UN Human Rights Council adopts resolution on Georgia’s occupied territories

The United Nations Human Rights Council on Friday adopted a resolution on Cooperation with Georgia at its 57th session in Geneva, the Georgian Foreign Ministry said.

Georgian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Lasha Darsalia, presented the resolution at the Council’s meeting and addressed the “grave situation” in Russian-occupied Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) regions as a result of human rights violations in the country's occupied regions.

He emphasised the fact of Russia's occupation of Georgia's territories and its “effective control” over them, as confirmed by the rulings of the European Court of Human Rights and the International Criminal Court.

In the resolution, adopted by a vote of 24 in favour, three against and 20 abstentions, the Council demands that “immediate and unimpeded access be given to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and other international and regional human rights mechanisms” to the occupied regions.

The Council expresses deep concern over various forms of discrimination and human rights violations against the ethnically Georgian population in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The resolution also refers to the limitations imposed by the occupying power on international organisations' activities and efforts aimed at restoring trust in the occupied territories.

“For the first time, there has been made a record on the occupation of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali regions by Russia in the adopted resolution”, the foreign office said and added under the ECHR’s judgements from 2021 to 2024, the resolution emphasised the occupation of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali regions and Russia's responsibility, as the state “exercising effective control” over these regions, for “grave human rights violations”.

The resolution also condemns the “ongoing illegal military presence of Russia” in Abkhazia and South Ossetia “without the consent of Georgia” and the “attempts to legitimise its military presence”, including through the “organisation of illegal so-called elections by the authorities exercising effective control”, the “signing of so-called treaties” and the creation of so-called joint socioeconomic spaces”.

The Human Rights Council once again reaffirms its support for Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders, stressing the importance of the Geneva International Discussions, a platform facilitating talks on the consequences of the 2008 Russia-Georgia war.

During the discussion of the resolution, supportive statements have been made by the delegations of the European Union, Bulgaria, Japan, Luxembourg and Finland and called on other member states of the Council to back the resolution, the Ministry said and added that compared to the previous year, the number of supporters of the resolution increased.