CHECHNYA: CONDITIONS OF SURVIVAL

6. A SURVEY OF LIVING CONDITIONS

SOURCE. Sh. Beno, "Problemy rossiiskogo federalizma v obshchestvennom soznanii" [Problems of Russian Federalism in Public Consciousness] in Chechnia: ot konflikta k stabil'nosti (problemy rekonstruktsii) [Chechnya: From Conflict to Stability (Problems of Reconstruction)]. Moscow: Institut etnologii i antropologii RAN. pp. 248-57.

Between September 20 and October 10, 2000, Beno conducted a survey of the living conditions of a sample of 400 inhabitants (92 per cent of them Chechens) of the towns of Grozny, Argun, Shali, and Gudermes, and of six rural districts of Chechnya. Respondents were selected at random for anonymous voluntary interview at places where people congregate (bazaars, bus stations, schools, hospitals, and government offices).

While this was no doubt the best that could be done under prevailing circumstances, such a method of selection could not ensure a fully representative sample. The occupational distribution of respondents shows 17.5 per cent working in education and 15 per cent in healthcare: such high figures must be an artifact of interviewing at schools and hospitals. We are not told what proportion of those approached agreed to be interviewed, but a high refusal rate could also entail significant bias. Nevertheless, the results can at least be regarded as suggestive of general conditions.

One third of respondents would not answer the question about family income. 14 per cent indicated that they had no income or hardly any. Most of these depended on relatives, often on a relative's old age pension; one replied that "our cow is our income." Another 35 per cent gave figures in the range of 500-2,000 rubles ($30- 120) per month. This was considered bearable, but only for a small family. 10 per cent gave figures above, and 6 per cent below, this range.

The next question concerned sources of subsistence. The most common answer (42 per cent) was wages, followed by trade (15 per cent). 8 per cent said proceeds from private plots and 6 per cent old age pension. Others gave various combinations of wages, pensions, trade, private plot proceeds, "shabashka" (seasonal work outside Chechnya), grants, and humanitarian aid (mentioned by 3 per cent). The author comments that the most predictable income comes from trade, shabashka, private plots, and old age pensions.

"Do you work?"

"Has your material situation changed since the war started?"

"Do your children go to school?"

The respondents whose children do not go to school divide up into those who lack the material means to clothe them properly or are unable to get them to school and back (26 per cent) and those who keep their children at home because they feel it is too dangerous to send them to school due to shootings, roadblocks, and so on or simply because the children are afraid to go to school (14 per cent).

"Has your family been directly affected by the problems of drug addiction or alcoholism?"

"Have any new illnesses appeared in your family since the beginning of the war?"

The most frequently named illnesses were neuroses, hysteria, ischemia, heart conditions, strokes, hypertension, tuberculosis, asthma, cancer, psychiatric abnormalities, migraine, headaches, and forgetfulness.

Physicians noted the growth of respiratory diseases, cancer, ischemia, thyroid conditions, hypertension, strokes, heart attacks, neuroses, stress ulcers (with bleeding), anemia, diabetes, tuberculosis, vitamin deficiency, skin diseases, and general exhaustion of the organism.

School teachers remarked that half of the boys and a third of the girls in their classes suffered from psychiatric abnormalities and heart problems.

"Are you able to get treatment for your illnesses?"

The author draws attention to the remarkable fact that even most physicians are unable to get their own illnesses treated.

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*** THIS IS CHECHNYA ***

At dawn on January 29, 2002, Russian units blockaded the villages of Starie Atagi, Novie Atagi, and Chiri-Yurt. The few witnesses who were able to get out of these villages said they heard shooting on the streets and cries for help. Soldiers burst into homes and engaged in armed extortion of money and valuables. Some officers of the Chechen militia attempted to interfere with the excesses, but were disarmed, beaten, and taken off to an unknown destination... An official of the Grozny district administration said that the commander of the group of forces, General Moltenskoi, declared to him: "I'd like to spit on the prosecutor's office, on the police and human rights activists. We'll give you a paper, you'll sign it, saying that everything was in accordance with the law. If you don't sign it, someone else will sign it for you."

[Press release #178, 2/4/02]

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