Official communication of the South Ossetian delegation on the 23 Round of Geneva Discussions on Security and Stability in Transcaucasia
March 26-27, 2013 a regular meeting of the international discussions on security and stability in Transcaucasia was held in Geneva. It was attended by delegations of the Republic of South Ossetia, the Republic of Abkhazia, the Russian Federation, Georgia, the United States, as well as the EU, the UN and the OSCE. South Ossetian delegation was headed by Presidential Envoy for post-conflict settlement Murat Dzhioev.
Particular attention was paid to the non-use of force by Georgia against South Ossetia and Abkhazia and security issue, as recorded in the agreements by Medvedev - Sarkozy on August 12 and September 8, 2008. The South Ossetian delegation reiterated the need to expedite the preparation and signing of the legally binding agreements on the non-use of force between Georgia and the Republic of South Ossetia, Georgia and the Republic of Abkhazia, as an essential component of the legal system of security. In support of the overall commitment to the principle of non-use of force and the important intermediate step towards the legally binding bilateral agreements, as well as in support of the unilateral declarations on non-use of force, made by presidents of South Ossetia, Abkhazia and Georgia, the South Ossetian delegation proposed to make a joint statement of the participants of the talks on their commitment to the universally recognized norms of the international law, including the principle of non-aggression, previously initiated by the Russian delegation. It was also continued the expert work on coordinating the text of the joint statement.
Discussing the issues of security and stability in the South Ossetian-Georgian border, the participants noted the usefulness and appropriateness of the mechanisms for preventing and responding to incidents. South Ossetian delegation has noted the need, as was previously stated at the MPRI meetings, to create in Georgia, near the border with South Ossetia, a zone free of weapons, and a zone of increased attention in the Georgian airspace at the border of South Ossetia. Representatives of South Ossetia have appealed again to the Georgian authorities to start the joint work on delimitation and demarcation of the state border.
It was also conducted the detailed discussion of the humanitarian problems, including the issue of the fate of the missing citizens of South Ossetia and South Ossetians, illegally convicted in Georgia. South Ossetian delegation was assured that the current government of Georgia would reactwith all responsibility to clarify the fate of the missing persons.
From the previous experience and in order to streamline the discussion of the issues on the agenda, it was convened the final joint meeting of the two working groups. However, the non-constructive position of the Georgian delegation, and in particular, its leaders, who ignored this meeting, has not allowed conducting fully the final discussion.
Within the framework of the twenty-third round of the discussions the international experts held an information session on the role and participation of women in post-conflict settlement.
The next meeting in Geneva is scheduled for the end of June 2013.
