The Danish Refugee Council finalizes a major housing project for returning refugees in southern Kyrgyzstan. The project was initiated after ethnic riots in the summer of 2010, where over 1,700 houses burned down.

Clashes between ethnic groups in the Central Asian Republic of Kyrgyzstan in June, killed more than 350 people and forced over 375,000 to flee. The Danish Refugee Council was subsequently appointed to be part of a major international relief effort to ensure speedy resettlement. Today, only three months after the project was initiated, the construction of 1,700 houses is completed and ready for the Uzbek Kirghiz returnees.

"The relief efforts in Kyrgyzstan is a unique example of how crucial it is to launch early interventions and thus ensure resettlement as soon as possible. The fact that the displaced group of Uzbek Kirghiz can now return home to new and permanent housing, helps to strengthen stabilization efforts in the area," says Rikke Johannesen, programme coordinator with the Danish Refugee Council.

Severe winters in the mountainous country in Central Asia has put the project under extra pressure. It has been crucial to ensure that construction materials for the new houses arrived in due time and that the foundations were ready before freezing temperatures would hamper the project. It has further been a precondition that relief efforts should lead to permanent housing facilities for the ethnic Uzbek Kirghiz who lost everything during the unrest in June. All the new houses are made of bricks and live up to all relevant seismic requirements.

"The very fact that we have been able to reestablish permanent housing for the returning refugees, has sent strong signals about international support for this minority group," says Rikke Johannesen from the Danish Refugee Council.

The Danish Refugee Council had a primary role in the shelter programme in south Kyrgyzstan inside the shelter cluster coordinated by UNHCR. The Danish Refugee Council was in charge of the procurement of all construction materials for the houses constructed by three NGOs Danish Refugee Council, ACTED and Save the Children USA.

Moreover, the Danish Refugee Council's technical team had a relevant role in the definition of all technical standards to apply and to solve the daily technical problems that the programme faced. The funds for the programme come from different donors and they were entrusted to UNHCR that was in charge of the overall coordination of the programme in the districts of Osh and Jalal-Abd in Kyrgyzstan.

"We are of course proud to have been involved in these efforts. Now, we look into opportunities to further assist returnees in villages in southern Kyrgyzstan," says Rikke Johannesen, the Danish Refugee Council.

The Danish Refugee Council is based in southern Kyrgyzstan town of Osh, and has been active in the Central Asian republic since 2003 through a network of local and international NGOs. Besides the resettlement project, the Danish Refugee Council has worked with various projects related to rehabilitation and legal assistance to vulnerable groups in affected areas in southern Kyrgyzstan.

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