OSCE PA supports Georgia
By Tea Mariamidze
Tuesday, July 5
A total of 56 out of 57 nations participating in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE PA) in Tbilisi supported a draft resolution prepared by Georgia about the conflicts in the country on July 4. Only the representatives from Russia were against the document.
The draft resolution, Conflicts in Georgia, supported by OSCE PA’s Committee of Policy Issues, was prepared by the Parliament Speaker of Georgia, Davit Usupashvili. It consists of 17 points and condemns Russian activities in the occupied territories of Georgia.
By supporting the document, OSCE PA calls on Russia to implement the EU-mediated 12 August 2008 Ceasefire Agreement and respect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Georgia within its internationally recognized borders.
Moreover, the resolution urges the Russian Federation to reverse the recognition and creeping annexation of Georgia’s Abkhazia and South Ossetia region and to allow the safe, dignified, and unhindered return of all internally displaced persons and refugees to their homes, ensure the access to international humanitarian aid when needed, and allow international human rights monitoring on the ground.
The representatives of Russia said the document was “anti-Russian” and “biased”. According to Nikolai Kovalyov, head of the Russian delegation at the OSCE PA, the resolution ignores the wills of the Abkhaz and Ossetian people. Kovalyov says that it is not true that refugees are not allowed to return to Abkhazia and 50,000 Georgian refugees have returned to the Gali district.
"The draft resolution is extremely politicized. This is an open anti-Russian document. It expresses ungrounded claims,” he stated.
Georgia’s Parliament Speaker Davit Usupashvili said the decision of Russia’s representatives was expected.
“With this document, 56 countries of the world told one country to keep to international standards, which always need to be respected, ” he commented.
According to the head of Foreign Relations Committee of Georgian Parliament and representative of Georgia in OSCE, Tedo Japaridze, the current resolution is much clearer than the previous one adopted in 2012.
“It is our action plan. We need to work actively in any format, to promote the realization of that we wrote in the resolution,” he noted.
The final voting on the draft resolution will be held at the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s plenary session on July 5.
