On September 16, 2019, the «Human Dimension Implementation Meeting (HDIM)» will take place in Warsaw.
To the attention of:
OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Miroslav Lajčák
OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President, George Tsereteli
OSCE Democratic Institutions and Human Rights office Director, Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir
September 10, 2019
APPEAL
On September 16, 2019, the «Human Dimension Implementation Meeting (HDIM)» will take place in Warsaw. This meeting serves as a platform for the 57 OSCE participating States, the OSCE Partners for Co-operation, OSCE structures, civil society, international organizations and other relevant actors to take stock of the implementation of OSCE human dimension commitments, discuss associated challenges, share good practices and make recommendations for further improvement.
The Working Group of the “Coalition for Sovereign Elections” – Georgia 2020, express it’s gratitude to the OSCE Permanent Council for the distributed statement covering current situation on the occupation lines in Georgia. At the same time we call on OSCE Leadership as well as the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights to include “Ongoing aggression of the Kremlin in Georgia” in the Agenda of the Meeting and respectfully invite the Permanent Representative of Georgia to OSCE H.E. David Dondua to report on events taking place on the so-called border with occupied Tskhinvali region.
Since August 7, 2019 — the eleventh anniversary of the Russia-Georgia war — the occupation regime has been continuously carrying out illegal and unjustified provocations against Georgia. Since the beginning of August, a new wave of borderization and creeping annexation in the Gugutiantkari village has caused Georgian citizens to lose their homes again.
At the moment, the situation has gone beyond the level of provocations that Georgia is used to during the last 11 years of its occupation. The Kremlin-backed unrecognized regime has been directly threatening Georgia with a military conflict for several days, recalling the 2008 Russian-Georgian war. The threats come amid the process of borderization and kidnapping of Georgian citizens (nine people have been kidnapped since the beginning of the August). Soldiers and military equipment of the occupying forces have been stationed directly near the demarcation line.
Recently, occupying forces also closed the checkpoint between Tskhinvali region and territory under Georgian jurisdiction permanently prohibiting the free movement of local citizens. In the last few days, they moved their military point 1.2 kilometers further into Georgian territory, thus expanding their occupation line. The regime has published a map that totally differs from the one that was negotiated by all sides and that is still used by the EU Monitoring Mission. According to this map, more and more Georgian villages will be occupied.
The Russian forces, in cooperation with the KGB of the so-called South Ossetia implement described actions.
As a reminder, «security» of the occupied region of Georgia (so-called South Ossetia) is provided by the Russian Federation. Mr. Oleg Shiran, a former Russian “FSB” officer, heads the KGB of the occupied Tskhinvali region. This means that the Russian government is the only actor responsible for the violations of international law and direct aggression against Georgia. The fact that the new wave of aggression is controlled from the Kremlin is also clearly visible by the campaign of lies in the Russian media actively broadcasting news about «elections» in Abkhazia and «provocations of Georgians.»
Further, the Russian side itself is engaged in provocations. The situation is very tense, more than at any other time since the war in 2008. Georgia is working at all levels to de-escalate situation, as well as to inform the international community about the new developments of unjustified aggression from the side of occupying forces. Without an immediate and
unequivocal response from the international society, which includes the OSCE and other interested actors, the occupying regime will not stop unpunished provocations against a sovereign State.
We respectfully call on participants of the OSCE Human Dimension Implementation Meeting to highlight these topics during the conference in Warsaw and prepare joint statement and concrete recommendations for Georgian government as well as European institutions on new effective mechanisms to counter aggression of the Kremlin in Georgia and human rights violations that take place on the occupied territory and occupation lines.
The statement is issued on behalf of the “Coalition for Sovereign Elections”:
The working group of “Coalition for Sovereign Elections” consists of well-known Georgian experts, journalists, activists and NGO representatives and take focus on external influence in Georgia. 09.10.2019
Contact person: Egor Kuroptev, Director of the “Free Russia Foundation” on South Caucasus [email protected]
- Ambassador Valeri Chechelashvili – expert;
- Mr. Andro Gotsiridze – Founder of the Cyber Security Studies and Education Center;
- Mr. Egor Kuroptev – Representative of the Free Russia Foundation on South Caucasus; author of the Border Zone media project;
- Mr. Volodymyr Kopchak — Head of the Southern Caucasian Branch of the Center for Army, Conversion and Disarmament Studies (CACDS);
- Mr. Lasha Khatiashvili – affiliated analyst at the Georgian Strategic Analysis Center;
- Mr. Nikolai Levshits – Fellow of the Free Russia Foundation;
- Mr. Tengiz Pkhaladze – Senior Fellow of the International Centre for Geopolitical Studies;
- Dr. Tornike Sharashenidze – Co-Founder of the Georgian Strategic Analysis Center;
- Mr. Vladimer Svanadze — Chairman of the board at the Internet Development Initiative;
- Mr. Gela Vasadze – Senior Fellow of the Georgia-Caucasus Strategic Studies Institute;
- Mr. Nika Chitadze – expert;
- Ms. Teona Akubardia.