UPDATED: OSCE adopts resolution on conflicts in Georgia
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Updated: Tuesday, 11.48am
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE PA) in Tbilisi has adopted a resolution prepared by Georgia’s Parliament Speaker about the conflicts in the country.
Fifty-seven nations participating in the OSCE PA cast their vote this morning and the document won overwhelming support.
Through the document, the PA stressed that Russia continued to violate international law and the rights of Georgian citizens living in and near the occupied regions, and called on the OSCE to intensify its efforts to ensure peace in Georgia.
President of the OSCE PA Ilkka Kanerva assessed the document as "very important”.
"Politically, this is a very valuable and important resolution. It involves the political will of 67 countries,” he said.
The President added the document would now be presented to OSCE in Vienna, Austria and Foreign Ministries of all OSCE member states.
Also today the PA adopted the 2016 Tbilisi Declaration that addressed key issues in the fields of political affairs and security, economics, the environment, human rights, and humanitarian concerns.
Earlier: Monday, 12.55pm
Georgian politicians are celebrating a monumental occasion where 56 of 57 nations participating in the OSCE PA, currently being held in Tbilisi, voted in favour of an important document prepared by Georgia about the conflicts in the country.
Russia was the only nation that did not vote in favour of the document.
The OSCE PA General Committee on Political Affairs and Security supported the 17-point draft resolution on "Conflict in Georgia” at its session in Tbilisi today. Out of 57 participating countries, 56 voted in favour of the resolution. The only country who went against the document and said it was "biased”, was Russia.
Three Russian politicians were the only people in the room to speak against the resolution. Photo by Georgian' Parliament's press office
The draft resolution stressed the importance of enhancing efforts for peaceful resolution of the conflicts in Georgia, which included the occupying of its two territories Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region.
The resolution said despite international calls, Russia remained in breach of international law and disregarded the EU-mediated 12 August 2008 Ceasefire Agreement by continuing its policy of occupation and creeping annexation of Georgia’s Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) regions through so-called "integration treaties”.
Below is the full text of the draft resolution, which the Georgian side assessed as "clearer and better” than the previous one adopted in 2012.
Three members of a Russian delegation attending the OSCE PA in Tbilisi were the only parliamentarians who opposed the document. The trip said the document was "anti-Russian”.
"We do not support the draft resolution as it is politically motivated and does not express the will of Abkhazian and Ossetian people,” said Russian delegation member Iliya Kostunoff.
Georgia’s Parliament Speaker David Usupashvili said he was not surprised by Russia’s reaction.
"Fifty-six countries across the world tell one country to respect the standards that need to be respected,” Usupashvili said.
Photo by Georgian' Parliament's press office
The final vote on the resolution was scheduled for tomorrow’s session. It was expected that the OSCE PA would adopt the document.
Georgian majority Member of Parliament and Georgian representative at the OSCE Tedo Japaridze said the document outlined all the important issues for Georgia and now all efforts needed to be made to fulfil the norms stated in the resolution.
Officials discuss international challenges in Tbilisi
Today is the second day of the annual Parliamentary Assembly of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE PA), which is taking place in Tbilisi from July 1-5.
“Visa-free travel will signify EU’s strong support of Georgia”
Prime Minister of Georgia Giorgi Kvirikashvili says granting visa-free travel to the Schengen Zone for Georgia will be a signal of the European Union’s (EU) "strong support for Georgia” and "a huge stimulus” for the country to continue on its Euro-Atlantic path and strive to achieve more success in the future.
Austria’s Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz will visit Georgia as soon as his county takes over OSCE chairmanship in 2017 to stress Georgia is always high on the agency’s agenda.
As the clock strikes midnight tonight, Georgia will mark the seventh anniversary of Russia’s aggression and occupation of the territories of a sovereign, independent state.
Today Russian-controlled armed guards in uniform installed new ‘border’ signs in the small Georgian village of Avnevi in Kareli municipality in central Georgia, local media reported today.
Georgia strongly condemns the recent ratification of an agreement between Russia and Georgia’s breakaway Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region to establish and mark the state border around the occupied territory.
Russia has advanced its creeping occupation into Georgian territory, resulting in a portion of the BP-operated Baku–Supsa Pipeline now under Russian control in the breakaway Tskinvali region (South Ossetia).
Tbilisi is calling on the global community to "properly respond” to Russia’s "illegal actions” of creeping occupation at the Administrative Boundary Line (ABL) between breakaway Tskhinvali region (South Ossetia) and the rest of Georgia.
Conflict management and continental security were the focus of discussions between Georgia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and his European counterparts at an informal ministerial of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in Germany on Thursday.
For the first time since Russia-Georgia war in August 2008, the OSCE Group of Friends of Georgia has adopted a declaration on the conflict supporting Georgia's territorial integrity.
Georgian parliamentary delegation is taking part in the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE PA) annual session in the Belarusian capital of Minsk.
OSCE Group of Friends of Georgia, uniting the US, Canada, Great Britain, Sweden, Estonia, Lithuania, Romania and Poland, intends to adopt a declaration supporting Georgia’s territorial integrity and democratic development at today’s OSCE Ministerial Council.
Georgia’s Foreign Minister Mikheil Janelidze has met top figures from OSCE/ODIHR, within the 24th OSCE Council Ministerial in Austria, and briefed them about the serious violation of human rights in Georgia’s occupied regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia).
OSCE Group of Friends of Georgia, uniting Canada, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Sweden, Czech Republic, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, has released a statement supporting Georgia’s territorial integrity and democratic development at today’s OSCE Ministerial Council.
The Permanent Council of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), which is the principal decision making body of the organization, has hosted discussions on the occupation of Georgian territories yesterday.
Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze has discussed conflict and security issues with Secretary General of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Thomas Greminger, who has visited Georgia for the first time.
Due to strong international support for Georgia, Russia has agreed not to participate in unarmed surveillance flights over Georgia in 2019.
“Installation of artificial barriers and barbed wire fences further aggravated the humanitarian conditions of conflict affected population. We are deeply concerned over the systematic violation of the fundamental human rights including the ethnic discrimination against the Georgians in both occupied regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) regions, "Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani said.
With 50 votes in favour and five against, the OSCE PA’s Committee on Political Affairs and Security adopted the resolution initiated by the Georgian lawmaker Sophio Katsarava, despite Russia’s demand to exclude the resolution from the agenda.
The US has announced plans to withdraw from the 35-nation Open Skies Treaty, which allows for unarmed surveillance flights over member states, saying that Russia has refused to adhere to the treaty which entered into force back in 2002.