Country Description:

Azerbaijan is one of the most economically depressed republics of the former Soviet Union. More than a million people were displaced as a result of the conflict with Armenia over the enclave of Nagorna-Karabakh. Of these, some 600,000 of the most vulnerable, including children under five, pregnant and nursing women, and the elderly, are living without sufficient food. More than 50,000 internally displaced and refugee families have no permanent shelters and are living in dug-outs, barns, reed shelters, railway cars, unfinished buildings and public buildings. The government of Azerbaijan is hard-pressed to meet the needs of this population.