Human Rights Developments

Defending Human Rights

The Role of the International Community

The Role of the International Community

Council of Europe, European Union, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)

The Council of Europe continued to review Georgia’s application for full membership. Parliamentary Assembly members and other Council of Europe officials routinely raised human rights concerns with the government in private, and showed great commitment to advancing legal reform. The European Union, the single largest donor to the Caucasus, was active in support of nongovernmental organizations, and routinely raised the need for legal reform and improved human rights practices in private with members of the government. The OSCE mission to Georgia made substantial contributions to the training of the new Ombudsman’s staff, raised awareness of issues related to the Meskhetian ethnic minority, and much to its credit, spoke frankly and effectively in public fora regarding police abuse of detainees. All three organizations issued statements about the renewed hostilities in Abkhazia in May, but the statements should have been stronger to exert maximum pressure on the government of Georgia to investigate partisan violence and on Abkhaz authorities to hold their forces accountable for human rights violations.

United Nations

In a July 30 resolution, the U.N. Security Council condemned both violence against CIS peacekeepers by armed forces operating on the Georgian side of the border, and Abkhaz forces’ deliberate destruction of homes. A May statement by the president of the Security Council expressed grave concern at the renewed violence in Abkhazia. The Security Council extended the mandate of the United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG), which has about ninety members, in the Gali region of Abkhazia until January 1999. A mainly Russian CIS peacekeeping force of 1,500 is also stationed in the conflict zone. Negotiations under the auspices of the U.N. and the OSCE sought throughout the year to achieve a political resolution to the conflict. The U.N. and the OSCE maintain a joint human rights office in Sukhumi that carries out capacity-building work with nongovernmental organizations and engages in limited monitoring of human rights violations.

United States

The U.S. State Department’s Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1997 accurately depicted developments in Georgia during the year, highlighting serious and systematic abuses committed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. U.S. policy toward Georgia is significantly driven by its interest in promoting the Baku-Supsa oil transportation route. The U.S. and its allies have strengthened ties with the Georgian army and border service, and this increased involvement with the security forces raised concerns regarding failure to condemn sufficiently abuses by the Ministry of Internal Affairs.