Georgian Foreign Relations Committee Chair highlights rights violations in occupied territories at OSCE PA

Nikoloz Samkharadze, Chair of the Foreign Relations Committee and head of Georgia’s permanent delegation to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, on Tuesday addressed the Assembly’s human rights session, focusing on the challenges faced by internally displaced persons from Georgia’s Russian-occupied regions.

The Georgian Parliament’s press office said Samkharadze outlined the ongoing human rights abuses in the occupied territories and highlighted the steps the Government had taken to support displaced families. He noted that in recent years, 61,000 families had received permanent housing.

“Following Russia’s occupation of Georgian territories, first in 1992 and again in 2008, ethnic cleansing was carried out. The rights of those who remain in these regions are constantly violated. Ethnically Georgian children are denied access to education in their native language and there are ongoing attempts to erase Georgian cultural heritage through the destruction of churches, cemeteries and homes,” Samkharadze said.

He also addressed the situation of Ukrainian refugees who fled Russia’s full-scale invasion. Around 30,000 Ukrainians currently residing in Georgia enjoy the same rights and benefits as Georgian IDPs, he noted.