What does the resolution of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly say about the occupied territories?

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On July 3, pro-government media outlets published the statement of Guram Macharashvili, representative of the “People’s Power” faction (1,2,3,4). According to Macharashvili, at the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, the American side made such amendments in the resolution, which plays into the hands of Russia, in particular, Abkhazia and Samachablo are mentioned separately in the resolution. The same assertion was made in Soso Manjavidze’s program. According to the host, three parties are mentioned in the resolution: Georgia, Abkhazia, and Tskhinvali. Tamta Megrelishvili, a member of the “People’s Power” party, who was a guest to the program, repeated the same assertion, stating that the issue of Russian occupation was not included in the document.

The disseminated information creates the impression that the ruling party did not sign the resolution due to certain wording about the occupied territories.

ERI Media, Soso Manjavidze: “The OSCE resolution mentions 3 parties, the territory controlled by Georgia, Abkhazia, and Tskhinvali, and the call is for negotiations to take place between these three parties.” The Georgian delegation’s request for Russia to be a party, and it was so in previous resolutions, was neglected, and we ended up with this resolution, which was protested by the Georgian delegation…”

matcharashvili1 What does the resolution of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly say about the occupied territories?

euthos rezolutsia What does the resolution of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly say about the occupied territories?

The claim, as if Abkhazia and Samachablo are mentioned separately in the resolution, is disseminated in a manipulative manner. While it is true that the resolution originally included wording that referred to “Tbilisi-controlled Georgia, Abkhazia and Ossetia,” this particular wording was not included in the final declaration of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly. Despite this change, the ruling party still did not support the declaration. The declaration clearly calls on Russia to withdraw its military forces from the occupied territories of Georgia.

The 31st annual session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly on the theme “The role of the OSCE in the current security architecture: a parliamentary perspective” was held from June 29 to July 3, 2024, in Bucharest. The declaration adopted by the Assembly includes recommendations in the fields of security, human rights, economy, and ecology. The ruling party did not sign the final version of the declaration adopted by the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, as they found several points of the resolution unacceptable. According to Nikoloz Samkharadze, the head of the Georgian delegation in the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, the paragraph added to the resolution on the Georgia-Russia conflict presented the conflict in an incorrect formulation.

Nikoloz Samkharadze: “We would like to point out that the wording added to the paragraph about Russia’s occupation of Georgian territories is exactly what Russia has been trying to achieve in the Geneva negotiations for the last 16 years – to pretend that Russia is not a party to the conflict. Text from the amendment – “Reconciliation of Tbilisi-controlled Georgia, Abkhazia and Ossetia is necessary.” 

Two more entries were unacceptable to the “Georgian Dream” delegation. One of them related to the issue of creating a strong observation mission for the October 2024 parliamentary elections. The declaration emphasized the importance of the OSCE observation mission in connection with the parliamentary elections scheduled for October. According to the ruling party, elections have been held in many OSCE member states, eight are yet to be held, but elections in other countries, except Georgia, were not mentioned, which is an unbalanced approach. The issue of polarization was also problematic for the “Georgian Dream”. According to Samkharadze, political polarization is also present in other countries besides Georgia, and it is unacceptable when they only talk about the polarization in Georgia and do not talk about political polarization in the US, Germany, the Netherlands, or other OSCE member countries.

It should be noted that on July 3, during the voting, the paragraph, which, according to Samkharadze was formulated as follows: “Tbilisi-controlled Georgia, Abkhazia, and South Ossetia need to reconcile” was removed from the document. According to Samkharadze, despite the fact that no amendment was added to the document regarding the occupation of Georgian territories by Russia, the text of the resolution on the issues of elections and polarization contained such records that were unacceptable to the Georgian side. The final version of the resolution clearly calls on Russia to withdraw its military forces from the occupied territories of Georgia. The declaration also clearly mentions the role of continuing active engagement for the peaceful resolution of the conflict between Russia and Georgia. The declaration also condemns the deterioration of the humanitarian and human rights situation in the regions of Georgia occupied by the Russian Federation, Abkhazia, and Tskhinvali/South Ossetia, the violation of the basic freedoms and human rights of the people living there, as a result of various types of discrimination against ethnic Georgians, as well as the destruction of Georgian cultural heritage sites in both regions. 

The recent policy of the Georgian government is also criticized in the declaration adopted by the OSCE. In particular, concern is expressed due to the adoption of the law on the transparency of foreign influence by the Government of Georgia. In paragraph 25 of the Declaration, the Assembly expresses serious concern about Kremlin-backed and coordinated efforts to undermine Georgia’s fragile democracy and the Euro-Atlantic choice of the Georgian population by enacting anti-democratic legislation and policies by the Georgian government, including the adoption of a Russian-style transparency law. According to the document, the law on transparency of foreign influence in Georgia undermines human rights and disproportionately restricts basic freedoms, such as freedom of assembly and freedom of expression, and calls on the Georgian authorities to stop attacks on civil society, independent media, activists, and protesters.


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Topic: Politics
Violation: Manipulation
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