{"id":2318,"date":"2019-11-05T18:49:35","date_gmt":"2019-11-05T18:49:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lossi36.com\/?p=2318"},"modified":"2023-03-15T15:10:12","modified_gmt":"2023-03-15T15:10:12","slug":"whats-up-georgia-prime-minister-gakharia-meets-with-neighbours-and-accusations-against-the-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lossi36.com\/2019\/11\/05\/whats-up-georgia-prime-minister-gakharia-meets-with-neighbours-and-accusations-against-the-church\/","title":{"rendered":"Georgia Monthly Digest: Prime Minister Gakharia meets with neighbours, and accusations against the church"},"content":{"rendered":"

– On his first international trip as Prime Minister, Giorgi Gakharia met with the heads of Georgia\u2019s neighbouring states. On <\/span>October 9th<\/b>, Gakharia and Azerbaijan\u2019s President Ilham Aliyev agreed to <\/span>reopen<\/a><\/strong> the contested Davit Gareji Monastery, which is located in the Georgian Khaketi region bordering with the Agstafa region in Azerbaijan. The monastery has been subject of territorial and political<\/span> dispute<\/a><\/strong> between Georgia and Azerbaijan since the collapse of the USSR.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On <\/span>October 15th<\/b>, Gakharia and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan <\/span>agreed<\/a><\/strong> to strengthen bilateral relations between the two countries in the fields of economic development, the construction sector, infrastructure, culture, and sport, but did not present a long-term strategy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Finally, at the end of the month, Gakharia and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan<\/span> met and discussed<\/a><\/strong> further cooperation in the fields of trade and energy. The Georgia-Turkey Strategic Partnership Council (set up in 2016) is now set to meet later this year in Ankara. During a joint press conference, Erdogan<\/span> underlined<\/a><\/strong> the importance of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum and Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipelines. We also accepted Gakharia\u2019s invitation to visit Georgia in the spring of 2020.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

– A<\/span> new human rights report<\/a><\/strong> commissioned by the EU-funded \u201cHuman Rights for All\u201d program (2016-2019) and carried out by the UN agencies UNDP, OHCHR, UNICEF and ILO positively assesses the implementation of Georgia\u2019s national strategy from 2014 to 2020 for the protection of human rights. The report, released on <\/span>October 17th<\/b>,<\/span> argues<\/strong><\/span><\/a> that Georgia has made significant progress when it comes to legislative and policy reform, including new laws on anti-discrimination, juvenile justice, occupational safety, children\u2019s rights and the protection of migrants and asylum seekers. Gaps persist in the protection of the independence of judges and prosecutors, real prevention of hate-motivated crimes, defense of media pluralism, and development of a culture of transparent, democratic law-making.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

– On <\/span>October 22nd<\/b>, a leaked video <\/span>revealed<\/a><\/strong> that prisoners on a hunger strike in South Ossetian detention centers since September 27th had been subject to beatings by the prison\u2019s security forces.<\/span><\/p>\n

After Russia introduced more severe regulations in South Ossetian prisons, inmates went on strike to protest <\/span>\u201cdisgusting food\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/a>, poor sanitary conditions and insufficient time outside the cells. South Ossetia\u2019s de-facto Minister of Justice, Zalina Laliyeva, has questioned the legitimacy of the protest action, stating that prisoners had not informed the guards about the hunger strike. According to Laliyeva, the conditions in the prisons were \u201cgood\u201d. The prisoners however continued their protest despite the quick improvement of sanitary conditions. Georgian public defender Nino Lomjaria <\/span>confirmed<\/strong><\/span><\/a> that the <\/span>video<\/a><\/strong> exposes severe human rights violations, such as inhumane treatment of prisoners; she stated that Russia should be held responsible for the violations.<\/span><\/p>\n

– On <\/span>October 24th<\/b>, Minister of State for Reconciliation and Civil Equality Ketevan Tsikhelashvili<\/span> announced<\/a><\/strong> the establishment of a special interdepartmental commission with the intention to search for those \u201cwho went missing during armed conflicts in the country\u201d in cooperation with the Red Cross. Its main <\/span>obligation<\/strong><\/span><\/a> is to find the burial sites and identify the bodies of around 2,300 individuals who have been lost since the 1990 and 2008 conflicts in Georgia. In 2010, two specific search mechanisms headed by the Red Cross were created: one between Georgia-Abkhazia and one between Georgia, Russia, and South Ossetia. As a result of the Georgian-Abkhaz cooperation, <\/span>mass graves in Babushera<\/a><\/strong> from the Abkhaz conflict in 1992 have been exhumed. The Red Cross\u2019s mandate will terminate in 2021, which increases the government\u2019s responsibility to provide information on the whereabouts of missing individuals to their families.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Civilian patrols of the EU Monitoring Mission Georgia. Image Source<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

– On <\/span>October 24th<\/b>, unarmed civilian monitors of the European Union Monitoring Mission (EUMM)<\/span> were briefly detained<\/a><\/strong> by Russian-backed South Ossetian security personnel while conducting patrols in the Chorchana-Tsnelisi area. Due to increased tension around the Administrative Border Line (ABL) and <\/span>the closing of checkpoints<\/a><\/strong> since the beginning of September, the EUMM has significantly increased its patrolling presence. The Georgian Foreign Ministry<\/span> called<\/a><\/strong> the hindering of the missions\u2019s work \u201cunacceptable\u201d since it is \u201c[…] the only international and effective monitoring mechanism and provides objective information about the situation along the occupation line\u201d. South Ossetian officials<\/span> stated<\/a><\/strong> that the patrols had \u201cillegally crossed the border\u201d and that the action by the EUMM was \u201cprovocative\u201d. The EUMM has condemned the incident and discussed it with South Ossetian authorities during the regularly held Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) technical meeting in Ergneti.<\/span><\/p>\n

– The closing down of checkpoints was followed by a tragic event on <\/span>October 29th<\/b>, when Margo Martiashvili from the Akhalgori district (located in South Ossetia)<\/span> died<\/a><\/strong> in a Tskhinvali hospital after suffering a stroke. Because the road had been closed,\u00a0 Martiashvili couldn\u2019t be transported to the Tbilisi administered area (TAT) in order to receive medical support. Additionally, the EUMM hotline was inactive at the time, making it impossible for Martiashvili\u2019s family to seek emergency help. The EUMM<\/span> published a statement<\/a><\/strong> arguing that the instance shows the \u201cimpact of the severe restrictions in place on the freedom of movement for the local population in Akhalgori valley\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n