Georgia’s Foreign Minister speaks at UN Human Rights Council

Georgia’s Foreign Minister Tamar Beruchashvili has attended the 28^th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva and has spoken at the session to foreign representatives.

In her address, the Georgian Minister focussed on Georgia’s ongoing reforms in the area of human rights and the measures her Government had carried out to improve human rights in Georgia.

The Minister emphasised the country’s National Strategy and Action Plan in Human Rights had been developed in close coordination with international partner organisations and the non-governmental sector, and had since been approved by the Georgian Government for implementation.

Beruchashvili paid special attention to the dire human rights situation in Georgia’s occupied regions where serious violations of the local population’s fundamental rights and freedoms still continue to be reported.

An extensive part of the Minister’s address concerned the human rights challenges currently facing the international community. The Georgian Foreign Minister condemned Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, which resulted in the loss of life of tens of thousands of civilians. Beruchashvili reaffirmed the Georgian Government’s firm support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders, sovereignty and democratic future.

Following on from this, Beruchashvili condemned the signature of a so-called treaty on "Alliance and Integration” between the Russian Federation with Georgia’s occupied regions Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) and said this agreement would "further aggravate the already dire humanitarian situation”.

In this context, the Minister underlined the necessity to international mechanisms into practice and to the European Union Monitoring Mission (EUMM) carries out monitoring in Georgia’s occupied regions.

While in Geneva, in the framework of the 28th session of the UN Human Rights Council, Beruchashvili has attended several meetings with senior officials of the organisation.

On the opening day of the event, Beruchashvili met with president of the Human Rights Council, Joachim Rucker and discussed the human rights situation in Georgia in more depth. Beruchashvili updated Rucker on the grave humanitarian situation in Georgia’s occupied regions and about the "illegal steps” Russia had taken in this direction.