According to a BBC report, 2,338 people emigrated from Moldova during the first six months of 1992 as a result of "the exacerbation of the socio-political situation in the republic" (27 Aug. 1992). Of that number, 900 migrated to the United States, 897 to Israel, 463 to Germany and 32 to Australia (Ibid.). Of those who left during the same period of time, 32 per cent were Russian, 26 per cent Moldovan and 22 per cent Ukrainian (BBC Summary 5 Oct.).

The heavy fighting that took place between the Moldovan security forces and the Trans-Dniestr Republican Guards around the city of Bendery also forced approximately 100,000 persons to leave their homes and to seek refuge either on the right bank of the Dniester or in neighbouring Ukraine, near Odessa (CSCE Jan. 1993, 86; Helsinki Watch Mar. 1993, 6-7).

According to Helsinki Watch, 51,245 persons had registered as "refugees" with the Moldovan authorities on the right bank of the Dniester by 2 August 1992 (Helsinki Watch Mar. 1993, 6). Among them were 28,084 children, 17,437 women, 5,724 men, 911 invalids, 1,561 elderly and 46 widows (Ibid.). On 23 July 1992, the Moscow daily Nezavisimaya Gazeta reported that the headquarters of the Civil Defense of Moldova had registered 47,250 "refugees" from the Trans-Dniester region as of 11 July 1992. The article also provided the following ethnic breakdown of that figure: 37,802 Moldovans, 4,059 Russians, 3,701 Ukrainians, 505 Bulgarians, 520 Gagauz and 38 Jews. The Helsinki Watch report mentions also that as of 10 August 1992, according to the Ukrainian ministry of education, some 53,000 refugees from Moldova fled to Ukraine (Helsinki Watch Mar. 1993, 6-7).

Reports available to the DIRB indicate that since the end of the hostilities in July 1992, the vast majority of displaced people in Moldova have returned to their homes. An FBIS report dated 8 October 1992 indicates that, according to the headquarters of the republic's Civil Defense, only 2,300 of the 51,484 persons evacuated from the Dniestr region have not returned to their homes. Asked why, some replied that their homess had been destroyed. Others cited "political reasons." The article adds "to put it simply, these people are afraid to return to their homeland fearing possible persecution" (Holos Ukrayiny 8 Oct. 1992).

No additional and/or corroborating information on the above-mentioned topic is currently available to the DIRB in Ottawa.

BBC Summary of World Broadcasts. 5 October 1992. "Russians Want to Leave." (NEXIS)

. 27 August 1992. "Emigration from Moldova Continues." (NEXIS)

Commission on the Security and Cooperation in Europe. January 1993. Human Rights and Democratization in the Newly Independent States of the Former Soviet Union. Washington, DC: CSCE.

Helsinki Watch. March 1993. Erika Dailey. Human Rights in Moldova: The Turbulent Dniester. New York and Washington, DC: Helsinki Watch.

Nezavisimaya Gazeta [Moscow]. 23 July 1992. Elena Tregubova. "Informatsiía iz Pridnestrov'aía sil'no iskazhena."

Holos Ukrayiny [Kiev, in Ukrainian]. 8 October 1992. "Commission Urges Authorities to Amnesty Former Fighters." (FBIS-SOV-92-199 14 Oct. 1992)