Document #1034961
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Author)
Specific information on the above-mentioned
subject is not available among the sources consulted by the
DIRB.
However, according to a United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) survey from July 1994, Ukraine
had 10,000 refugees from the Newly Independent States (NIS) of
Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, and the region of the North Caucasus, as
well as 2,362 non-NIS refugees (July 1994, 34). The UNHCR has also
reported that the Ukraine office responsible for refugee matters
was created by presidential edict in July 1994, and was still in
the process of creating an internal structure at the end of 1994
(20 Dec. 1994, 1). The UNHCR added that the Ukraine "lacks the full
implementation of a refugee determination procedure" (ibid., 1).
For additional information, please consult the attached report.
Country Reports on Human Rights
Practices for 1994 states that Ukraine had provided resources
for Ukrainians living in Russia and elsewhere, and that "by 1994
250,000 Tatars had returned to Crimea," but no other information is
provided (1995, 1021).
For general information on refugee issues
in the Ukraine, with reference to conditions in Crimea, please
consult the attachments.
This response was prepared after
researching publicly accessible information currently available to
the DIRB within time constraints. This response is not, and does
not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular
claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of
sources consulted in researching this information request.
Country Reports on Human Rights
Practices for 1994. 1995. United States Department of State.
Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office
United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR), [Geneva]. 20 December 1994. Background
Information on the Situation in Ukraine in the Context of the "Safe
Third Country" Concept. (DIRB Country File)
_____. July 1994. The Activities of
the High Commissioner for Refugees in the Newly Independent
States. Document faxed to the DIRB by the UNHCR in Ottawa.
Krymskaya Gazeta [in Russian,
Simferopol]. 4 August 1994. "Report on Crimea's Refugee Situation."
(FBIS-USR-94-087 11 Aug. 1994, pp. 62-4)
United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR), [Geneva]. 20 December 1994. Background
Information on the Situation in Ukraine in the Context of the "Safe
Third Country" Concept. (DIRB Country File)
Foreign Broadcast Information Service
Reports.
In Ukraine.
Profiles of Asylum Claims and Country
Conditions.
Refuge.
Russia and the Successor States
Briefing Service.
Transitions.
UNHCR Background Information on the
Situation in Ukraine in the Context of the "Safe Third Country"
Concept.
UNHCR Legal Factsheets on Asylum
Procedures in Central and Eastern Europe.
World Refugee Report.
World Refugee Survey.
Oral Sources.
Note on contacting foreign diplomatic representatives in
Canada:
Embassies and high commissions are not usually called for
security-related questions such as location of military bases or
the functioning of secret services. Ability to obtain information
from diplomatic representatives depends on availability of
information and cooperation from individual countries.