Recommendation 1857 (2009)

Humanitarian consequences of the war between Georgia and Russia

Author(s): Parliamentary Assembly

Origin - Assembly debate on 28 January 2009 (5th and 6th Sittings) (see Doc. 11789, report of the Committee on Migration, Refugees and Population, rapporteur: Mrs Jonker). Text adopted by the Assembly on 28 January 2009 (6th Sitting).

1. The Parliamentary Assembly refers to its Resolution 1648 (2009) on the humanitarian consequences of the war between Georgia and Russia.

2. It believes that there is an important role for the international community to play in South Ossetia and Abkhazia in order to ensure the promotion and protection of human rights and humanitarian law. It is furthermore convinced that the Council of Europe should have a role regarding human rights in this area, without any prejudice to the territorial integrity of Georgia.

3. Therefore, the Assembly recommends that the Committee of Ministers:

3.1. continue to liaise with the United Nations, the European Union, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and other international actors;

3.2. provide support for the human rights training of members of the European Union Monitoring Mission (EUMM);

3.3. examine with the United Nations, as a matter of urgency, how it could contribute to the continuation of the work of a United Nations mission in Georgia, including through a possible Council of Europe presence, to replace the current United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG);

3.4. provide support and funding to the implementation of the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights’ six principles for urgent protection of human rights and humanitarian security.

4. The Assembly also recommends that the Committee of Ministers invite the relevant sectors of the Council of Europe to:

4.1. provide training to local authorities and law-enforcement agents on the awareness of human rights, as well as the specific economic, social, cultural and psychological needs of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in line with the Committee of Ministers Recommendation Rec(2006)6 on internally displaced persons and the United Nations Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement and in co-operation with mandated United Nations agencies and other relevant organisations;

4.2. examine the possibility of providing training in Georgia for government officials, at national and local level, on spending and accounting for international aid and assistance in a transparent manner;

4.3. provide training to non-governmental organisations on the monitoring of aid and assistance run by the government and local authorities;

4.4. organise a multilateral meeting for government officials dealing with IDP issues to allow them the opportunity to learn how these issues are dealt with in other countries;

4.5. organise a multilateral meeting for non-governmental organisations specialising in IDP issues, to allow them the benefit of learning from each others’ different experiences.