PACE Adopted Report on Situation of Refugees, IDPs in Caucasus

(Tbilisi, June 28, Civil Georgia) – Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe (PACE) adopted report of Ruth-Gaby Vermot-Mangold of Committee on Migration, Refugees and Demography, concerning the situation of refugees and IDPs in South Caucasian states on June 27.

The PACE recommends Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia to refrain from instrumental use of refugees and displaced persons for political aims.

According to the report up to million refugees and IDPs are living in the Caucasian region. “Many of them live in refugee camps in dramatic conditions, in full dependence on insufficient humanitarian assistance with no prospects for the future,” the report states.

The PACE urges the Georgian side to grant the right to vote in national and local elections to the displaced Georgian citizens avoiding changes of their status and right of return to home areas. “To ensure the access of the displaced population to land under the same conditions as the local population.”

The PACE urges Georgia “to adopt and implement the law on the return of Meshketian Turks in compliance with the commitment undertaken by Georgia upon its accession to the Council of Europe [in 1999].” According to the commitment Mestkhetians deported in 1944 should be returned to Georgia by the end of 2012.

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