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£4,000 Approved March 2009 – Conflict prevention and harmonization of interethnic relations
IPF Local Partners: Civic Assistance Committee
IPF Project: Harmonization of Interethnic Relations in Ossetian and Ingush Society
Location: Russian Federation, North Caucasus, the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania, Prigorodny District
Delivery date: November 2009 – May 2010

1. Country Background – North Ossetia

The Ossetian-Ingush conflict in Prigorodny District of North Ossetia was the only armed ethnic conflict in the Russian Federation that occurred immediately after the break up of the USSR in 1992. It was between the Orthodox Christian Ossetians, who make up the majority of the population, and minority Muslim Ingush, and lasted just 7 days, with over 1,000 deaths, and the forced displacement of around 50,000 Ingush people - most of whom settled in Ingushetia. From 1994, these Internally Displaced People started returning to Prigorodny District.

However, despite the measures taken to eliminate the consequences of the conflict, the Ingush people face many problems in returning to the places of their former residence because of the attitude of some of the local Ossetian population. In most villages, the Ingush and Ossetian population form segregated ethnic enclaves that limit the potential for interaction and reconciliation, with Ingush and Ossetian children studying in different schools. After the Beslan School killings in September 2004, the interethnic relations in Prigorodny District became much worse, with thousands of people demonstrating in nearby villages and calling for revenge against the ethnic Ingush.

2. Local Partner: Civic Assistance Committee (www.refugee.ru)

The Civil Assistance Committee (CAC) is a Moscow-based NGO with a longstanding record of working on refugee issues. It was established in 1990 to assume a mediating role in the relationship of migrants to formal civic structures. They provide support within the legal system, legal advice, protection of social rights, as well as material and other humanitarian assistance to the most vulnerable.

3. The Project: Conflict Prevention and Harmonization of Interethnic Relations in Prigorodny District of North Ossetia.

The project is aimed at the transformation of conflict, conflict prevention and improvement of the psychological atmosphere in two of the most problematic villages where Ossetian and Ingush live separately. They work with teenagers, teachers, school administrations, parents, and heads of local administration in these villages to restore and strengthen horizontal ties between the local communities, and to increase multicultural education and trust-building among the two ethnicities involved in the conflict.

Specific objectives are:

1. Restoration of contacts between young people and teachers in villages with a mixed population – Chermen and Tarskoye.
2. Establish contacts between the children from segregated schools, and ethnically-mixed schools, to share a positive experience of communication and cooperation, and develop tolerance.
3. Enrich the children's outlook through teaching filming and editing skills, and acquaintance with the cinema world, and village history and culture.
4. Strengthen cooperation with schools through involving schools in a film-making competition.

The main target audience of the project are children and teenagers from segregated schools in the villages of Tarskoye and Chermen in Prigorodny District, and the children from the ethnically mixed school in Kurtat.

The CAC selected these schools for the following reasons: 1) education of Ingush and Ossetian children in these schools is segregated; 2) villages of Chermen and Tarskoye are the biggest problematic ones in Prigorodny District, where ethnic communities form isolated enclaves and communication is extremely limited; 3) the CAC has experience of peacemaking projects in these schools.

In 2006 the CAC organized a summer camp for 34 Ingush and Ossetian children from Tarskoye and Chermen in the Moscow region. In 2007 CAC organised a seminar for teachers from these schools.

Activities

The children in each school will shoot a short movie about their village during special classes, and edit/cut the films together. The jury of the competition will select the best movie, and an award ceremony will be organized. The participants will spend 2 days in a sanitorium (Ingush and Ossetian together), taking part in joint events.

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