UK: ‘increased Russian interference led to sharp deterioration in human rights’ in Georgia's occupied regions

The UK report mentioned Russia’s illegal activities in Georgia. Photo: emerging Europe.

Agenda.ge, 17 Jul 2020 - 13:27, Tbilisi,Georgia

The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office report for 2019 says that increased Russian interference has led to a sharp deterioration in the human rights situation in the two Russian-occupied regions of Georgia-Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia).

The report says that ‘continued closure of the majority of crossing points’ along the occupation line raised tensions and resulted in frequent detentions and severe restrictions on freedom of movement, affecting livelihoods, education, and access to healthcare. 

Discrimination against ethnic Georgians and intimidation of members of civil society continued. The UK supported Georgian resolutions at the UN General Assembly on internally displaced persons and at the UN Human Rights Council requesting access for the Office of the UN High Representative for Human Rights,” said the report. 

The report reads that the de facto authorities in Georgia’s breakaway region of Abkhazia passed a law in April that would re-introduce the death penalty from January 2020.