Sixty-second session
	Third Committee
Agenda item 70 (b)
Promotion and protection of human rights: human rights 
questions, including alternative approaches for improving 
the effective enjoyment of human rights and 
fundamental freedoms



		Georgia: draft resolution


		Status of internally displaced persons and refugees from 
Abkhazia, Georgia


	The General Assembly, 
	Deeply disturbed by the alarmingly high numbers of internally displaced persons throughout the world, for reasons including armed conflict, violations of human rights and natural or human-made disasters, who receive inadequate protection and assistance, and conscious of the serious challenges that this is creating for the international community,
	Emphasizing the importance of the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement,
	Recalling all relevant Security Council resolutions on the situation in Georgia,
	Deeply concerned about the humanitarian situation in Georgia created by the presence of almost 500,000 forcibly internally displaced persons from Abkhazia, Georgia,
	Recalling the conclusions of the Budapest, Lisbon and Istanbul summits of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe on the situation in Abkhazia, Georgia, and noting the fact of “ethnic cleansing” and other serious violations of international humanitarian law in Abkhazia, Georgia,
	Guided by the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Charter of the United Nations and the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, and deploring practices of forced displacement and their negative consequences for the enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms by large groups of populations, 
	Expressing its deep concern about the seriousness of the violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in Abkhazia, Georgia, in particular violence based on ethnicity,
	Deeply concerned about the continuing deterioration of the safety and security of the local population, the refugees and the internally displaced persons returning to Abkhazia, Georgia,
	1.	Reiterates and reaffirms the right of all refugees and internally displaced persons from Abkhazia, Georgia, affected by the conflict to return safely in dignity and under secure conditions, without any preconditions, to Abkhazia, Georgia, in accordance with international law;
	2.	Reaffirms the unacceptability of the demographic changes resulting from the conflict, and condemns any attempts to change the pre-conflict demographic composition of Abkhazia, Georgia, including by repopulating it with persons not previously resident there;
	3.	Stresses the urgent need to alleviate the plight of refugees and internally displaced persons who are victims of ethnic cleansing in Abkhazia, Georgia, and the need for a prospect of life in security and dignity, in particular for a new generation growing up outside Abkhazia, Georgia;
	4.	Reiterates the vital importance of the return of property to the refugees and the internally displaced persons from Abkhazia, Georgia, as the legal owners, and reaffirms that their property rights must not be affected; 
	5.	Underlines the necessity of rapid elaboration of a binding timetable that would ensure the prompt return of the refugees and internally displaced persons from Abkhazia, Georgia, to their homes;
	6.	Appeals to all Member States to prevent persons under their jurisdiction from obtaining any property within the territory of Abkhazia, Georgia; 
	7.	Requests the Secretary-General to report to the General Assembly at its sixty-third session on the implementation of the present resolution;
	8.	Decides to consider at its sixty-third session the status of the return of internally displaced persons and refugees to Abkhazia, Georgia.

	 	E/CN.4/1998/53/Add.2, annex.
	 	Resolution 217 A (III).
	 	A/CONF.157/24 (Part I), chap. III.

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 United Nations
A/C.3/62/L.38
 
 General Assembly
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2 November 2007

Original: English


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