Ethnic Georgian Returnees to Abkhazia Rights Also Need to be Protected: Human Rights Watch

The rights of ethnic Georgian returnees to Abkhazia are hostage to nearly two decades of political conflict, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. About 47,000 of those displaced by the fighting in the early 1990s as Abkhazia tried to separate from Georgia have returned to Gali, the southernmost district of Abkhazia. But they face barriers to civil and political rights, driving some to leave again and creating serious obstacles for large-scale, sustainable returns.

The 71-page report, “Living in Limbo: The Rights of Ethnic Georgian Returnees to the Gali District of Abkhazia,” documents the arbitrary interference by Abkhazia’s de facto authorities with returnees’ rights to freedom of movement, education, and other political and economic rights. Although Abkhazia is not recognized as an independent state under international law, the authorities there nevertheless have obligations under international law to respect and protect rights and freedoms, Human Rights Watch said. They should ensure freedom of movement across the administrative boundary that separates Abkhazia from uncontested areas of Georgia and should end discrimination, in particular with access to identity documents and education, Human Rights Watch said.

“Without prejudice to Abkhazia’s status, the authorities in Abkhazia have duties when it comes to protecting rights,” said Rachel Denber, deputy Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The Abkhaz authorities need to recognize and protect the rights of everyone in Abkhazia, including ethnic Georgians in Gali.”

Armed conflict broke out in Abkhazia between the Georgian military and breakaway Abkhaz forces in the summer of 1992. As a result, more than 200,000 people, the majority of them ethnic Georgians, were displaced from their homes in Abkhazia and most have not returned. A ceasefire agreed to in May 1994 largely held until the brief war in August 2008 between Georgia and Russia over South Ossetia, another breakaway region of Georgia.

Photo: Crossing the Abkhaz-Georgian administrative boundary at a crossing that the Abkhaz authorities consider illegal (Human Rights Watch)