Recommendations

To the Georgian Government

Accountability

• Investigate and hold accountable those among Georgian forces responsible for violations of international human rights and humanitarian law. In accordance with international standards, investigations should be prompt, thorough, independent, impartial, and open to public scrutiny.
• Provide compensation for damage and destruction caused by Georgian forces' violations of international humanitarian law.

Cooperation with and access for international organizations

• Cooperate fully with the international inquiry commissioned by the European Union, including by providing full, unimpeded access to Georgia and access to all relevant persons and information for all of the inquiry's experts and staff.
• Continue to cooperate fully with the European Union and OSCE monitoring missions for as long as they operate in undisputed territories of Georgia.
• Cooperate fully with the European Court of Human Rights concerning potential applications brought against Georgia regarding violations committed during the August 2008 war.
• Fully implement the guarantees urged by the Council of Europe commissioner for human rights.

Banning cluster munitions

· Sign and ratify the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

• In the interim period prior to ratification of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, take measures to protect civilian lives, including by prohibiting the use of cluster munitions in populated areas, placing a ban or moratorium on production and trade of cluster munitions, and starting to destroy stockpiles.
• Make every effort to expand assistance to demining organizations with clearance and risk education in contaminated areas, including by providing unfettered access and providing strike data, to prevent injuries and casualties among the civilian population.
• Continue to conduct public information campaigns regarding unexploded ordnance.

Protection and assistance for displaced persons

• Take all measures to ensure the protection of and continued assistance to all persons displaced as a result of the conflict. This includes, but is not limited to:
• Providing adequate housing, nutrition, access to medical care, access to education for children, and other support for those displaced;
• Taking concrete steps to guarantee that the displaced participate in decisions affecting them;

oInforming the displaced of their rights to return, to resettlement, or integration with local society if they so wish, and facilitating the realization of those rights to the extent possible.

To the Russian Government

Return of all displaced persons

• Publicly promote and implement the right of all persons displaced by the conflict, including ethnic Georgians, to return and live in their homes in South Ossetia in safety and dignity, and take measures to ensure that they may return.

• Prevail on the de facto authorities in South Ossetia to publicly acknowledge the right of all people, without regard to their ethnic background or imputed political affiliations, to safe and dignified return to their homes in South Ossetia, and to facilitate their return. This includes individuals from the villages of South Ossetia that had been administered by Tbilisi prior to the conflict.
• Adopt measures to facilitate the return of all persons displaced by the conflict, including all inhabitants of villages of South Ossetia administered by Tbilisi prior to the conflict, including by ensuring security as outlined below and by providing reparations for damage and destruction caused by violations of international humanitarian law by Russian and South Ossetian forces.

Security and accountability

• Ensure that Russian forces provide security to all persons, regardless of ethnicity, living in areas in South Ossetia that are under Russia's effective control. Specifically, put an immediate end to South Ossetian militia attacks and looting against ethnic Georgians in Akhalgori district in South Ossetia.
• Ensure that those responsible for crimes against all persons, including ethnic Georgians, in South Ossetia are held accountable.
• Investigate and hold accountable those among Russian and Ossetian forces responsible for the violations of international human rights and humanitarian law under areas of effective Russian control that are documented in this report. In accordance with international standards, investigations should be prompt, independent, impartial, thorough, and open to public scrutiny.

Cooperation with and access for international organizations

• Cooperate fully with the international inquiry commissioned by the European Union, including by providing full, unimpeded access to South Ossetia and access to all relevant persons and information for all of the inquiry's experts and staff.
• Provide full access to South Ossetia and cooperate with the European Union Monitoring Mission.
• Reconsider the objections to OSCE activities in Georgia and facilitate OSCE monitoring in South Ossetia and undisputed parts of Georgia.
• Fully implement the guarantees urged by the Council of Europe commissioner for human rights.
• Cooperate fully with the European Court of Human Rights concerning potential applications brought against Russia regarding violations committed during the August 2008 war.

Banning cluster munitions

• Sign and ratify the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

o In the interim period prior to ratification of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, take measures to protect civilian lives, including by prohibiting the use of cluster munitions in populated areas, placing a ban or moratorium on production and trade of cluster munitions, and starting to destroy stockpiles.

· Make every effort to assist demining organizations with clearance and risk education in contaminated areas currently under effective Russian control, including by providing unfettered access and providing strike data, to prevent injuries and casualties among the civilian population.

To the de facto South Ossetian Authorities

· Publicly acknowledge, and respect and implement, the right of all people displaced by the conflict, including all ethnic Georgians, to the safe and dignified return to their homes in South Ossetia, and facilitate their return.

• Ensure equal access to financial and material assistance to all residents, irrespective of ethnicity.

• Ensure the security of all persons, regardless of ethnicity, living in South Ossetia. Specifically, put an end to South Ossetian militia attacks and looting against ethnic Georgians in Akhalgori district.
• Cooperate with Russia and Georgia to ensure that all those responsible for violations are brought to justice.
• Cooperate fully with the international inquiry commissioned by the European Union, including by providing full, unimpeded access to South Ossetia and access to all relevant persons and information for all of the inquiry's experts and staff.
• Provide full access to South Ossetia and cooperate with all monitoring missions, including the mission led by the European Union, currently operating in undisputed territories of Georgia.

· Fully implement the guarantees urged by the Council of Europe commissioner for human rights.

To the International Inquiry Commissioned by the European Union

• Make every effort to gain access to all regions affected by the conflict. Publicize, where necessary, parties' refusal to cooperate with the commission
• Ensure that witnesses and victims and any other individuals who provide information to the inquiry are protected from reprisals.
• Ensure that the inquiry's final report includes detailed recommendations to all parties to the conflict aimed at preventing further human rights violations and  ensuring justice and reparation for victims.

·Actively seek the input and expertise of local and international nongovernmental organizations, as well as local lawyers and other experts, throughout the course of the inquiry's work. 

To the Council of Europe

• The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) should monitor closely Russia's and Georgia's obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights, paying particular attention to the human rights violations committed during the August 2008 war and its aftermath, as well as Russia's and Georgia's compliance with the recommendations set forth in PACE resolution 1633.[594]
• In accordance with PACE resolution 1633, the PACE Bureau should ensure that the Assembly remains seized of the human rights implications of the August 2008 war  through its competent committees, including the Monitoring, Legal Affairs and Human Rights, Political Affairs, and Migration and Refugees committees, and step up its monitoring procedure with respect to both Russia and Georgia.
• In accordance with PACE resolution 1633, the secretary general of the Council of Europe should consider the establishment, possibly in consultation with the commissioner for human rights, of a special human rights field mission of the Council of Europe with unhindered access to all areas affected by the war.
• The Council of Europe commissioner for human rights should continue to conduct regular missions to Georgia, including to South Ossetia, to assess all parties' compliance with the September 2008 recommendations set forth in the commissioner's principles for urgent protection of human rights after the Georgia-Russia armed conflict. These principles call on all parties to guarantee: the right to return of those who fled or were displaced; adequate housing and other support for those displaced; protection for civilians from physical attacks and looting; and cooperation with and support for international agencies working in the conflict zone.

To the European Union

• Continue to provide full political and material support to the international commission of inquiry, including by calling on all parties to the conflict to cooperate fully with the inquiry and providing the inquiry with adequate resources to conduct a thorough and comprehensive investigation.
• Prevail upon the Russian and Georgian governments and South Ossetian de facto administration to implement the recommendations outlined above. Condition deepening of relations with Russia and Georgia on their fulfillment of their obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law.
• In the context of the Geneva talks hosted jointly by the European Union, OSCE, and United Nations, prioritize the creation of security and monitoring mechanisms to facilitate return to South Ossetia of all persons displaced by the conflict and its aftermath.
• Make Georgia's cooperation with the international commission of inquiry examining the conflict in South Ossetia a precondition for providing financial and other assistance designated for Georgia.

·Make Georgia's progress on investigations into allegations of abuses committed during the conflict in South Ossetia as well as on substantive progress on other human rights concerns a precondition for providing financial and other assistance designated for Georgia.

• Ensure that states exercise jurisdiction, including, where necessary, universal jurisdiction, over suspects of crimes under international law, including war crimes committed during the conflict.

·Support the Convention on Cluster Munitions: end the use, stockpiling and transfer of all cluster weapons, by private companies and individuals as well as states.

To the United States Government

• Continue to provide full support to the international commission of inquiry, including by calling on all parties to the conflict to cooperate fully with the inquiry and providing the inquiry with adequate resources to conduct a thorough and comprehensive investigation.
• Make Georgia's cooperation with the international commission of inquiry examining the conflict in South Ossetia a precondition for receiving financial and other assistance designated for Georgia.
• Make Georgia's progress on investigations into allegations of abuses committed during the conflict in South Ossetia as well as on substantive progress on other human rights concerns a precondition for providing financial and other assistance designated for Georgia.