Chechnya Advocacy Network

The Chechnya Advocacy Network has projects and programs in a number of areas: refugee protection, humanitarian/development aid, raising awareness and media outreach, academic analysis, advising donors and liaising with other non-profit organizations, cultural activities, and capacity-building for Chechens. All of our activities have in common that they were all developed as custom-made responses to existing problems as they are defined and prioritized by Chechens rather then created in a vacuum. Some of our projects started as individual support and advice for Chechens, be it through helping to find doctors for ailments or lawyers for asylum procedures, and were later expanded to provide more systematic solutions.

Because of the open nature of our network, anyone is welcome to get involved in our projects (depending on their experience and ability to commit time) or to propose new ones.

Outreach and public informational events:
The Chechnya Advocacy Network organizes or co-organizes up to 20 panels and informational events every year in various locations and venues across the US. Our events cover the entire North Caucasus region and a wide range of issues, from history to human rights, public health, journalism, humanitarian and development issues, culture, children and youth, security and policy. In line with our goal of adequately representing the interests and needs of people on the ground, our speakers are either distinguished local people, such as human rights defenders, journalists and aid workers, expatriate aid workers based in the region or international experts and journalists who have hands-on experience in the North Caucasus. Our events are free and open to the public. To see a full list of our events, please go to our events site. While not all the events listed on the site are organized by CAN, we post events organized by other organizations as a service to our audience.

Universities, think tanks, non-profits and other entities interested in guest speakers with expertise on the North Caucasus, are welcome to contact us at can@chechnyaadvocacy.org for suggestions. We maintain a roster of speakers and experts.

Referrals and advice for a variety of projects:
In line with our goal of engaging the public and other relevant organizations to draw attention to the North Caucasus and provide assistance to its population, the Chechnya Advocacy Network offers advice, guidance, support, contacts and referrals to anyone seeking information about the region or wanting to extend a helping hand, as long as their proposed projects or information needs fulfill the objectives outlined in our mission statement. We have previously assisted print and broadcast journalists, researchers, graduate students, film-makers, playwrights, US and international NGOs, government representatives and lawyers representing asylum-seekers from our target region. This assistance is provided free of charge.

CAN's Opportunities Initiative:
The Chechnya Advocacy Network believes that Chechens as well as other residents of the North Caucasus have not yet had sufficient access to international training opportunities and exchanges with fellow civil society activists and academics. These programs have been very beneficial for their colleagues in other parts of the former Soviet Union and have had a positive impact on their communities. We realized that this isolation of individuals from the North Caucasus is due to both lack of information and lack of support and encouragement, so we decided to collect information about existing programs and help eligible candidates with the application process. The programs, listed here, have been researched and summarized by our colleague Susanna Emmet and are updated regularly. Chechens and other North Caucasus residents are eligible to apply for a variety of reasons: as citizens of Russia, as recognized refugees, as members of minority groups, as human rights activists, as students, academics and researchers, as journalists etc.

CAN distributes information about programs and upcoming deadlines through our network of contacts in the region, and CAN volunteers assist interested applicants with their application forms. The success rate of applicants coached by CAN is at around 70%.

Partnership with Etudes Sans Frontieres:
Etudes Sans Frontieres/Studies Without Border (www.etudessansfrontieres.org) was founded in 2003 by French students who wanted to offer fast, pragmatic help to their Chechen peers at a time when assistance on the ground was impossible for grass-roots organizations. Through volunteer action, they have since been inviting highly motivated young Chechens to France, enroll them in graduate and undergraduate programs at elite universities and assist them with internships and professional development. In fall 2006, the first class of ESF students graduated, and they have since then been returning to Chechnya where they use their new skills in local NGOs, media and humanitarian organizations. Since its inception, ESF has expanded to universities across France as well as Belgium, Spain, Germany, Italy and Canada. The organization has also started recruiting students in other conflict-ridden parts of the world, like Rwanda and Congo. ESF is now expanding its successful model of student leadership and peer guidance to US universities.

ESF is based on a revolutionary approach in which students take the lead, unlike traditional exchange programs which are run by foundations, governments and university administrations. ESF empowers students to strengthen their universities' global commitment, bring diversity to their campus and change the life of talented young people from some of the most troubled parts of the world. The success rate of ESF compares well to conventional fellowship programs, due to student volunteers' contribution: upon arrival, students are embraced by a group of peers that assist them with orientation and language classes, advise them on their course of study, help them build professional networks and offer friendship and support.

The Chechnya Advocacy Network has been a partner of ESF since 2005 and is currently assisting the organization’s expansion to US universities. If you are interested in bringing ESF to your school, contact us at can@chechnyaadvocacy.org. Etudes Sans Frontieres is also on Facebook and open for all to join.

US tour of the Chechen traditional dance group Daimohk:
Daimohk (more at www.cpcd.info/daimohk/about_daimohk.htm), a children's dance group based in Grozny and trained by the former first dancer of the Chechen national theatre, has toured Europe to great acclaim for some years and has been the subject of a number of TV shows and documentaries, including the award-winning "Dance, Grozny, dance" (also known as "The Damned and the Sacred") by Dutch film-maker Jos de Putter. Founded in 1998, less than a year before the start of the second war in Chechnya, to provide children with an alternative to poverty, violence and despair, Daimohk soon achieved a remarkable level of artistic accomplishment, reflected in a series of rave reviews.

The Chechnya Advocacy Network is currently looking for volunteer tour coordinators and hosts in cities on the East and West Coasts, who will be in charge of booking threates and housing and making other logistical arrangements, as well as partners and sponsors at the locations above (advertising opportunities are available), as well as volunteers to welcome the children, help out at performances and promote the tour! The proposed tour will take them to Boston, New York, New Jersey, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco and Portland, OR, so if you are located in one of these cities and would like to help out, contact us at can@chechnyaadvocacy.org, subject line "Daimohk". As a non-profit undertaking, all proceeds of the tour will be used to cover expenses incurred for travel, housing and theatre rentals and the remainder will be used to rebuild Daimohk's Grozny theatre and dance school, which was bombed and looted during the second war.

Since we cannot commit to the tour until we have enough volunteers and partners, there is no fixed date yet, but the earliest possible timeline is winter 2007/2008.

Capacity-building and networking support for local NGOs:
CAN maintains a network of contacts among local NGOs working in the North Caucasus on human rights, youth, education, culture, journalism, humanitarian aid and women/gender issues. We assist our partners by helping them find donors (private foundations and governments), prepare grant applications (including translation into English when needed) and participate in international civil society networks at conferences and seminars. We also arrange for them to speak at public events in the US and Europe, because we believe that their experience are highly relevant and reflect local priorities. Our members help local NGOs with their international outreach by translating their reports into English, editing them and circulating them. Our goal is to improve their technical capacity, help them learn from their colleagues in other parts of the world, help make their work more sustainable through better fundraising and give them exposure.

Refugee and asylum-seeker advice:
Following the launch of our refugee advice manual (see below), CAN has been assisting Chechen refugees/asylum-seekers in most European countries as well as the US will preparing their applications, advising them on the process, matching them with pro-bono lawyers, collecting supporting evidence and identifying expert witnesses. We have also contributed to reports and research on refugee conditions and make them available to all our partners and other interested parties. Read more in our refugee section.

Assisting refugees during their asylum applications or when starting a new life in a new country is an interesting and very rewarding experience, but also time-consuming. We are therefore always looking for volunteers, especially with a legal background, to get involved. Contact us atcan@chechnyaadvocacy.org, if you are interested.

Refugee Advice Manual:
According to the United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees, Russian citizens (assumed to be up to 90% ethnic Chechens) constituted the largest group of new asylum-seekers in 2003 and 2004, and while numbers have dropped since 2006, they are still at more than 20,000 new arrivals per year. The great majority of them, tens of thousands, have sought asylum in the European Union, where they arrive after a dangerous journey through Russia and Eastern Europe. EU regulations on refugees and the fact that Chechens have little understanding of the concept of asylum or their rights as refugees, have caused much unneeded suffering, delay, uncertainty and hardship. After working on the cases of Chechen refugees on an individual basis, we came to the conclusion that the refugees would have a much better chance of making it to safety and getting asylum without delay if they were better informed before starting their journey or even after arrival in Europe. We have therefore produced an advice manual that explains asylum and EU asylum laws to Chechen refugees, helps them avoid the pitfalls (traffickers, deportation etc.) and gives them the contact information for refugee aid organizations and pro-bono lawyers in their target countries.

The manual was written by a team of four experts, two of them former refugees themselves, in consultation with refugee assistance NGOs all over Europe. It is available for download in Russian in our Russian-language refugee advice section.

Advocacy:
The Chechnya Advocacy Network, in close cooperation with other US and international non--governmental organizations, has been conducting an ongoing outreach campaign involving Congress and relevant parts of the US government as well as European governments by way of our European partners, with the aim of improving assistance for the North Caucasus region in four broad areas:

The Chechnya Advocacy Network also launches public appeals on behalf of individuals in need of protection (if legal remedies have not been succesful) and for selected causes of interest to CAN.

International Chechen Radio Program:
As part of our capacity-building initiatives and outreach efforts, CAN members including Chechen refugees hope to produce a radio program documenting the experiences of the Chechen diaspora, to be broadcast in Chechnya. During the last decades, hundreds of thousands of Chechens have sought safety and peace all over the world and their new lives are very diverse and inspiring. Chechens back in Chechnya and Russia are concerned that after a decade of war, young Chechens are depressed, pessimistic about their future and have lost all hopes for a bright or even just normal future. The show, which will be broadcast into Chechnya (initially and because of limitations on independent media we may try to broadcast over the internet or distribute recorded shows)), aims to raise their spirits and inspire them by showing them that Chechens continue to be a vital and thriving people.


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