“Protection of human rights can only be achieved if the victims of human rights violations have access to an effective remedy.” Yet this fundamental human right, enshrined in so many instruments, including the European Convention on Human Rights, is being breached on a continuous basis in many member states. This fact underscores a serious enforcement gap that urgently needs to be addressed.

The Georgian government should not abandon its obligations to protect human rights in its negotiations with the political opposition.

The loss of lives and livelihoods from cluster munitions used by Russia and Georgia during the August 2008 armed conflict reinforces the importance of the new treaty banning the weapon.

On January 23, Human Rights Watch published a 200-page report, Up in Flames: Humanitarian Law Violations in the Conflict Over South Ossetia, [1] summing up its extensive findings regarding the violations of human rights and international humanitarian law that occurred during the conflict in South Ossetia and uncontested Georgian territories. The armed conflict as such lasted only one week in August 2008, but the consequences will indubitably endure for much longer. The conflict and its aftermath have seen lives, livelihoods, homes, and communities devastated in South Ossetia and bordering districts of Georgia. As the conflict broke out, Human Rights Watch researchers immediately began documenting the violations that were committed by all sides. All this data, including more than 460 interviews over several months of field research, formed the basis for the legal analysis presented in the final report.

Georgian, Russian and South Ossetian forces committed numerous violations of the laws of war in the conflict in August 2008 over South Ossetia and its aftermath, causing many civilian deaths and injuries and widespread destruction of civilian property, Human Rights Watch said in a comprehensive report released today.

Russian authorities should take immediate steps to stop South Ossetian militias from attacking ethnic Georgians in Akhalgori district in South Ossetia, Human Rights Watch said today. Russia should also ensure that local residents remain able to move freely to and from the rest of Georgia.

In the first week of September, a cherry tree was blossoming in the ruins of Thalmann Street. Cherry trees never flower in autumn except after a war. This street in the old Jewish quarter of Tskhinvali, long deserted by the Jewish community, was almost totally destroyed during Georgia's brief but intense offensive on the South Ossetian capital.

Georgian cluster munitions fired in the conflict with Russia in August 2008 caused more damage and hit more locations than previously commonly reported, Human Rights Watch said today in a presentation to the Convention on Conventional Weapons in Geneva.