Statement by Lithuania on behalf of the Nordic and Baltic States: at the UNGA debate on the “Status of internally displaced persons and refugees from Abkhazia, Georgia, and the Tskhinvali region/South Ossetia, Georgia”
Mister President, I have the honor to speak on behalf of the Baltic and the Nordic States: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Norway, Sweden and my own country, Lithuania. The following States – Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Luxembourg, Republic of Moldova, Montenegro, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Ukraine align themselves with this statement.
Firstly, we avail ourselves of this opportunity to reiterate our unwavering support to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia within its internationally recognized borders.
The territorial integrity of Georgia continues to be violated by the Russian Federation since 2008 displacing thousands of people and affecting the humanitarian situation of the country.
Russia’s responsibility for grave human rights violations committed while in effective control of the illegally occupied Georgian territory has been confirmed by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in its landmark judgment of 2021 and reaffirmed in its most recent judgment of 7 March 2023 [on the case of “Mamasakhlisi and Others v. Georgia and Russia”].
Perpetrators of these violations must be held accountable. In this regard, we welcome the ICC Prosecutor’s application of 10 March 2022 to issue arrest warrants for suspects bearing individual criminal responsibility for the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during Russia’s war against Georgia in 2008.
We remain concerned with the human rights situation on the ground. Regrettably, no international human rights monitoring mechanisms have been granted unrestricted access to assess the situation in these regions. We reiterate our call for an immediate access for the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights and other international and regional human rights mechanisms.
We reiterate our support to the process of Geneva International Discussions and regret that there is a constant lack of engagement from the Russian side and participants from Tskhinvali and Sukhumi.
In this context, we also commend the continued efforts by the Georgian Government, in close cooperation with international organizations, to provide IDPs with alternative solutions in terms of housing and improvement of socio-economic conditions.
Mister President,
The number of displaced persons and refugees around the world has reached unprecedented level and is still growing. Only Russia’s full scale military aggression against Ukraine has resulted in displacement unseen in Europe since the World War II with more than 13 million displaced persons.
We are pleased to see a growing awareness of the international community regarding the need to address forcible displacement, including pressing humanitarian issues in Abkhazia and Tskhinvali/South Ossetia regions of Georgia. The resolution we are adopting today reconfirms the need to continue working for the protection and assistance to those who have been forcibly displaced and have not been able to exercise their fundamental right to safe and dignified return home for more than a decade.
To conclude, given the lack of progress on the ground and the need for UN’s continuous engagement, as in previous years, our countries will vote in favor of this resolution, and we call on all UN Member States to do the same.
I thank you.
New York, 7 June 2023
