European delegations condemn occupation of Georgia at UN Human Rights Council
Dolidze said it is alarming that no international monitoring missions have access to the breakaway regions. Photo:imedinews.ge.
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Occupation of Georgian territories by Russia was strictly condemned by European countries’ delegations during the general debates held by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on March 22.
Georgia’s Permanent Representative to the UN and other international organizations Victor Dolidze spoke about close cooperation between the UH High Commissioner’s office and Georgia.
He emphasised the severe human rights situations in occupied Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) regions as well as the illegal detention and subsequent death of Georgian citizen Irakli Kvaratskhelia in Abkhazia.
Dolidze said it is alarming that no international monitoring missions have access to the breakaway regions.
Delegations from the EU, UK, Estonia, Bulgaria, Romania, Latvia, Lithuania and Finland confirmed their firm support for Georgia’s sovereignty and the integrity of its internationally recognised borders.
The speakers from the UK, Lithuania and Estonia said Irakli Kvaratskhelia’s unexplained death is a result of the Russian occupation and needs to be adequately reacted to by international community.
The UK delegation focused on restricted transportation and ethnic discrimination in the occupied regions while Lithuania’s delegation stated the Russian Federation has established illegal military control there. The latter also emphasized the death of Archil Tatunashvili, Giga Otkhozoria and Irakli Kvaratskhelia caused by the occupation.
The delegations stressed the significance of international monitoring of human rights protection in the Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) regions.
The body of 29-year-old Georgian citizen Irakli Kvaratskhelia, who died in unclear circumstances in occupied Abkhazia, has been handed over to his relatives on Tbilisi-controlled territory. News of Kvaratskhelia’s death was reported yesterday, however sources fix his death at an earlier date.
Co-chairs of the Geneva Internal Discussions from the EU, UN and EU, dealing with Georgian conflict issues, are in the Russian occupied Abkhazia region of Georgia to discuss the details of the recent death of Georgian citizen Irakli Kvaratskhelia in the region.
All Georgian embassies have received instructions to inform their host countries of the death of 29-year-old Georgian citizen Irakli Kvaratskhelia in the prison of the Georgian occupied Abkhazia region, Georgian Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani said.
The State Security Service of Georgia reports that a young Georgian man, Irakli Kvaratskhelia, has reportedly committed suicide in the Gali district, in Georgia's Russian-occupied region of Abkhazia. Kvaratskhelia, born in 1990, had been allegedly detained by de-facto authorities.
The United Nations Human Rights Council has adopted a resolution on cooperation with Georgia. In the resolution the Council reaffirms its commitment to the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Georgia within its internationally recognised borders.
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