Council of Europe supports document on Georgia’s sovereignty, territorial integrity

Tamar Taliashvili, Georgia’s Permanent Representative to the Council of Europe, on Tuesday said the CoE and its 46 member states had confirmed their “firm and unconditional” support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia within its internationally recognised borders.

Taliashvili said the decision of the partners to support the document submitted by the Georgian authorities was a “clear response” to the Russian occupation of the country’s regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia).

Member countries call on Russia, as the force exercising effective control over the occupied territories of Georgia, to ensure the protection of human rights and basic freedoms in the occupied Abkhazia and Tskhinvali regions”, she said.

Also, the Committee of Ministers welcomed the results of the [last year’s] historic summit of the CoE in Reykjavík, within which the leaders of the member states of the CoE collectively called on Russia to fulfil its international obligations and to completely withdraw its forces from the territory of Georgia”, she added.

The document also highlights decisions of the European Court of Human Rights against Russia over the recent years, in which Georgia in the CoE said Georgia had won 3,300 cases related to the 2008 war with Russia and the latter's subsequent intervention in the country.