In 2 June 2018, in New York, during its 72nd Session, the General Assembly of the United Nations once again adopted the Resolution initiated by Georgia on the „Status of Internally Displaced Persons and Refugees from Abkhazia, Georgia and the Tskhinvali Region/South Ossetia, Georgia”, – the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia releases the regarding information.

According to the Ministry, the growing number of supporters of the resolution has been maintained.

The Resolution on the „Status of Internally Displaced Persons and Refugees from Abkhazia, Georgia and the Tskhinvali Region/South Ossetia, Georgia” was adopted by a vote of 81 in favor.

The General Assembly Resolution which is adopted consecutively from 2008, reaffirms the fundamental rights of internally displaced persons, first and foremost their right of voluntary, safe and dignified return to their homes.

The Resolution is of purely humanitarian nature and is based on the UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement. It condemns the forced demographic changes in the occupied regions, emphasizes the right of all internally displaced persons and refugees, regardless of their ethnicity, to a safe and dignified return to their places of origin, and focuses upon the need to fully respect and protect their property rights.

The Resolution reiterates the importance of unimpeded humanitarian access in the regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali Region.

The resolution has a practical importance as well, since it calls on the UN Secretary General to draft annual report on the state of the internally displaced persons in Georgia and on the implementation of the resolution. This gains even greater importance in the light of the deploring human right situation in the occupied territories in the absence of international human rights monitoring mechanisms, which constitutes one of the impediments to the safe and dignified return of internally displaces persons.

The Resolution calls upon the participants of the Geneva International Discussions to reactivate their efforts to ensure security and human rights protection in the occupied regions, which in turn will facilitate the return of IDPs and refugees to their homes.
It should be noted that adoption of this resolution by the General Assembly underlines that the situation in Georgia still remains on the agenda of the largest international forum and gains due attention from the International community.