CoE Human Rights Chief Speaks of IDPs, Situation in War-Affected Areas

Thomas Hammarberg, the Council of Europe’s commissioner for human rights, said there was a problem with breakaway South Ossetia’s authorities to recognize the principle of right of return of those who were forced to flee the region after the August war.

Hammarberg, who visited Georgia on November 12-14, was also in Tskhinvali where he met with the South Ossetian leader, Eduard Kokoity.

“They [de factor authorities] must state the principle clearly that those who were forced to leave have the right to come back and the authorities there should cooperate on that,” Hammarberg said at a news conference in Tbilisi on November 14. “I had a discussion with de facto President Kokoity about this and I feel there is need to continue that discussion, because I was not satisfied with everything I heard at that discussion.”

He also said that he was not satisfied with the conditions he had seen while visiting one of the collective centers for Georgian internally displaced persons.

“I think the conditions are not satisfactory,” he said. “There was no heating; there is very temporary system of electricity, when people had to do it with themselves; there were not sufficient material conditions for them, they had mattresses, but almost nothing else. So this has to improve, otherwise these people will suffer badly during the winter.”

According to the Georgian Interior Ministry, which is in charge of coordinating housing project, a total of 3,984 new houses are currently being built in the Shida Kartli region for those who fled the villages, located mainly inside breakaway South Ossetia. 1,636 houses will be repaired and in addition 500 houses will be bought by the state for displaced families, according to the Ministry. Interior Minister, Vano Merabishvili, said on November 14, that the construction process is now almost over and IDPs would be able to go there in December.

Hammarberg also said that security and material conditions for those who have returned to the villages of former buffer zone, especially in its northern part – which is at to the South Ossetian administrative border – remained a source of concern.

There are still reports of “looting and threats and other crimes against individuals,” he said.

“Presence of EU monitors has reduced level of such crimes, but it has not stopped it,” Hammarberg said and added that there was need of “more active monitoring of these areas,” as well as need for more effective policing on the both sides of the administrative border.
 
There have been reports that those displaced from the war-affected areas, especially from the former buffer zones and its northern part, had to return back to their homes after the authorities’ strong insistence. There have also been reports that the authorities allegedly were threatening not to provide them with assistance in case of their refusal to return.

Commenting on these reports, Hammarberg said: “This type of problem did come up [during his meeting with locals in the former buffer zone villages]; I would not say that people complained that they had been forced back, or pushed very much to go back; but they had got information that now they could go back.”

“Some people felt that there was still unsafe,” he continued. “In light of lack of material, possibilities to buy food, they are in crisis situation, in my opinion, both when it comes to not feeling safe and not being sure that they can earn living in those areas. There is definitely a need to ensure security with more energy from all sides – the police, the EU monitors.”

“These are extremely poor people now. They have lost one harvest and they are now risking losing the next harvest,” Hammarberg said. He also noted that problem of unexploded ordinance 

Hammarberg said that there definitely were ten bodies of Georgian soldiers killed during the war still remained in Tskhinvali and he hoped these bodies would soon be handed over to the Georgian side.

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