“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.

I am writing to express profound concern about allegations of inhuman and degrading treatment of three young men in police custody.

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

I am writing to express our profound concern about the growing number of physical attacks on opposition activists and peaceful demonstrators who have been engaging in the protests that began in Tbilisi on April 9.

This note aims to outline key areas of concern in Georgia’s human rights record that we hope to see addressed on the occasion of the European Union’s upcoming Human Rights Dialogue with Georgia. We believe this dialogue is a crucial opportunity to candidly assess shortcomings in the Georgian government’s human rights record, and to encourage the Georgian leadership to undertake concrete steps to address them in the spirit of the European Neighborhood Policy and its Action Plan.

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.