Status of Internally Displaced Persons and Refugees from Abkhazia, Georgia and the Tskhinvali region/South Ossetia, Georgia

Resolution

Sixty-third session
Agenda item 13
Protracted conflicts in the GUAM area and their implications
for international peace, security and development

The General Assembly,

Recalling all its relevant resolutions on the protection of and assistance to internally displaced persons, including its resolutions 62/153 of 18 December 2007 and 62/249 of 15 May 2008,

Recalling also all relevant Security Council resolutions on Georgia relating to the need for all parties to work towards a comprehensive peace and the return of internally displaced persons and refugees to their places of origin, and stressing the importance of their full and timely implementation,

Recognizing the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement(1) as the key international framework for the protection of internally displaced persons, Concerned by forced demographic changes resulting from the conflicts in Georgia,

Also concerned by the humanitarian situation caused by armed conflict in August 2008, resulting in the further forced displacement of civilians, Mindful of the urgent need to find a solution to the problems related to forced displacement in Georgia,

Underlining the importance of the discussions that commenced in Geneva on 15 October 2008 and of continuing to address the issue of the voluntary, safe, dignified and unhindered return of internally displaced persons and refugees on the basis of internationally recognized principles and conflict-settlement practices, Taking note of the report of the Secretary-General on the implementation of General Assembly resolution 62/249,(2)

1. Recognizes the right of return of all internally displaced persons and refugees and their descendants, regardless of ethnicity, to their homes throughout Georgia, including in Abkhazia and South Ossetia;

2. Stresses the need to respect the property rights of all internally displaced persons and refugees affected by the conflicts in Georgia and to refrain from obtaining property in violation of those rights;

3. Reaffirms the unacceptability of forced demographic changes;

4. Underlines the urgent need for unimpeded access for humanitarian activities to all internally displaced people, refugees and other persons residing in all conflict-affected areas throughout Georgia;

5. Calls upon all participants in the Geneva discussions to intensify their efforts to establish a durable peace, to commit to enhanced confidence-building measures and to take immediate steps to ensure respect for human rights and create favourable security conditions conducive to a voluntary, safe, dignified and unhindered return of all internally displaced persons and refugees to their places of origin;

6. Underlines the need for the development of a timetable to ensure a voluntary, safe, dignified and unhindered return of all internally displaced persons and refugees affected by the conflicts in Georgia to their homes;

7. Requests the Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly at its sixty-fourth session a comprehensive report on the implementation of the present resolution;

8. Decides to include in the provisional agenda of its sixty-fourth session the item entitled "Protracted conflicts in the GUAM area and their implications for international peace, security and development".