Ministry responds to Amnesty International

On January 31 Ministry of IDPs from the Occupied Territories, Accommodation and Refugees of Georgia released a special statement in response to the Amnesty International (AI) report (of January 28) which urges the Georgian government to comply with international standards on eviction. According to the IDP ministry statement, the AI report is “biased and unfair.”

“As becomes evident from the statement, the organisation does not possess full information regarding the resettlement process. From the beginning of the process, the Ministry was looking forward (as per the telephone agreement) to questions from the AI representative in order to provide detailed and comprehensive information about this particular process, however no questions were sent and the statement was published without reflecting the official position of the Ministry,” the statement reads. In addition the ministry’s statement emphasises that the Ministry usually maintains close and efficient cooperation with AI and they have frequently provided the organisation with information as requested about ongoing or planned processes. At the end of the statement the IDPs ministry expressed its hope that such “regrettable facts” will not be repeated in the future and that AI will continue its cooperation with the Ministry.

“We are still waiting for questions from AI and believe that after receiving the relevant information, AI will get a true impression on the ongoing developments, which will be reflected in their statements and reports accordingly,” the statement reads.

Discussing the violations that took place during the resettlement of 600 IDP families from 22 buildings in Tbilisi, AI was worried that not all the eligible IDPs were provided with financial assistance prior to their removal. In addition not all the alternative housing offered to the evicted families fully met the standards of adequate housing.