The South Ossetian delegation at the 62nd round of the International Geneva Discussions focused on the ongoing periodic provocations on the border from the Georgian side, the facts of deliberate violation of the state border regime and the need to continue marking the state border line with engineering structures as a real factor in reducing the number of such violations. This was reported by representatives of the delegation of the Republic of South Ossetia.
The next, 62nd round of the International Discussions on Security and Stability in Transcaucasia was held on November 5-6, 2024, at the UN Geneva Palace of Nations.
The discussions were attended by delegations of the Republic of South Ossetia, the Republic of Abkhazia, Georgia, the Russian Federation, the United States, as well as the EU, UN and OSCE representatives. The South Ossetian delegation was headed by State Advisor to the President Konstantin Kochiev.
The delegates has noted that the first working group focused on discussing current issues of regional security and ensuring a stable situation in the territories adjacent to the state border between South Ossetia and Georgia.
"In order to strengthen stability and minimize the number of border incidents, the South Ossetian delegation once again called on the Georgian party to begin the joint work on the delimitation and demarcation of the state border between South Ossetia and Georgia," the statement reads.
During the discussion of the problem of resuming substantive work on a legally binding document on the non-use of force, the destructive position of some participants once again prevented the discussion of this agenda item, but the South Ossetian participants called for the continued discussion on this key area for the International Discussions on Security in Transcaucasia.
"The effectiveness and high practical significance of continuing the work of the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) in the South Ossetian-Georgian border area and the existing hotline were once again noted," the delegates noted.
The South Ossetian representatives once again drew attention to the discriminatory visa practices of a number of countries in relation to residents of South Ossetia and suggested that the co-chairs contact the authorities of the relevant states to review their approaches and stop politicizing the issue of issuing visas to citizens.
"Taking into account a set of factors, the delegations of Russia, South Ossetia and Abkhazia once again called for moving the International Discussions on Security and Stability in Transcaucasia to another, more suitable location acceptable to all participants in the process, but it was not possible to reach a consensus on this issue," the statement of the South Ossetian delegation reads.
At the meeting of the second working group, humanitarian issues related to the search for the missing persons, education, environmental safety, and the preservation of cultural heritage were discussed.
The South Ossetian delegation urged to intensify the work to clarify the fate of missing persons and called on the Georgian party to stop sabotaging the work on this issue and take practical steps towards its resolution.
Once again, the most serious attention was drawn to Georgia's gross violations of the rights of Ossetians - natives of the Kazbegi region (Tyrsygom), who have been unable to access their homes and lands for many years due to the ban of the Georgian authorities," the delegates added.
The discussion of the refugee issue was not held at the meetings of the completed round. Resumption of discussions on the refugee issue will become possible after Georgia stops its attempts to artificially politicize this humanitarian problem.
All participants in the meeting noted the value of the International Discussions on Security and Stability in Transcaucasia and confirmed their commitment to this format.
The next round of International Discussions is scheduled for March 2025.
