2. JAHRESTAG 08.08.2008 - RUSSISCHE INVASION IN GEORGIEN - RUSTAVI 2

08.08.2010 | Rustavi2 | Link zur Quelle | Bilder | Video |

Events devoted to second anniversary of Russia-Georgia war held in Gori
08.08.10 18:03
Events devoted to the second anniversary of the Russia-Georgia war in August 2008 continue in the town of Gori in Shida Kartli Region. Civil rites were served in all acting churches of Shida Kartli.
Support rallies for Georgia held in about 30 cities of world
08.08.10 17:50
About 100 Georgian nationals assembled in New York to hold a protest rally over Russia`s aggression to Georgia. The protesters were holding Georgian national flags and chanting slogans: `Stop the Russian Aggression!`.
Lithuanians express support to Georgia
08.08.10 17:35
A support rally for Georgia was held in Lithuania. In cities of Vilnius, Kaunas and Klaipeda, locals assembled on their own initiative and called on the world for pressing Russia and freeing Georgia.
Russian opposition members hold support rally for Georgia in Gori town
08.08.10 17:21
Representative of Russian opposition parties and public movements are holding a supporting rally for Georgia in teh town of Gori now. They are delivering speeches in the centre of the town.
Medvedev pays first visit to occupied Abkhazia
08.08.10 17:12
At the second anniversary of the Russia-Georgia war Dmitri Medvedev unexpectedly visited Sukhumi. After Russia`s recognition of Georgia`s two occupied regions, this is the Russian President`s firs visit to occupied Abkhazia.
Georgian patriarch pays tribute to memory of soldiers killed in war
08.08.10 16:39
Catholicos Patriarch of All Georgia His Holiness and Beatitude Ilia II paid tribute to memory of the people killed in the Russia-Georgia war in August 2008. After teh Sunday liturgy at Holy Trinity Cathedral, Ilia II delivered a sermon to the parish.
Representatives of provisional South Ossetian administration pay tribute to heroes
08.08.10 16:22
Dmitri Sanakoev and other representatives of the provisional administration of South Ossetia arrived Sunday in Mukhatgverdi at the cemetery of soldiers killed in the Russia-Georgia war in August 2008. They were accompanied with internally displace people
Citizens pay tribute to soldiers fallen for territorial integrity of Georgia
08.08.10 15:36
Representatives of the Georgian Defence Ministry and family members of Corporal Vakhtang Gzirishvili killed in the Russia-Georgia war in August 2008 arrived Sunday (August 8) at the memorial to heroes killed in the war for Georgia`s territorial integrity.
IDPs in Gori sign symbolical Message to Civilized World
08.08.10 14:53
Message of Internally Displaced People to Civilized World Rally continued Sunday in the town of Gori in Shida Kartli Region. IDPs living in Asps Settlement signed the symbolical document.
`Don`t let Georgia down, Cameron`: Guardian
08.08.10 13:02
The UK government should do like the U.S. and continue to call for Russia to abide by the August 2008 ceasefire commitment, the Guardian British outlet says in its letter titled `Don`t let Georgia down, Cameron`.
`We`ll keep fighting until last occupant leaves Georgia`: Saakashvili
07.08.10 11:55
In 2008 we had again to take up arms to protect dignity of our homeland. We will keep fighting until the last occupants does not leave Georgia`, Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili said.
Citizen of Russia presents apartment Georgian soldier`s family
06.08.10 18:12
Citizen of Russia presented an apartment to the child of a Georgian soldier killed in Tskhinvali in 2006. Olya Khvostikova, who is living in Krasnodar Oblast of Russia now handed over the two-room apartment to national hero Zaza Damenia`s son.
Georgian Refugee Minister visits families of killed soldiers
06.08.10 18:11
Georgian Minister for Refugees and Accommodation visited Friday the families of soldiers killed in the Russia-Georgia war in August 2008. Koba Subeliani handed over two-week vouchers for Black Sea resort Kobuleti and other presents to family members of Romelashvili brothers
Vice Premier reports to Putin about rehabilitation works in Tskhinvali
06.08.10 18:09
First Vice Premier of Russia, after visiting Georgia`s occupied regions - South Ossetia and Abkhazia - reported to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Although Igor Shuvalov slammed the Kokoity`s government for failing the rehabilitation works while visiting Tskhinvali,..
`Two years after Georgia war, Saakashvili defiantly hangs on`: AFP
06.08.10 18:09
Agence France-Presse sums up results of the Russia-Georgian war that took place in August 2008. The agency has published an article titled ` Two years after Georgia war, Saakashvili defiantly hangs on`.
International Court of Justice appoints hearing of Georgia`s action against Russia
06.08.10 18:05
International Court of Justice has appointed a hearing of Georgia`s action against Russia on the war in August 2008. The hearing will be held on Septermber 13-17, 2010 and it implies several stages.
Abkhaz government members pay tribute to soldiers killed in August war
06.08.10 15:10
Members of the government of Abkhaz Autonomous Republic expressed Friday their condolences to families of soldiers killed in the August war in 2008. Members of teh Abkhaz government arrived at Mukhatgverdi Fraternal Cemetery and laid flowers on tombs of the fallen soldiers.
Georgian Ministry of Justice Poppy Rally for memory of fallen soldiers
06.08.10 12:20
Georgian Ministry of Justice has joined Poppy Rally. All representatives of the ministry will be wearing badges of poppies attached to their chests all day long. About 4000 employees of the ministry are participating in the rally...
Georgian president visits internally displaced families
04.08.10 18:25
Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili visited internally displaced people in teh village of Shaumiani, Marneuli District on Wednesday. 212 families on total are living in the village and 70% of them have been employed by the local government.

Stichworte: Georgien, Abchasien, Süd-Ossetien, Russland, Krieg-2008, Sprache: englisch, Archiv: #

Immer noch einiges zu tun - EUMM fast zwei Jahre vor Ort

06.08.2010 | Civil.ge | Link zur Quelle | Bilder | Video |
Civil.ge publishes article by head of EU Monitoring Mission in Georgia (EUMM), Ambassador Hansjörg Haber.
The interval between the second anniversary of the outbreak of the 2008 war on 7/8 August and the end of the second annual mandate of the European Union Monitoring Mission in Georgia on 14 September gives me an opportunity to reflect on EUMM’s work over these last two years and its impact on the situation on the ground.
EUMM was deployed following the EU-brokered 12 August Six-Point Agreement and the 8 September Implementing Measures Agreement in 2008. Thanks to the support of all EU Member States the fastest deployed mission in the history of EU Common Security and Defence Policy, EUMM began its operations on 1 October 2008 with more than 200 monitors on the ground, as stipulated in the Implementing Measures Agreement. Its mandate consists of four important components, namely stabilisation, normalisation and confidence building, as well as reporting to Brussels to inform EU policy making.
Normalisation was the first and most urgent task facing the mission. At its very inception the mission was assisted in the efforts to bring back to normality the lives of those parts of the population living in the areas adjacent to the administrative boundary lines with Abkhazia and South Ossetia and displaced by the hostilities. The Russian Armed Forces’ withdrawal from the adjacent areas eight days after the Mission started patrolling, allowed some 30,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) to return to their homes and to restart their lives. Their departure from places of temporary accommodation did not, however, solve the long-standing problem of IDPs in Georgia. In addition to those displaced during previous conflicts, 30,000 to this day remain unable to go back to their houses in South Ossetia, most likely destroyed in the August 2008 war.
The Georgian government certainly deserves praise for its prompt reaction to the 2008 IDPs’ plight and for including earlier IDPs into a strategy that ultimately aims at finding durable accommodation solutions for all those affected by the recent conflicts. It cannot be ignored, however, that the pressure under which decisions had to be made at that point in time led to a number of serious flaws, which now require addressing. In virtue of its exclusively monitoring role, EUMM has been observing the situation of IDPs, recording their grievances and sharing its insights with both donors, including, of course, the EU, and organizations implementing aid programs, in particular the UN family.
While the Mission’s mandate covers the entire territory of Georgia within its internationally recognized borders, the de facto authorities’ denial of access to South Ossetia and Abkhazia has been hampering the mission’s normalization and stabilization efforts. Especially Georgian interlocutors expected we would gain access as a matter of priority shortly after deployment. Unfortunately, with a few minor exceptions, this has not happened so far. Our Georgian partners have come to accept that this limitation to the implementation of the mission’s mandate is effectively counterbalanced by a consistent EU policy of non-recognition of the entities. At the same time, however, we feel that inability to access areas under the control of Sukhumi and Tskhinvali prevents us from helping bring clarity and resolve incidents that take place on the ground. On concrete issues that affect the security situation in the areas adjacent to the administrative boundary lines and the livelihood of ordinary people on both sides of the divide, EUMM has consistently strived to play an impartial role.
Looking at the stabilization component of the mission’s mandate, we regard the Memorandum of Understanding concluded with the Georgian Ministry of Defence on 26 January, 2009, as a definite success. In the agreement, Georgia unilaterally accepts limitations on the deployment of both troops and heavy equipment in a carefully defined strip of territory around South Ossetia and south of Abkhazia. This goes beyond the obligations included in the Six-Point Agreement. A Russian decision to reciprocate the move would help bring transparency on the presence of military forces also on the other side of the administrative boundary line and increase security for all. Unfortunately, despite repeated invitations by EUMM, this move has so far not been reciprocated by Moscow.
Although still unilateral, we are convinced that the Memorandum works to the distinctive advantage of Georgia. Continually monitoring Georgian military installations and military forces deployed throughout the country, and especially near the administrative boundary lines, as stipulated in the document, EUMM is in a position to issue a "clean bill of health" to Georgia. The great value of this agreement was clearly demonstrated in the spring and summer of 2009, when EUMM, thanks to its observations gathered on the ground, was able to repeatedly refute Russian and South Ossetian allegations of a Georgian military build-up along the administrative boundary line. The Memorandum of Understanding, therefore, is strong evidence of Georgia's willingness to abide by the principle of non-use of force as contained in the Six-Point Agreement.
The positive example of the Memorandum of Understanding illustrates an important principle, namely that in a situation where the sides to a conflict cannot come to an agreement, formal or informal, unilateral concessions by one side might prove the only way to push things forward. As a result, the part that bravely accepts to make such concession not only is not harmed, but can actually benefit from it. It seems to me that recognition of this principle that we could call “constructive unilateralism” is also at the origin of the Georgian State Strategy on the Occupied Territories, and, the subsequent Action Plan for Engagement. Both the Strategy and the Action Plan set out a people-centered policy, aimed at stretching out a helping hand to the civilian populations (citizens of Georgia, to be sure) residing in Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
However, the intentions enunciated in these two documents appear to conflict with provisions contained in the Law on Occupied Territories, which had adopted a more restrictive approach. With all respect to a decision of the Parliament of Georgia and to the rule of law, it should be kept in mind that this piece of legislation was passed under the emotional impact of the August war. From the perspective of EUMM, and being mandated to observe the present and potential future effects of both the law and the Action Plan, I think the Georgian authorities should strive to preserve a coherent approach and resolve possible incoherences between the Law on the one side, and the Strategy and the Action Plan on the other, in favour of the latter.
Since EUMM’s deployment, the situation in the areas adjacent to the administrative boundary lines with Abkhazia and South Ossetia has largely stabilized. Yet we are not under the illusion that stabilization equates to the resolution of the conflict. The Georgian people have had plenty of opportunities to learn these lessons between 1993 and 2008, when, in spite of agreements to stabilize the situation and the presence of international organisations to monitor this process, hostilities reignited. EUMM will remain loyal to its commitments and redouble efforts to engage the sides in confidence building measures. However, I am firmly convinced that, regardless of the international community’s best intentions, the task to address the root causes of the conflict rests primarily on the sides to the conflict. Furthermore, Tbilisi, Moscow, Tskhinvali and Sukhumi should strive to keep the interests of the civilian populations at heart and align their decisions accordingly.
EUMM’s mandate has just been renewed until September 2011. Given EU member states’ support for continued engagement in the Southern Caucasus, it will probably be extended again.
But the EU, and EUMM in particular, can only provide a enabling environment for solving the conflicts on Georgian territory. It cannot provide the solution itself, which must be found by the participants to these conflicts themselves. They should therefore prepare to take full responsibility to find sustainable and lasting solutions for the sake of the future welfare and peaceful prospects for all communities in the region.
Stichworte: Georgien, Abchasien, Süd-Ossetien, Krieg-2008, Appell, Sprache: englisch, Archiv: #

Int. Gerichtshof von Den Haag hält im September vier öffentliche Anhörungen im Fall Georgien gegen Russland ab

22.07.2010 | Civil.ge | Link zur Quelle | Bilder | Video |
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) will hold four public hearings in September into the case initiated two years ago by Georgia against Russia, the Hague-based court said in a statement on August 5.
Georgia filed application to ICG on August 12, 2008 over Russia’s “serious violations of its fundamental obligations” under the 1965 International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) “during three distinct phases of its interventions in South Ossetia and Abkhazia” in the period between 1990 and August 2008.
ICJ said in the statement that all four public hearings from September 13 to September 17, during which Russia and Georgia will present their arguments, “will concern solely the preliminary objections to jurisdiction raised by the Russian Federation.”
Russia presented its preliminary objections on jurisdiction to ICJ in December, 2009, as Russia claims that the Hague-based court is not competent to rule on the case.
Stichworte: Georgien, Abchasien, Süd-Ossetien, Krieg-2008, Appell, Sprache: englisch, Archiv: #

Amnesty International Bericht zu Georgiens Vertriebenen Personen im eigenen Land (IDP)

22.07.2010 | Civil.ge | Link zur Quelle | Bilder | Video |
Much remains to be done to provide adequate housing, employment and access to health care to internally displaced persons in Georgia, which make up to 6% of the country’s population, Amnesty International said in a report released on August 5.
The 43-page report welcomes the government’s efforts to establishing a legal framework protecting the rights of IDPs and acknowledges measures taken to improve the housing of IDPs, but says that concerns remain regarding ongoing lack of adequate housing in many collective centers, as well as regarding integration of the displaced population and their access to economic, social and cultural rights.
“The Georgian government has taken important steps, but housing solutions have to go hand in hand with health care, employment and livelihoods opportunities. This is the only way to fully integrate the tens of thousands of its citizens still living in limbo,” Nicola Duckworth, Amnesty International’s Europe and Central Asia programme director, said.
“Displaced people need more than just roofs over their heads. They need the government to ensure employment, access to health care and benefits. They also need to be consulted and be able to make the choices affecting their lives,” she said.
Conflicts of last 20 years in Georgia have resulted in “an extremely complex picture of displacement” with statistics often inaccurate and disputed, according to the Amnesty International’s report - In the waiting room: Internally displaced people in Georgia.
The report identifies three groups of internally displaced persons in Georgia.
The largest group is of about 222,000 people displaced as a result of conflicts in Abkhazia and South Ossetia in early 90s known as “old IDPs”, including at least 40,000 of those who have returned to breakaway Abkhazia’s Gali district, but are still considered as displaced persons by Tbilisi as their return has been sporadic with no security guarantees.
The majority of these IDPs live either with friends or relatives or in rented or purchased private accommodation and about 42% of them lives in collective centers, which are state or privately owned buildings such as kindergartens, sanatoria, hospitals and hotels. The report says that “most of these buildings are not designed for long-term human habitation, and do not meet the minimum standards of adequate housing.”
There are cases when some of the collective centers have been or will be privatized and IDPs living there face eviction. In one of such case a group of IDPs were evicted from a publishing house in downtown Tbilisi last month and instead were provided with accommodation in Zugdidi district, western Georgia. But because of lack of employment opportunities in rural areas, IDPs are reluctant to move to the Zugdidi district.
“Currently high unemployment remains an especially pressing issue for displaced people,” according to the report. “While there are no official segregated statistics available on displaced people, most recent surveys suggest that they suffer from higher rate o[f] unemployment than the general population.”
According to the State Strategy on IDPs adopted by the government in 2007 and its action plan of 2009 for those living in state-owned collective centers their living space will be transferred in to their ownership. Living space has been transferred to about 7,000 families, or up to 65% of those living in collective centers, by the end of 2009.
The report says that the move is “a major breakthrough” in providing durable housing to displaced persons.
“However at this stage, the provision of durable housing solutions does not involve the estimated 130,000 displaced people living in private sector housing. These residents, almost exclusively displaced by the conflicts of the 90’s, are in limbo pending the finalization of the next phase of the Action Plan,” according to the report.
Another group of IDPs are those about 26,000 people, who were displaced from South Ossetia and Abkhazia’s Kodori gorge (about 2,000) as a result of the August, 2008 war and are not able to return and “will not be able to return in the foreseeable future,” according to the report.
This group of people is known as “new IDPs” with most of them living in 38 newly constructed settlements mostly in Shida Kartli and Kvemo Kartli region.
“The speed with which this [providing accommodation to new IDPs] was carried out has been recognized as a major achievement by the Georgian government, NGOs and donors,” the report said. “Yet serious problems remain. Many of the settlements are located in rural areas with limited options for income generation. Being located far from major towns also makes it difficult to access facilities such as hospitals, shops, schools and government offices.”
The third group, according to the report, consists of those people who were displaced from the Shida Kartli region during the August war, but later returned to their places of residence. Unlike the returnees to the Gali region in Abkhazia, however, this group, mainly from the areas adjacent to breakaway South Ossetia’s administrative border, does not hold IDP status.
“Many of the returnees are coping with a loss of income because of the destruction of infrastructure, the loss of livestock and the loss of the 2008 harvest. Many houses and other buildings were damaged during the armed conflict, and property was stolen during the period of sustained looting that followed,” the report says.
Most of those whose homes in the areas adjacent of breakaway region were destroyed during the August war received one-off assistance of USD 15,000 from the Georgian government to rebuild their homes.
“In spite of this, very little reconstruction has started. Those interviewed by Amnesty International in June 2009, stated that they feared the possibility of new hostilities, and were reluctant to invest money and effort in rebuilding homes given what they perceived as a fragile peace,” according to the report.
Stichworte: Georgien, Abchasien, Süd-Ossetien, Krieg-2008, Appell, Sprache: englisch, Archiv: #