The Ossetian and Abkhazian representatives have repeatedly stated that the politicization of the refugee problem by Georgia undermines the work on this issue in the framework of the Geneva discussions, according to the comments of the South Ossetian delegation in the Geneva international discussions in connection with the adoption by the UN General Assembly of a resolution on the situation of internally displaced persons and refugees from South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
"On June 7, 2023, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution prepared by Georgia on the situation of internally displaced persons and refugees from South Ossetia and Abkhazia (document A/77/L.73). The Georgian delegate, who introduced the draft resolution, stated that it is "purely humanitarian" to "avoid any political speculation when the basic rights of the displaced are at stake."
However, for those who know the real history of the events following which this text was first presented, it is obvious that the annual ritual of putting forward a draft resolution on refugees, organized by Georgia on the UN platform since September 9, 2009, is nothing more than another act of a recurring political farce ", - reads a comment published on the official website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“Representatives of a number of countries, who spoke after the Georgian delegate, readily took advantage of the discussion of the draft for another aggressive attacks and absurd accusations against the Russian Federation and the Republic of South Ossetia,” the Ministry said. - Judging by these statements, it is quite obvious that the problem of refugees is of last interest to their authors, as, in fact, to the authors of the Georgian project. Of course, in the speeches and in the text of the resolution there were words about the rights of "forcibly displaced persons", primarily "the right to voluntary, safe and dignified return", "respect for human rights" and other familiar formulas from the phraseological dictionary of international humanitarian law, which mask a number of theses of yjr Georgian political propaganda, leading to the idea that Georgia is the innocent victim of "violent change in the demographic situation."
The Ministry has noted that the poorly concealed goal of this unpretentious trick is to achieve support for Georgia's claims to jurisdiction over South Ossetia and Abkhazia under the pretext of caring for refugees, accusing Russia of "occupation" and "aggression."
“Of course, not a single word mentions that the “change in the demographic situation” and the flows of refugees were caused by the armed aggression of Georgia against South Ossetia and Abkhazia; nothing is said in the resolution about ethnic cleansing of the Ossetian population, nor is it said about the genocide of the Ossetians. It is not said that the number of Ossetian refugees is several times higher than the number of ethnic Georgians who lived in South Ossetia and left for Georgia from South Ossetia before the start of the invasion of the Georgian army.
There is not a word about war crimes committed by the Georgian army and militants of various Georgian formations,” the report says. - Did the delegates who voted in favor of the Georgian project know what is behind the set of words they support? Undoubtedly, some of the delegates could be quite aware, but were forced to proceed from the position of their governments. The other part also definitely knew and would have been more restrained in supporting the draft Georgian resolution, if not for the obvious pressure from a group of Georgia's Western partners. But delegates also took part in the meeting of the General Assembly, they simply have no idea about the essence of the problem, which is devoted to the resolution.
It would be really important for them to listen to an alternative point of view, as is usually practiced in the UN, however, Ossetian and Abkhaz representatives were always met with embarrassed silence or vague promises on their appeals regarding the possibility of presenting their position in an acceptable format provided for by the practice of the United Nations. Work out the issue."
The Foreign Ministry has clarified that behind the double standards applied in relation to South Ossetia and Abkhazia, on the one hand, and Georgia, on the other, one sees another confirmation of the crisis state of the system of international relations, "but this does not make it any easier for the refugees, whom the authors of the resolution allegedly, take care of.",
“The only platform where it is possible to discuss and search for solutions to the problem of refugees and other categories of displaced persons with the participation of all interested parties is the Geneva International Discussions, where the refugee problem was initially discussed in accordance with the agreements of September 12, 2008,” the Ministry said. - Moreover, refugees began to return to South Ossetia and Abkhazia. However, Georgia decided to politicize the refugee problem, use it to promote its propaganda, to mislead the world community and take political revenge for the failure of the military adventure of the Saakashvili regime.”
The Ministry has added that in September 2009, for the first time, Georgia submitted its draft resolution on refugees to the General Assembly, which was justifiably perceived in Tskhinval and Sukhum as the unscrupulous and dishonest attempt to exert gross political pressure on the Ossetian and Abkhaz parties.
“Consideration of the refugee problem had to be postponed until the moment when Georgia makes a choice in favor of common sense between organizing presentations on the stage of international organizations and practical discussion of the refugee problem in its humanitarian aspect,” the Ministry said in the comment. - Ossetian and Abkhazian representatives have repeatedly stated that the politicization of the refugee problem by Georgia undermines the work on this issue within the framework of the Geneva discussions. While Georgia prefers to discuss issues related to the situation of refugees and other categories of displaced persons in such an authoritative international body as the UN General Assembly, South Ossetia and Abkhazia insist on their right to take part in the discussion of this problem within the walls of the UN.
As long as the political games around the problem of refugees continue behind the backs of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, the discussion of this problem within the framework of the Geneva discussions will not make any sense.”
