US Congress adopts resolution supporting Georgia’s territorial integrity

The United States (US) House of Representatives of the US Congress has adopted a resolution in support of Georgia’s territorial integrity. 

The resolution, released today on the official webpage of the US legislative agency, stated the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia had been reaffirmed by the international community in all United Nations (UN) Security Council resolutions on Georgia since 1993. 

The resolution stated the recognition of Georgia’s two breakaway territories Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) as independent republics by Russia in the wake of the 2008 Russia-Georgia war was a "violation of international laws and regulations”. 

The document also underscored the 2008 war resulted in civilian and military casualties, the violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia and caused a large numbers of people to become internally displaced. 

The resolution referred to other international documents that supported Georgia’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, including the UN General Assembly resolution on the Status of Internally Displaced Persons and Refugees from Abkhazia, Georgia and the Tskhinvali region/South Ossetia, Georgia. 

It also stated the right of return of all internally displaced persons and refugees and their descendants, regardless of ethnicity, as well as their property rights, remained unfulfilled. 

Even more so, Russia continued to erect barbed wire fences and so called border signs along the occupation line "depriving the people residing within the occupied regions and in the adjacent areas of their fundamental rights and freedoms”. 

For these and other reasons, the US House of Representatives:

• Condemns the military intervention and occupation of Georgia by the Russian Federation and its continuous illegal activities along the occupation line in Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia);
• Calls upon the Russian Federation to withdraw its recognition of Georgia’s territories of Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) as independent countries;
• Stresses the necessity of progress on core issues within the Geneva International Discussions, including a legally binding pledge from Russia on the non-use of force, the establishment of international security arrangements in the occupied regions of Georgia, and the safe and dignified return of internally displaced persons and refugees to the places of their origin;
• Urges the US Government to declare unequivocally that the  US will not recognise the de jure or de facto sovereignty of the Russian Federation over any part of Georgia, its airspace, or its territorial waters, including Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia).

The US House of Representatives resolution text urged the US Administration to deepen cooperation with Georgia in all areas of the US -Georgia Charter on Strategic Partnership, including Georgia’s advancement towards Euro-Atlantic integration.

The document clearly stated that a free, united, democratic, and sovereign Georgia was in the long-term interest of the United States as it promoted peace and stability in the region.

See the full resolution text here.