Concerning the submitted by Georgia draught resolution of the 65th session of the United Nations General Assembly on refugees and internally displaced persons from Abkhazia and South Ossetia
The delegation of Georgia has prepared and has officially submitted to the secretariat the draught resolution of the 65th session of the United Nations General Assembly- « Position of internally displaced persons from Abkhazia, Georgia and from Tshkinvalskiy region /South Ossetia/Georgia. The draught resolution text is similar to the previous year document. The matter is about refugees - the ethnic Georgians, who have found themselves dislocated in the result of the Georgian army attack upon South Ossetia in August, 2008. Unfortunately, in this draft resolution only the unilateral approach is represented having nothing in common with an actual state of affairs and with concern about the fate of the refugees. Against the background of the Georgian draught resolution about the position of refugees and internally displaced persons one could see only aspiration of Georgia to support its claim on the sovereignty over the territory of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
Declining the non-use of force agreement, Georgia tries to use the problem of refugees and internally displaced persons as a means for applying political pressure. The reality is immensely far from that point of view which is imposed by the Georgian draught resolution. The majority of the ethnic Georgians has left the territory of South Ossetia some days before the beginning of the Georgian attack. Total number of the Georgians, having left the territory of South Ossetia in August, 2008, is by rough estimates a little more than 5000 persons. At the same time over 36 thousand Ossetian refugees have been compelled to leave their Native land to escape bombardments and brutality of the Georgian army. Some of them have not dared to return to South Ossetia, and a lot of the returned people have found themselves among the smoking ruins of their houses destroyed by the enemy artillery, rockets or aircraft. It has been the third wave of the Ossetian refugees for the last two decades. In 1990-1992 over a hundred thousand Ossetians, escaping the ethnic cleansing, left Georgia and South Ossetia. The majority of these people has found asylum in the Russian Federation, some of them have found themselves in the position of refugees or internally displaced persons in the territory of South Ossetia. The overwhelming majority still has a moving status. One more flow of refugees from South Ossetia on the territory of Russia has taken place as the result of the Georgian attack in summer 2004. Ten thousand descendants of the Ossetian refugees who in June, 1920 managed to save their lives during the bloody slaughter arranged by the government of the Georgian Democratic Republic live in the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania which is a part of the Russian Federation, up to date. Total number of the Ossetian refugees and their descendants already exceeds the population of South Ossetia. Repeating attacks of Georgia upon South Ossetia, massacres and ethnic cleansings of the Ossetians, being repeatedly organized by the Georgian authorities, became the result of impunity of the Georgian leaders and executors of these cruel crimes towards the Ossetians. Ossetian refugees of 1989-1992 are in the moving position almost 20 years. Some families came back to Georgia, but have been compelled to return to the North Ossetia. At present no any Ossetian family comes back to Georgia, first of all by the absence of safety guarantees. Practically no any Ossetian can win the case for his lost property in the courts of Georgia. The Law of Georgia «About a property restitution and rehabilitation of the injured people in the result of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict» practically is not in force though issuance and implementation of this Law is the obligation of Georgia to the European Council. In South Ossetia, on the contrary, one could observe the standard humanitarian approach to the refugee problem, considering several various variants, including returning, migration or integration. The government of South Ossetia intends to apply this approach equally both to the Ossetian and the Georgian refugees. South Ossetia is ready for considering various variants of cooperation with the relevant international organizations, step by step promoting creation of conditions for worthy, voluntary, safe returning of the refugees. The rights of ethnic minority, including the Georgian population are respected in the country, the educational training institutions using the Georgian language are still functioning. All citizens of the country have the rights and freedom irrespective of ethnic, racial or religious belonging. Trying to facilitate the process of returning of refugees, the leadership of South Ossetia has initiated to support returning both the Ossetian, and the Georgian population in Leningorskiy region of South Ossetia; however the authorities of Georgia use all efforts to prevent their returning. It becomes more and more obvious that the Georgian regime is not interested in improvement the position of refugees and in their returning, too. Nevertheless, South Ossetia is ready to continue discussion of the position of the refugees with the interested parties, achieving the phased resolving of the sore points.
