Representatives of the International Ossetian Societies Association "Renaissance" have taken part in the work of 79 session of the United Nations Committee on liquidation of racial discrimination which passed in Geneva (Switzerland) from August, 15 till August, 17. Reports of the following states-participants have been considered at the session: Albania, Czech Republic, Georgia, Kenya, Republic of Maldives, Malta, Paraguay, Ukraine and the United Kingdom. The Session work sticks to the following scheme. The states – member of the United Nations -represent their reports on a considered problematic. And the public organizations, in turn, represent alternative reports that the Committee-men would have received more objective information.
The official delegation of Georgia has presented the report in which it is trying to demonstrate as if it aspires to observe all standards of the Convention on liquidation of all forms of racial discrimination, and as if the ethnic groups living in Georgia do not feel themselves infringed. In their report representatives of "Renaissance" have presented the information on problems of the ethnic Ossetians, Armenians, Azerbaijanis, Abkhazians, Turks-Meskhetinians, living in Georgia in the sphere of education, access to management, in socio-economic activity, and also on applying of various discrimination measures to representatives of different ethnic groups. In the report, in particular, it is noticed that «according to last population census of the USSR in 1989, 126 thousand Ossetians, excluding the South-Ossetian autonomous region, lived in the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic. And according to the Georgian census of 2002, only 36 thousand Ossetians lived in Georgia. The majority of the Ossetian refugees found asylum in the Russian Federation, many people found themselves refugees in the Republic of South Ossetia. The overwhelming majority still have a moving status». In their report delegation of the "Renaissance" has also emphasized that as a result of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict many citizens of the RSO have been missing. More than 150 persons are registered among them since 1990. Since August, 2008 this list increased for seven more citizens of South Ossetia. South Ossetia at all levels repeatedly raised a question on finding-out their fate. There is a report of the independent international experts group, on the initiative of South Ossetia authorized by the Council of Europe to carry out monitoring of investigation of the fate of persons who have been missing as a result of aggression of Georgia against South Ossetia; this report has confirmed that the mentioned missing persons were detained by the Georgian law enforcement bodies. In the report of the European experts it is underlined that the authorities of Georgia did not take relevant measures for searching of the mentioned citizens. This information has also been submitted to the Committee by the members of delegation. It has been underlined that «the fact of assault of the Georgian army on the citizens of the Republic of South Ossetia with using of weapon of indiscriminate action applied against the civil population is still unpunished». Members of the delegation have also expressed their opinion on other urgent questions.
