As you know, issues related to the dignified and safe return and resettlement of refugees as a humanitarian component of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict settlement process are the subject matter of discussions in the Second Working Group of the Geneva international discussions.
These same issues repeatedly were addressed at the UN General Assembly, which adopted three resolutions without taking into account the opinion of the parties concerned.
It should be noted that, despite the efforts, no real results in solving the problems of refugees have been achieved.
Almost twenty years has passed since over 100,000 Ossetians were ousted from Georgia, who, saving their lives, were forced to leave their homes and property in Georgia to move into the territory of the Russian Federation and the Republic of South Ossetia. No one among these hundred of thousands has been returned to the former places of residence and no one has ever received compensation for lost housing and property from the Georgian authorities.
The Georgian leadership and the General Assembly are concerned only about the fate of those residents of South Ossetia, ethnic Georgians, who became victims of Georgian aggression against South Ossetia, and have left their homes in seven villages around the city of Tskhinval, and moved to Georgia prior to the aggression or followed the retreating Georgian army 7-12 August 2008.
Ehtnic Georgian residents of de-occupied Leningor District of South Ossetia, where the hostilities did not take place, had also yielded to the propaganda and threats to the Georgian authorities. Several thousand ethnic Georgians from that area upon the demand of the Georgian authorities also have fled their homes and moved to Georgian territory, where they are living in a hastily built settlement of Tserovani (Georgia) funded by the U.S. and the EU.
It should be noted that the houses and the property of ethnic Georgian citizens of South Ossetia, residents of Leningor district, who have moved to Georgia have been presesrved and are waiting for their owners. All social infrastructure, including education in the Georgian language, has been retained.
The authorities of South Ossetia, at different levels and in different formats, had repeatedly informed the international community about its willingness to consider and settle issues related to the return of all citizens, residents of Leningor district, from Georgia to their places of residence; to those, who did not participate in hostilities against the Republic of South Ossetia and have not committed serious crimes against the South Ossetian state and its citizens.
Despite the reluctance and inability of the Georgian authorities to return over 100,000 Ossetian refugees to their former places on the territory of Georgia and compensate them for their lost housing and property, the Delegation of the Republic of South Ossetia to the Geneva international discussions is authorized to state the following:
The Republic of South Ossetia, respecting international law regulating the issues related to refugees, is ready to return under the supervision of the UNHCR residents of Leningor District of South Ossetia to to their places of residence, independently of their ethnicity, those, who were victims of cynical politics and propaganda of the Georgian authorities and left their homes and property 7-12 August 2008, and who recognize the jurisdiction of the Constitution and the laws of South Ossetia.
Geneva
October 14, 2010
