Minister Vows to Settle IDP Status Problem by Mid-May

Most of those persons, which have been displaced as a result of the August war will receive a formal status of internally displaced persons by mid-May, Koba Subeliani, the state minister for refugees and accommodation, said on April 2.

“80%, 90% of these people will be granted with IDP status maximum by May 15,” he told journalists, as activists from youth pro-opposition group ‘Why’ were holding a protest rally outside the ministry.

“Special software is now being prepared for creating unified data base of these displaced persons, which will be added with the data of those displaced from Abkhazia,” he added.

While many of the displaced persons have returned to their homes, about 24,000 people, mainly from the villages inside breakaway South Ossetia are not able to return. Eight months after the war, they still remain without an official status of ‘internally displaced persons’ which makes a person eligible for monthly allowances, as well as for free health care. The Ministry for Refugees and Accommodation has been citing internal migration of those persons that was making their registration complicated process as one of the reasons behind the delay.

Public Defender, Sozar Subari, says in his most recent bi-annual report on human rights released on March 31, that rights of thousands of displaced persons are violated “not only because they are not able to return back to their homes, but also because they have not yet been granted a formal status of internally displaced persons and often assistance provided to them is not enough.” 

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