplies to learn and develop.

Islamic Relief in Chechnya

Islamic Relief was one of the first aid agencies to assist Chechens affected by conflict in the mid-90s and has been working in the Northern Caucuses since 1995.

A region renowned for its natural scenery and unique architecture, the Russian Federation of Chechnya has been more recently evoked for enduring decades of violence.

The Chechen Wars of the 1990s left entire Chechen towns and cities in ruins and claimed over 100,000 lives.

Chechnya soon became home to about 160,000 displaced persons and refugees, according to US Central Intelligence Agency estimates, with thousands more seeking refuge in neighboring countries.

Islamic Relief responded urgently, pitching tents for homeless families and providing necessities like food, water, clothes and wood.

Today, Islamic Relief works in the Russian administered regions of Chechnya, Ingushetia and Kabardino-Balkaria.

Projects include reconstruction, livestock development and orphans support.