Reconciliation Minister: “Peaceful” Gov’t policy aims to eliminate conflict between communities divided by occupation
It is alarming when the “cruel face” of illegal occupation manifests itself in violation of a fundamental right - taking human life and in impunity of guilty persons, the Minister said, adding all relevant state agencies, in close cooperation with international partners, were making joint efforts to ensure the release of Georgian citizens, illegally detained by occupation forces, “as promptly as possible”. Photo via Parliament of Georgia
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Georgian Minister for Reconciliation and Civil Equality Tea Akhvlediani on Tuesday said the Government’s “peaceful” conflict resolution policy on the Russian-occupied Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) regions of the country aimed to eliminate conflict and the “negative attitudes purposefully formed” between communities divided by occupation.
Speaking in the Minister's Hour format to MPs, Akhvlediani highlighted the “heavy consequences” created amid the ongoing occupation of Georgia’s territories, including “gross and systematic violations” of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of the population living on the ground.
Ethnic discrimination, active ‘Russification’ and assimilation policies, restriction of receiving education in the native language, restrictions on free movement, access to property, and other social and economic rights continue”, she added.
Akhvlediani also pointed out “active disinformation” campaigns and anti-Georgian propaganda by occupying forces “directed against the reconciliation, trust and restoration of relations between people divided by the occupation line”.
It is alarming when the “cruel face” of illegal occupation manifests itself in violation of a fundamental right - taking human life and in impunity of guilty persons, the Minister said, adding all relevant state agencies, in close cooperation with international partners, were making joint efforts to ensure the release of Georgian citizens, illegally detained by occupation forces, “as promptly as possible”.
She also stressed the country was using all available mechanisms to ensure the punishment of those responsible for the murder of Georgian citizens in occupied territories and expressed her condolences to the family of Teymur Karbaia, who had been killed in the Russian-occupied Gali district of Abkhazia by local militia last week.
On November 6, the most serious fact of the killing of [Georgian national] Tamaz Ginturi by Russian occupying forces [near a village adjacent to central Georgia’s occupied Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region] was another horrifying manifestation of the illegal occupation”, the Minister noted.
Akhvlediani also emphasised the “great importance of intensive cooperation” with strategic partners and international organisations, as well as diplomatic corps accredited in Georgia, including the European Union Monitoring Mission - which observes developments adjacent to the occupied regions and Geneva International Discussions, the only international format addressing security and humanitarian consequences of the 2008 Russia-Georgia conflict.